Abstract
Before the U.S. Department of the Interior, BOEM will approve the siting of a facility proposed for a renewable energy project on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a lessee must submit the results of its site characterization surveys to BOEM with its Site Assessment Plan (SAP), Construction and Operations Plan (COP), or General Activities Plan (GAP). The purpose of this guidance document is to provide recommendations for complying with the information requirements in 30 CFR Part 585 Subpart F.
BOEM requires the results of site characterization studies to evaluate the impact of proposed activities on physical, biological, and socioeconomic resources as well as the seafloor and subseafloor conditions which could be affected by the construction, installation, and operation of meteorological towers, buoys, cables, wind turbines, and supporting structures. The information will be used by BOEM, other Federal agencies, and potentially affected states in the preparation of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents; interagency consultations, such as Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA); and to meet other statutory and regulatory requirements. Early communication with BOEM and adherence to these guidelines should ensure that BOEM’s information needs are met. Survey results obtained through procedures consistent with these guidelines should be sufficient for BOEM’s decision-making process. BOEM may stipulate through lease and grant terms that lessees and grantees submit a SAP, COP, or GAP survey plan, and schedule a pre-survey meeting with BOEM to discuss the plan prior to conducting survey activities in the leased or granted area.
Site characterization activities in this document refer only to fishery surveys. BOEM provides recommendations for conducting and reporting the results of other baseline collection studies in 2 of 14 separate guidelines: https://www.boem.gov/Survey-Guidelines/. These guidelines may be updated periodically, as new information or methodologies become available. This version supersedes previous versions.
The overall purpose of the required information is to describe the key species and habitat within the survey area possibly affected by the proposed operations. The fisheries survey plan should aim to:
- Identify and confirm which dominant benthic, demersal, and pelagic species are using the project site, and when these species may be present where development is proposed;
- Establish a pre-construction baseline which may be used to assess whether detectable changes associated with proposed operations occurred in post-construction abundance and distribution of fisheries;
- Collect additional information aimed at reducing uncertainty associated with baseline estimates and/or to inform the interpretation of research results; and
- Develop an approach to quantify any substantial changes in the distribution and abundance of fisheries associated with proposed operations.
For all projects, lessees should also describe the measures to be taken to minimize or eliminate potential impacts to fishery resources in their SAP, COP, or GAP. In addition, for projects involving the installation of wind energy turbines on the Atlantic OCS, the lessee should prepare a fishery survey plan that describes its methods for collecting sufficient information on the biology of the project area to allow BOEM and other agencies with jurisdiction to make well-founded decisions in context with the regional biology.