Abstract
This constitutes NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) biological opinion (Opinion) issued to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), as the lead federal agency, in accordance with section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), as amended, on the effects of its proposed approval, with conditions, of the Construction and Operation Plan (COP) authorizing the construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of the Maryland Wind Offshore Wind Project (Lease OCS-A 0490) under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). The applicant, US Wind, Inc. (US Wind) is proposing to construct, operate, and eventually decommission a commercial-scale offshore wind energy facility within Lease Area OCS-A 0490 that would generate up to approximately 2.2 gigawatts of electricity and consist of 114 wind turbine generators, four offshore substations, one meteorological tower, and associated inter-array cabling as well as export cabling to bring electricity to land.
BOEM is the lead federal agency for purposes of section 7 consultation; the other action agencies include the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and NMFS Office of Protected Resources1 each of whom is taking action under their respective statutory and regulatory authorities related to approval of the COP and its conditions and therefore have corresponding ESA Section 7 consultation responsibilities. This Opinion considers effects of the proposed federal actions (collectively referred to in this opinion as the proposed action) on ESA-listed whales, sea turtles, fish, and designated critical habitat that occur in the action area (as defined in section 3.0 of this Opinion). A complete administrative record of this consultation will be kept on file at our Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office.