[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 44 (Monday, March 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10500-10501]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-4926]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service
Environmental Assessment Prepared for Proposed Cape Wind Energy
Project in Nantucket Sound, MA
AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of the Availability of an Environmental Assessment (EA)
and Draft Finding of No New Significant Impact (FONNSI) for Public
Review and Comment.
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SUMMARY: The Minerals Management Service (MMS), in accordance with
Federal regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA), announces the availability for public review and comment of
an EA and Draft FONNSI prepared by MMS for the Cape Wind Energy Project
proposed for Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. On January 16, 2009, the
MMS announced the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement
(FEIS) for the Cape Wind Energy Project. The FEIS assessed the
physical, biological, and social/human impacts of the proposed project
and 13 alternatives, including a no-action alternative (i.e., the
project is not built), and proposed mitigation.
The MMS has identified new information that has become available
since the publication of the FEIS in January 2009 that pertains to the
proposed project, the feasibility of alternatives to the proposed
project, and to some of the resources that were analyzed in the FEIS.
The MMS used an environmental assessment (EA) to determine whether it
needs to supplement its existing analysis under the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This EA, in accordance with CEQ
regulations (40 CFR 1501.3(b) and 40 CFR 1502.9), examines whether the
new information indicates that there have been ``substantial changes in
the proposed action'' or ``significant new circumstances or
information'' that either were not fully discussed or did not exist at
the time the FEIS was prepared that are relevant to environmental
concerns and have a bearing on the proposed action or its impacts. MMS
researched and reviewed new information obtained from the scientific/
technical literature, government reports and actions, intergovernmental
coordination and communications, required consultations, and comments
made during two comment periods offered after the FEIS was circulated
to determine if any assumptions, data or analysis related to resources
should be reevaluated or if the new information would alter conclusions
of the FEIS. This includes new information in the January 13, 2010, MMS
Documentation of Section 106 Finding of Adverse Effect (Revised)
(Revised Finding), and the comments received during a comment period on
this document. No new information was found that would necessitate a
reanalysis of range of the alternatives or the kinds, levels or
locations of the impacts by the Proposed Action upon biologic,
physical, socioeconomic or cultural resources. The analyses, potential
impacts, and conclusions detailed in the FEIS remain applicable and
unchanged. Therefore, MMS has determined that a supplemental EIS is not
required and proposes to issue the attached FONNSI. MMS seeks public
comment on the analysis, findings and conclusions in the proposed EA
and Draft FONNSI.
DATES: The comment period for the EA/Draft FONNSI document closes April
7, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James F. Bennett, Chief, Environmental
Assessment Branch, Minerals Management Service, 381 Elden Street MS-
4042, Herndon, Virginia 20170.
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
[[Page 10501]]
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
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).
Public Comment Procedures: The EA can be accessed online at: http://www.mms.gov/offshore/RenewableEnergy/CapeWind.htm. Comments on the EA
and FONNSI 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 Environmental Assessment 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-0006, then
click ``Search.'' Under the tab ``View By Docket Folder'' you can
submit public comments for this EA. 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.
Dated: March 3, 2010.
L. Renee Orr,
Acting Associate Director for Offshore Energy and Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 2010-4926 Filed 3-4-10; 11:15 am]
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