[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 92 (Friday, May 14, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26541-26542]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10192]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2021-0036]


Notice of Availability of a Joint Record of Decision for the 
Final Environment Impact Statement for the Vineyard Wind 1 Offshore 
Wind Energy Project Construction and Operations Plan

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior; New England 
District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Defense; National 
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability (NOA); record of decision (ROD).

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SUMMARY: BOEM announces the availability of the joint ROD on the final 
environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the construction and 
operations plan (COP) submitted by Vineyard Wind LLC (Vineyard Wind). 
The joint ROD includes the decisions of the Department of the Interior 
(DOI), USACE, and NMFS regarding the Vineyard Wind COP. The USACE has 
adopted the FEIS to support its permitting actions under the River and 
Harbors Act of 1899 (RHA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA). NMFS has 
adopted the FEIS to support its decision to issue an incidental take 
authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The joint ROD 
concludes the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for each 
agency and is available with associated information on BOEM's website 
at https://www.boem.gov/Vineyard-Wind/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
    BOEM--Michelle Morin, BOEM, Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 
45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, Virginia 20166, (703) 787-1722 or 
[email protected].
    NOAA--Candace Nachman, NOAA Fisheries Office of Policy, (301) 427-
8031 or [email protected].
    USACE--Christine Jacek, Regulatory Division, U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, 696 Virginia Road, Concord, Massachusetts 01742-2751, (978) 
318-8026, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Vineyard Wind seeks to construct, operate, 
maintain, and eventually decommission an 800-megawatt wind energy 
facility on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Massachusetts (the 
Project). The Project and associated export cables would be developed 
within the range of design parameters outlined in the Vineyard Wind 
COP, subject to applicable mitigation measures. The Project is located 
approximately 14 miles southeast of Martha's Vineyard and a similar 
distance southwest of Nantucket. The COP proposed installing up to 100 
wind turbine generators (WTGs) and one or two offshore substations or 
electrical service platforms. The WTGs would be located in water depths 
ranging from approximately 37 to 49 meters (121 to 161 feet). The COP 
proposed one export cable landfall near the town of Barnstable, 
Massachusetts, and onshore construction and staging at the New Bedford 
Marine Commerce Terminal.
    After carefully considering the FEIS alternatives, including 
comments from the public on the draft and supplemental EISs, DOI has 
decided to approve the COP for Vineyard Wind using a combination of 
alternatives C (No Surface Occupancy in the Northernmost Portion of the 
Project Area Alternative), D2 (East-West and One-Nautical-Mile Turbine 
Layout Alternative), and E (Reduced Project Size Alternative). BOEM 
identified this combination as its preferred alternative in the FEIS 
(Preferred Alternative). By selecting the Preferred Alternative, DOI 
will allow 84 or fewer WTGs to be installed in 100 of the 106 locations 
proposed by Vineyard Wind and will prohibit the installation of WTGs in 
6 locations in the northernmost portion of the project area. This 
decision will also require that the WTG layout be arranged in an east-
west/north-south orientation, with a minimum spacing of 1 nautical mile 
between WTGs, consistent with the U.S. Coast Guard's recommendations in 
the final ``The Areas Offshore of Massachusetts and Rhode Island Port 
Access Route Study.'' Vineyard Wind may choose where to place the 84 or 
fewer WTGs on the remaining 100 locations available and must proceed 
within the range of the design parameters outlined in the Vineyard Wind 
COP.
    DOI's selection of a combination of alternatives C, D2, and E as 
its Preferred Alternative meets the purpose and need as identified in 
the Vineyard Wind FEIS. The full text of the mitigation, monitoring, 
and reporting requirements that will be included in the COP approval 
are available in the joint ROD, which is available on BOEM's website 
at: https://www.boem.gov/Vineyard-Wind/.
    NMFS has decided to adopt BOEM's FEIS and issue a final incidental 
harassment authorization (IHA) to Vineyard Wind. NMFS' final decision 
to issue the requested IHA is documented in a separate decision 
memorandum prepared in accordance with internal

[[Page 26542]]

NMFS policy and procedures. The IHA authorizes the incidental take of 
marine mammals while prescribing the permissible methods of incidental 
take as well as mitigation and monitoring requirements, including those 
mandated by the biological opinion issued to complete the formal 
Endangered Species Act section 7 consultation process. A notice of 
issuance of the final IHA will be published in the Federal Register.
    The USACE has decided to adopt BOEM's FEIS and issue a Department 
of the Army (DA) permit pursuant to section 404 of the CWA (33 U.S.C. 
1344) and section 10 of the RHA (33 U.S.C. 403). The DA permit 
authorizes Vineyard Wind to discharge fill below the high tide line of 
waters of the United States and to perform work and place structures 
below the mean high-water mark of navigable waters of the United 
States. Activities under the DA permit are being authorized using a 
combination of alternatives C, D2, and E, as described in the Vineyard 
Wind FEIS. This alternative incorporates all practicable avoidance and 
minimization measures.

    Authority: This NOA is published in accordance with 40 CFR parts 
1500-1508, implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).

William Yancey Brown,
Chief Environmental Officer, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2021-10192 Filed 5-13-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P