[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 156 (Monday, August 15, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 50120]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17424]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2021-0036]


Joint Record of Decision for the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Vineyard Wind 1 Offshore Wind Energy Project; Notice 
of Availability of Record of Decision Supplements

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

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

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SUMMARY: BOEM announces the availability of two supplements to the 
joint ROD on the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the 
construction and operations plan (COP) submitted by Vineyard Wind 1 LLC 
(Vineyard Wind 1). The joint ROD included the decisions of the 
Department of the Interior (DOI), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 
(USACE), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regarding the 
Vineyard Wind 1 Offshore Wind Energy Project. In the joint ROD, the 
USACE adopted the FEIS to support its permitting actions under the 
Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (RHA) and Clean Water Act (CWA). The ROD 
supplements pertain only to the USACE sections of the joint ROD. They 
correct clerical errors and clarify a statement. The ROD supplements 
are available on BOEM's website at https://www.boem.gov/Vineyard-Wind.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessica Stromberg, Acting Chief, 
Environment Branch for Renewable Energy, Bureau of Ocean Energy 
Management, 45600 Woodland Road, VAM-OREP Sterling, Virginia 20166, 
(703) 787-1730, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Vineyard Wind 1 plans 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 1 
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 approved COP allows the 
installation of up to 84 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 approved COP proposed one export cable landfall near 
the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, and onshore construction and 
staging at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.
    As documented in the joint ROD, after carefully considering the 
FEIS alternatives, including comments from the public on the draft and 
supplemental EISs, DOI decided to approve the COP for Vineyard Wind 1, 
NMFS decided to adopt BOEM's FEIS and issue a final incidental 
harassment authorization to Vineyard Wind 1, and USACE 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 1 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.
    Subsequent to the issuance of the joint ROD and prior to the 
issuance of the DA permit, USACE issued a ROD supplement correcting 
several clerical errors regarding the Project's offshore export cable 
corridor length and the total acreage of transmission-cable scour 
protection to be authorized under the DA permit.
    Following the issuance of the DA permit, USACE issued a second ROD 
supplement. That supplement corrected a clerical error that had 
resulted in a portion of USACE's public interest determination being 
cut off mid-sentence and clarified an incorrect statement in the 
``General Public Interest Review'' section of the USACE portion of the 
joint ROD.
    The USACE portion of the joint ROD included this incorrect 
statement: ``While Vineyard Wind is not authorized to prevent free 
access to the entire wind development area, due to the placement of the 
turbines it is likely that the entire 75,614 acre area will be 
abandoned by commercial fisheries due to difficulties with 
navigation.'' The second ROD supplement clarified that this statement 
was based solely upon comments of interested parties submitted to BOEM 
during the public comment period for the draft environmental impact 
statement as summarized in appendix K to the FEIS. The statement was 
not based upon any separate or independent USACE or other agency 
evaluation or study. Accordingly, the statement does not represent the 
USACE position regarding the accessibility of the wind development area 
to commercial fisheries due to difficulties of navigation that may or 
may not result from the placement of the WTGs.
    Both ROD supplements are available on BOEM's website at https://www.boem.gov/Vineyard-Wind.
    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.; 40 CFR parts 1500-1508.

William Yancey Brown,
Chief Environmental Officer, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2022-17424 Filed 8-12-22; 8:45 am]
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