[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 15 (Monday, January 25, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 3922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-1279]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service (MMS)

[Docket ID MMS-2010-OMM-0002]


Notice of Availability of the Revised Minerals Management Service 
Documentation of Section 106 Finding of Adverse Effect (Revised 
Finding) for the Proposed Cape Wind Energy Project Located on the Outer 
Continental Shelf (OCS) in Nantucket Sound, and the Opportunity for 
Public Comment

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: The MMS has prepared a revised version of its Section 106 
Finding of Adverse Effect document related to the proposed Cape Wind 
Energy Project pursuant to implementing regulations for Section 106 of 
the National Historic Preservation Act (36 CFR Part 800). The original 
Finding of Adverse Effect for this project was dated January 29, 2009. 
The Finding of Adverse Effect is being revised in response to new 
information that five additional properties within the Area of Adverse 
Effect for the project have now been found to be eligible for inclusion 
in the National Register of Historic Places.

DATES: The comment period for the Revised Finding document closes 
February 12, 2010.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Poojan Tripathi, Minerals 
Management Service, Cape Wind Project Manager, at (703) 787-1738.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Cape Wind Energy Project Description

    In November 2001, Cape Wind Associates, LLC applied for a permit 
from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) under the Rivers and 
Harbors Act of 1899 to construct an offshore wind power facility on 
Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. Following the 
adoption of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) and its associated 
amendments to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), the 
Department of the Interior was given statutory authority to issue 
leases, easements, or rights-of-way for renewable energy projects on 
the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Accordingly, Cape Wind Associates, 
LLC, submitted an application to MMS in 2005 to construct, operate, and 
eventually decommission an offshore wind power facility on Horseshoe 
Shoal in Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. The project calls for 130, 
3.6 megawatt (MW) wind turbine generators, each with a 
maximum blade height of 440 feet, to be arranged in a grid pattern in 
25 square miles of Nantucket Sound, offshore of Cape Cod, Martha's 
Vineyard, and Nantucket Island. With a maximum electric output of 468 
megawatts and an average anticipated output of 182 megawatts, the 
facility is projected to generate up to three quarters of the Cape and 
Islands' electricity needs. Each of the 130 wind turbine generators 
would generate electricity independently. Solid dielectric submarine 
inner-array cables (33 kilovolt) from each wind turbine generator would 
interconnect within the array and terminate on an electrical service 
platform, which would serve as the common interconnection point for all 
of the wind turbines. The proposed submarine transmission cable system 
(115 kilovolt) from the electric service platform to the landfall 
location in Yarmouth is approximately 12.5 miles in length (7.6 miles 
of which falls within Massachusetts' territorial waters).
    Nantucket Sound is a roughly triangular body of water generally 
bound by Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Island. Open bodies 
of water include Vineyard Sound to the West and the Atlantic Ocean to 
the East and the South. Nantucket Sound encompasses between 500-600 
square miles of ocean, most of which lies in Federal waters. The Cape 
Wind Energy Project would be located completely on the OCS in Federal 
waters, aside from transmission cables running through Massachusetts 
territorial waters ashore. For reference, the northernmost turbines 
would be approximately 5.2 miles (8.4 km) from Point Gammon on the 
mainland; the southernmost turbines would be approximately 11 miles 
(17.7 km) from Nantucket Island (Great Point), and the westernmost 
turbines would be approximately 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from the island of 
Martha's Vineyard (Cape Poge).

ADDRESSES: The Revised Finding document can be accessed online at: 
http://www.mms.gov/offshore/RenewableEnergy/CapeWind.htm. Comments on 
the Revised Finding should be mailed or hand carried to the Minerals 
Management Service, Attention: James F. Bennett, 381 Elden Street, Mail 
Stop 4042, Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817. Envelopes or packages should 
be marked ``Cape Wind Energy Project Revised Findings Document.'' The 
MMS will also accept comments submitted electronically through the web 
page at Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. In the 
entry titled ``Enter Keyword or ID,'' enter docket ID MMS-2010-OMM-
0002, then click search. Under the tab ``View By Docket Folder'' you 
can submit public comments for this Notice. The MMS will post all 
comments.
    Public Comment Procedures: Before including your address, phone 
number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in 
your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--including 
your personal identifying information--may be made publicly available 
at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your 
personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
    The MMS is making the Revised Finding available for public review 
and comment. The written comments on the Revised Finding will be 
reviewed and considered as part of the ongoing NHPA Section 106 
consultation process, and in particular, MMS' effort to resolve these 
adverse effects pursuant to 36 CFR subpart 800.6. The comment period 
for the Revised Finding document closes February 12, 2010.

    January 19, 2010.
Chris C. Oynes,
Associate Director for Offshore Energy and Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 2010-1279 Filed 1-22-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P