Legal & Policy

Legal

There are several local and federal agencies that must approve the various components of a land-based wind, offshore wind, or marine renewable energy project throughout the permitting process. A baseline environmental assessment is typically required to identify potential environmental concerns, including the presence of threatened or endangered species. Depending on the concerns identified during this assessment, monitoring and mitigation efforts may be required during facility construction, operation, and decommissioning.

Policy

An in-depth understanding of the potential environmental impacts of a land-based wind, offshore wind, or marine renewable energy project is extremely important in determining the governing policies surrounding the assessment and approval of the project. The level of risk of a project presents is typically determined by considering both the known consequences of a project’s development and the uncertainty around its potential impacts. Various local, state, and federal policies have been developed to support the growth of the wind and marine renewable energy industries in a sustainable manner.