Notice2022-21104
Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Energy Projects Offshore of New Jersey
Primary source
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Published
September 29, 2022
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS has received a request from Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC (Atlantic Shores) for authorization to take small numbers of marine mammals incidental to activities associated with two offshore wind energy projects in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) Lease Area Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)-A-0499 off of New Jersey over the course of 5 years beginning on January 1, 2025. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of Atlantic Shores' request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals and associated Letters of Authorization (LOAs). NMFS invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on Atlantic Shores' application and request.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 188 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 188 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59061-59062]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21104]
[[Page 59061]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XC092
Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals
Incidental to the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Energy Projects
Offshore of New Jersey
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for Letters of Authorization;
request for comments and information.
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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from Atlantic Shores Offshore
Wind, LLC (Atlantic Shores) for authorization to take small numbers of
marine mammals incidental to activities associated with two offshore
wind energy projects in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM)
Lease Area Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)-A-0499 off of New Jersey over
the course of 5 years beginning on January 1, 2025. Pursuant to
regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS
is announcing receipt of Atlantic Shores' request for the development
and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of
marine mammals and associated Letters of Authorization (LOAs). NMFS
invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on
Atlantic Shores' application and request.
DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than October
31, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the applications should be addressed to Jolie
Harrison, Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. Physical comments should
be sent to 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 and
electronic comments should be sent to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4b021f1b651b243f272428200b25242a2a652c243d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6b223f3b453b041f070408002b05040a0a450c041d">[email protected]</span></a>.
Instructions: NMFS is not responsible for comments sent by any
other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the
end of the comment period. Comments received electronically, including
all attachments, must not exceed a 25-megabyte file size. Attachments
to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word or Excel or
Adobe PDF file formats only. All comments received are a part of the
public record and will generally be posted online at <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act</a> without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address) voluntarily submitted by the
commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential
business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelsey Potlock, Office of Protected
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401. An electronic copy of Atlantic Shores'
application may be obtained online at: <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act</a>. In case of problems accessing these documents, please call the
contact listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.)
direct the Secretary of Commerce (as delegated to NMFS) to allow, upon
request, the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers
of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity
(other than commercial fishing) within a specified geographical region
if certain findings are made and either regulations are issued or, if
the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed
authorization is provided to the public for review.
An incidental take authorization shall be granted if NMFS finds
that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or
stock(s), will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the
availability of the species or stock(s) for subsistence uses (where
relevant), and if the permissible methods of taking and requirements
pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring and reporting of such takings
are set forth.
NMFS has defined ``negligible impact'' in 50 CFR 216.103 as an
impact resulting from the specified activity that cannot be reasonably
expected to, and is not reasonably likely to, adversely affect the
species or stock through effects on annual rates of recruitment or
survival.
The MMPA states that the term ``take'' means to harass, hunt,
capture, kill or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine
mammal.
Except with respect to certain activities not pertinent here, the
MMPA defines ``harassment'' as: any act of pursuit, torment, or
annoyance, which (i) has the potential to injure a marine mammal or
marine mammal stock in the wild (Level A harassment); or (ii) has the
potential to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild
by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including, but not
limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or
sheltering (Level B harassment).
Summary of Request
On February 28, 2022, NMFS received an application from Atlantic
Shores requesting authorization to take marine mammals incidental to
construction activities associated with two offshore wind energy
projects (referred to as Project 1 and Project 2 in the application) in
the Lease Area OCS-A-0499 off of New Jersey. In response to our
comments, and following extensive information exchanges with NMFS,
Atlantic Shores submitted a revised application on August 12, 2022,
that we determined was adequate and complete on August 25, 2022. The
requested regulations would be valid for 5 years, from January 1, 2025
through December 31, 2029.
Atlantic Shores plans to conduct construction activities for
Projects 1 and 2 that consist of the following: impact installation of
wind turbine generator (WTG) and offshore substation (OSS) foundations
(consisting of either monopile or jacket foundations); site
characterization surveys; impact installation of a permanent
meteorological (met) tower; deployment of metocean buoys; placement of
scour protection; the installation of eight export cables via
trenching, laying, and burial; and vibratory pile driving to
temporarily install and remove sheet pile cofferdams at two cable
landfall sites. Vessels will be used to transport crew, supplies, and
materials to the project area and to support construction activities.
Atlantic Shores may also conduct fisheries surveys during the effective
period of the requested regulations, as required by BOEM. Atlantic
Shores has indicated no unexploded ordinance/munitions and explosives
of concern (UXO/MEC) detonations would occur during the effective
period of the regulations and has not included this activity as part of
the specified activities. A subset of the specified activities included
in the application (i.e., installing piles using impact and vibratory
pile driving and site characterization surveys) may result in the
incidental take, by Level A harassment and/or Level B harassment, of
marine mammals. Therefore, Atlantic Shores requests authorization to
incidentally take marine mammals.
Specified Activities
In Executive Order 14008, President Biden stated that it is the
policy of the
[[Page 59062]]
United States to organize and deploy the full capacity of its agencies
to combat the climate crisis to implement a Government-wide approach
that reduces climate pollution in every sector of the economy;
increases resilience to the impacts of climate change; protects public
health; conserves our lands, waters, and biodiversity; delivers
environmental justice; and spurs well-paying union jobs and economic
growth, especially through innovation, commercialization, and
deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure.
Through a competitive leasing process under 30 CFR 585.211,
Atlantic Shores was award Commercial Lease OCS-A 0499, located offshore
of New Jersey in the New Jersey Wind Energy Area and has the exclusive
rights to submit a construction and operations plan (COP) for
activities within the lease area. Atlantic Shores has submitted a COP
to BOEM proposing the construction, operation, maintenance, and
conceptual decommissioning of Project 1 and Project 2, collectively
generating 1,510 megawatts (MW) of clean energy. Combined, these
projects will have a maximum of 200 WTGs, 10 OSSs, 1 meteorological
tower, and 8 transmission cables making landfall at 2 locations in
Atlantic and Monmouth Counties.
Atlantic Shores anticipates that activities potentially resulting
in the take of marine mammals could occur during the life of the
requested regulations and associated 5-year Letters of Authorization
(LOAs). Specifically, these activities are:
<bullet> The installation, via impact pile driving, of up to 200
WTGs utilizing either monopile (up to 15-meter (m) in diameter) or
jacket foundations (up to 5-m in diameter pin piles). Project 1 would
be comprised of 105-111 foundations and Project 2 would be comprised of
89-95 foundations;
<bullet> The installation, via impact driving, of up to 10 OSSs
using up to jacket foundations comprised of 5-m pin piles (with 5 OSSs
allocated to each project);
<bullet> Construction-related high-resolution site assessment
geophysical surveys utilizing acoustic sources with frequencies of <180
kilohertz (kHz) for up to 300 days (estimate of 60 days annually)
during all 5 years;
<bullet> The installation, via impact driving, of one permanent met
tower in Project 1 using either a monopile up to 15-m in diameter or a
jacket foundation using up to 5-m pin piles; and
<bullet> The installation and removal, via vibratory driving, of up
to eight temporary steel sheet pile cofferdams at the Atlantic cable
landfall site (Project 1) and the Monmouth cable landfall site (Project
2).
Information Solicited
Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and
comments concerning Atlantic Shores' request (see ADDRESSES). NMFS will
consider all information, suggestions, and comments related to the
request during the development of proposed regulations governing the
incidental taking of marine mammals by Atlantic Shores, if appropriate.
Dated: September 23, 2022.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-21104 Filed 9-28-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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