Site Mitigation & Monitoring

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to Vineyard Wind 1, LLC (Vineyard Wind) to take, by Level A harassment and Level B harassment, marine mammals during construction of a commercial wind energy project offshore Massachusetts.

NMFS has received a request from Ocean Wind, LLC (Ocean Wind), a subsidiary of Orsted Wind Power North America, LLC's (Orsted), for authorization to take small numbers of marine mammals incidental to construction activities associated with the Ocean Wind 1 wind energy facility in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) Lease Area Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)-A-0498 Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf off of New Jersey over the course of 5 years beginning in 2023. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of Ocean Wind's request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals. NMFS invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on Ocean Wind's application and request.

This Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (draft GEIS), prepared pur- suant to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), ana- lyzes the potential environmental impacts associated with the State’s procurement of this 2.4 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030, and builds upon and incorporates by reference relevant material from NYSERDA’s Offshore Wind Master Plan.

The docket for this matter can be found here.

This study uses an experiment where ferry passengers are sold hotel room “views” to evaluate the impact of wind turbines views on tourists’ vacation experience. Participants purchase a chance for a weekend hotel stay. Information about the hotel rooms was limited to the quality of the hotel and its distance from a large wind turbine, as well as whether or not a particular room would have a view of the turbine. While there was generally a negative effect of turbine views, this did not hold across all participants, and did not seem to be effected by distance or hotel quality.

Placement of wind turbines has prompted public concerns related to their effects on wildlife and scenic views. This has been especially relevant in coastal areas, where the proposed development of large offshore wind energy facilities in states including Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, and Oregon have been seen as a potential threat to the tourism industry. The response from the tourism industry has delayed or even blocked development of offshore wind facilities in some of these states.

The report is titled Socio-Economic Impact of Outer Continental Shelf Wind Energy Development on Fisheries in the U.S. Atlantic. Recognizing the importance that commercial and recreational fisheries play in the U.S. economy and to food supply, BOEM worked with the National Marine Fisheries Service to better understand fishing activity as it relates to areas of potential offshore wind energy development.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) announce the results of two new multi-year marine wildlife survey efforts that focus on collecting baseline biological occurrence and distribution data for whale, turtle, and bird species within the Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) offshore Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The wildlife surveys found that the Massachusetts and Rhode Island WEAs avoid the high concentrations of protected species of whales, turtles and seabirds in these areas.

Reports:

Abundance and Distribution of Seabirds off Southeastern Massachusetts, 2011-2015.

Northeast Large Pelagic Survey Collaborative Aerial and Acoustic Surveys for Large Whales and Sea Turtles.

NRDC provides public comments in support of the Block Island Wind Farm, with recommendations to protect marine life.