As it strives to make good on President Biden’s goal of adding 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by decade’s end, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced last week that it had issued two draft environmental impact statements for proposed wind projects in waters off Virginia Beach and New York.
“This is a critical step in the federal permitting review for the approximately 924-megawatt offshore wind farm being developed by joint partners Orsted and Eversource to serve New York,” Meaghan Wims, an Orsted spokeswoman, said in a statement. If approved, the Sunrise Wind project could provide power for up to 600,000 New York homes.
The plan involves the installation of 94 wind turbines about 26.5 miles east of Montauk, and “onshore export cables, substation, and grid connection” in Holbrook, the bureau reported.
The draft environmental impact statement for Sunrise Wind was published in the Federal Register on Friday, kicking off a 60-day public comment period that runs through Feb. 14. “The input received via this process will inform preparation of the final E.I.S.,” according to the bureau, which will use the findings to “inform its decision on whether to approve the Sunrise Wind” plan, “and if so, which mitigation measures to require.”
There will be three virtual public meetings in January, on the 18th, 19th, and 23rd, at which “the public can learn more about the review process, the E.I.S. schedule, potential impacts from the proposed Sunrise Wind project, and proposals to reduce potential impacts.”
A similar series of meetings was undertaken by BOEM in advance of its environmental review of the 12-turbine South Fork Wind project now underway about 35 miles east of Montauk, generating 1,300 public comments, many from the commercial fishing industry, which were incorporated into the bureau’s final environmental statement.
As reported in The Star in August of last year, the bureau determined that South Fork Wind is likely to have little effect on marine life or habitat, while commercial fisheries could expect “moderate to major adverse effects, either temporarily or long term,” with “minor to moderate disruptions on for-hire recreational fishing.”
The bureau and the National Marine Fisheries Service subsequently held four public meetings to discuss how to mitigate the impacts of offshore wind projects on commercial and recreational fisheries, and recommended requiring that lessees provide financial compensation for commercial fishermen affected by wind projects. To that end, Orsted has an online portal for fishermen who may experience damage to their gear.
