[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 188 (Tuesday, September 29, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58502-58503]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-24408]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[BOEM-2015-0016]


Revised Environmental Assessment for Virginia Offshore Wind 
Technology Advancement Project on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf 
Offshore Virginia; MMAA104000

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of a Revised Environmental Assessment 
and a Finding of No Significant Impact.

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[[Page 58503]]

SUMMARY: BOEM is announcing the availability of a revised Environmental 
Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the 
approval of the Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Advancement Project 
(VOWTAP). The revised EA provides a discussion of potential impacts of 
the proposed action and an analysis of reasonable alternatives to the 
proposed action. As a result of the analysis in the revised EA, BOEM 
issued a FONSI concluding that the reasonably foreseeable environmental 
impacts associated with the proposed action and alternatives would not 
significantly impact the quality of the human environment. These 
documents and associated information are available on BOEM's Web site 
at http://www.boem.gov/VOWTAP/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle Morin, BOEM Office of 
Renewable Energy Programs, 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, Virginia 
20166, (703) 787-1340 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In December 2014, BOEM published an EA to 
consider the reasonably foreseeable environmental consequences 
associated with the approval of wind energy-related research activities 
(i.e., construction, operation, maintenance, and eventual 
decommissioning of the VOWTAP) offshore Virginia as proposed by the 
Commonwealth of Virginia's Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy 
(DMME). A Notice of Availability was published on December 2, 2014 to 
announce the availability of the EA and initiate a 30-day public 
comment period. On January 2, 2015, BOEM published a Federal Register 
notice extending the comment period until January 16, 2015. The EA was 
subsequently revised based on comments received during the comment 
period and a public information meeting. The revised EA provides 
technical clarification, such as the type of aviation safety lights 
that would be installed on the turbines, and the parameters used in the 
avian collision model. Also the revised EA provides additional 
information detailing the vegetation and land cover of the onshore 
impact area associated with cable installation and seasonal 
prohibitions for North Atlantic right whales. In addition to the 
proposed action, the revised EA considers the same alternative turbine 
locations considered in the December 2014 EA. BOEM's analysis of the 
proposed action and alternatives still takes into account standard 
operating conditions designed to avoid or minimize potential impacts to 
protected species of marine mammals and sea turtles, including: (1) 
Those required during all project activity associated with the VOWTAP 
(vessel strike avoidance, marine debris awareness, and reporting); (2) 
those required during high-resolution geophysical surveys 
(establishment, monitoring and clearance of an exclusion zone; and 
shutdown, ramp up, power down, and pause procedures); (3) those 
required during pile driving (establishment, monitoring and clearance 
of an exclusion zone; prohibition on pile driving from November 1 to 
April 30 and within an active Dynamic Management Area; and soft start 
and shut down, and pause procedures); and (4) those required during 
dynamic positioning thruster use (establishment and monitoring of an 
exclusion zone, and ramp up and power down procedures). In accordance 
with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
and the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) regulations 
implementing NEPA at 40 CFR 1500-1508, BOEM issued a FONSI supported by 
the analysis in the revised EA. The FONSI concluded that the reasonably 
foreseeable environmental impacts associated with the proposed action 
and alternatives, as set forth in the EA, would not significantly 
impact the quality of the human environment; therefore, the preparation 
of an Environmental Impact Statement is not required.

    Authority: This Notice of Availability for an EA is in 
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 
amended (42 U.S.C. 4231 et seq.), and is published pursuant to 43 
CFR 46.305.

    Dated: June 22, 2015.
Abigail Ross Hopper,
Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

    Editorial Note: The Office of the Federal Register received this 
document on September 22, 2015.
[FR Doc. 2015-24408 Filed 9-28-15; 8:45 am]
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