Abstract
This environmental impact statement presents the characteristics of the environment in the project area and analyzes the effects of construction, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning of the Cape Wind Energy Project, consistent with the requirements of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act, (67 Stat. 462, as amended, 43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) and in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The proposed action is a wind energy facility with a maximum electric output of 468 megawatts (MW) in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts that can interconnect with and deliver electricity to the New England Power Pool. In addition to the proposed action, six alternatives were evaluated in detail, including the no action alternative.
In analyzing potential impacts of the project, consideration was given to a broad range of impact producing factors that could occur either under normal conditions or during unplanned or accidental conditions during the three phases of the project: construction, O&M, and decommissioning. Environmental resource characteristics from both the marine environment and the on land portions of the proposed action were then compared to these factors in order to assess and present the potential, direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the proposed action and the six alternatives evaluated in detail.