“BOEM welcomes input from diverse stakeholders as we work to meet President Biden’s clean-energy goals that are vitally important to the well-being of the American people,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein.
In February 2022, BOEM held an auction that brought in over $4.3 billion for the rights to six lease areas in the New York Bight – a record amount for any U.S. offshore renewable or conventional energy lease sale.
This is the first time BOEM has conducted a regional analysis of offshore renewable energy development and operations over multiple lease areas. BOEM decided to take this additional step to complete a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) because of the close proximity of the six lease areas and the timing of when BOEM expects to receive future project plans for review.
The Draft PEIS analyzes programmatic avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures that BOEM may require as conditions of its approval for any proposed offshore wind projects in the New York Bight.
This new regional approach is an evolution of BOEM’s process to help ensure timely decisions that advance offshore wind energy development while safeguarding the ocean environment and marine life and reducing conflicts with other ocean uses.
Additional environmental analyses specific to each proposed wind energy project will build off this programmatic review once BOEM receives individual proposed project plans from the leaseholders.
How to Comment
The “Notice of Availability of a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Expected Wind Energy Development in the New York Bight” will publish in the Federal Register on Jan. 12, 2024, which initiates a 45-day public comment period ending on Feb. 26, 2024. During the comment period, BOEM is seeking additional information on important resources and issues, potential impacts to the environment, and programmatic avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures found in the Draft PEIS. BOEM will hold three in-person and two virtual public meetings as follows:
