[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 30, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67969-67970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26040]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2021-0084]


Notice of Availability of a Joint Record of Decision (ROD) for 
the South Fork Wind, LLC Proposed Wind Energy Facility Offshore Rhode 
Island

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior; 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 (EIS) for the construction and 
operations plan (COP) submitted by South Fork Wind, LLC (South Fork 
Wind). The joint ROD includes the decisions of the Department of the 
Interior (DOI) and NMFS regarding the South Fork Wind COP. NMFS has 
adopted the Final EIS 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/renewable-energy/state-activities/south-fork.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the South Fork Wind 
Offshore Wind Energy Project ROD, please contact: BOEM--Michelle Morin, 
BOEM Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 45600 Woodland Road, 
Sterling, Virginia 20166, (703) 787-1722, or [email protected]; 
For information related to NMFS' action, contact Candace Nachman, NOAA 
Fisheries Office of Policy, (301) 427-8031, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: South Fork Wind seeks approval to construct, 
operate, maintain, and eventually decommission the Project--a wind 
energy facility on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore Rhode 
Island and an associated export cable. The Project would be developed 
within the range of design parameters outlined in the South Fork Wind 
COP, subject to applicable mitigation measures. The COP for the South 
Fork Wind Farm (SFWF) proposed the installation of up to 15 wind 
turbine generators with a nameplate capacity of 6 to 12 megawatts per 
turbine, submarine cables between the wind turbine generators (inter-
array cables), and an offshore substation. The SFWF would be located 
entirely on the OCS in the area covered by Renewable Energy Lease OCS-A 
0517 (Lease Area), approximately 19 miles southeast of Block Island, 
Rhode Island, and 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York. The South 
Fork Export Cable (SFEC) would be an alternating current electric cable 
that would connect the SFWF to the existing mainland electric grid in 
East Hampton, New York. The Project also would include an operations 
and maintenance facility located onshore at either Montauk in East 
Hampton, New York, or Quonset Point in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, 
and the SFEC will connect with the Long Island Power Authority electric 
transmission and distribution system in the town of East Hampton, New 
York. After carefully considering alternatives described and analyzed 
in the Final EIS and comments from the public on the Draft EIS, the 
Department of the Interior has decided to approve the COP for South 
Fork Wind under the Fisheries Habitat Impact Minimization Alternative, 
which will allow 12 or fewer turbines and one offshore substation to be 
installed by South Fork Wind. The full text of the mitigation, 
monitoring, and reporting requirements, which will be included in 
BOEM's COP approval, are available in the ROD, which is available on 
BOEM's website at: https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/south-fork.
    NMFS has decided to adopt, in part, BOEM's Final EIS and issue a 
final Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to South Fork Wind. 
NMFS' final decision to issue the requested IHA is documented in a 
separate Decision Memorandum prepared in accordance with internal NMFS 
policy and procedures. The IHA authorizes the incidental take of marine 
mammals while prescribing the means 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

[[Page 67970]]

Issuance of the final IHA will be published in the Federal Register.
    Authority: This Notice of Availability is published in accordance 
with regulations (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. 2021-26040 Filed 11-29-21; 8:45 am]
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