[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 188 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59061-59062]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21104]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XC092


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Energy Projects 
Offshore of New Jersey

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for Letters of Authorization; 
request for comments and information.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from Atlantic Shores Offshore 
Wind, LLC (Atlantic Shores) for authorization to take small numbers of 
marine mammals incidental to activities associated with two offshore 
wind energy projects in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) 
Lease Area Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)-A-0499 off of New Jersey over 
the course of 5 years beginning on January 1, 2025. Pursuant to 
regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS 
is announcing receipt of Atlantic Shores' request for the development 
and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of 
marine mammals and associated Letters of Authorization (LOAs). NMFS 
invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on 
Atlantic Shores' application and request.

DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than October 
31, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the applications should be addressed to Jolie 
Harrison, Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. Physical comments should 
be sent to 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 and 
electronic comments should be sent to [email protected].
    Instructions: NMFS is not responsible for comments sent by any 
other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the 
end of the comment period. Comments received electronically, including 
all attachments, must not exceed a 25-megabyte file size. Attachments 
to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word or Excel or 
Adobe PDF file formats only. All comments received are a part of the 
public record and will generally be posted online at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address) voluntarily submitted by the 
commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential 
business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelsey Potlock, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401. An electronic copy of Atlantic Shores' 
application may be obtained online at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act. In case of problems accessing these documents, please call the 
contact listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) 
direct the Secretary of Commerce (as delegated to NMFS) to allow, upon 
request, the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers 
of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity 
(other than commercial fishing) within a specified geographical region 
if certain findings are made and either regulations are issued or, if 
the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed 
authorization is provided to the public for review.
    An incidental take authorization shall be granted if NMFS finds 
that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or 
stock(s), will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the 
availability of the species or stock(s) for subsistence uses (where 
relevant), and if the permissible methods of taking and requirements 
pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring and reporting of such takings 
are set forth.
    NMFS has defined ``negligible impact'' in 50 CFR 216.103 as an 
impact resulting from the specified activity that cannot be reasonably 
expected to, and is not reasonably likely to, adversely affect the 
species or stock through effects on annual rates of recruitment or 
survival.
    The MMPA states that the term ``take'' means to harass, hunt, 
capture, kill or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine 
mammal.
    Except with respect to certain activities not pertinent here, the 
MMPA defines ``harassment'' as: any act of pursuit, torment, or 
annoyance, which (i) has the potential to injure a marine mammal or 
marine mammal stock in the wild (Level A harassment); or (ii) has the 
potential to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild 
by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including, but not 
limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or 
sheltering (Level B harassment).

Summary of Request

    On February 28, 2022, NMFS received an application from Atlantic 
Shores requesting authorization to take marine mammals incidental to 
construction activities associated with two offshore wind energy 
projects (referred to as Project 1 and Project 2 in the application) in 
the Lease Area OCS-A-0499 off of New Jersey. In response to our 
comments, and following extensive information exchanges with NMFS, 
Atlantic Shores submitted a revised application on August 12, 2022, 
that we determined was adequate and complete on August 25, 2022. The 
requested regulations would be valid for 5 years, from January 1, 2025 
through December 31, 2029.
    Atlantic Shores plans to conduct construction activities for 
Projects 1 and 2 that consist of the following: impact installation of 
wind turbine generator (WTG) and offshore substation (OSS) foundations 
(consisting of either monopile or jacket foundations); site 
characterization surveys; impact installation of a permanent 
meteorological (met) tower; deployment of metocean buoys; placement of 
scour protection; the installation of eight export cables via 
trenching, laying, and burial; and vibratory pile driving to 
temporarily install and remove sheet pile cofferdams at two cable 
landfall sites. Vessels will be used to transport crew, supplies, and 
materials to the project area and to support construction activities. 
Atlantic Shores may also conduct fisheries surveys during the effective 
period of the requested regulations, as required by BOEM. Atlantic 
Shores has indicated no unexploded ordinance/munitions and explosives 
of concern (UXO/MEC) detonations would occur during the effective 
period of the regulations and has not included this activity as part of 
the specified activities. A subset of the specified activities included 
in the application (i.e., installing piles using impact and vibratory 
pile driving and site characterization surveys) may result in the 
incidental take, by Level A harassment and/or Level B harassment, of 
marine mammals. Therefore, Atlantic Shores requests authorization to 
incidentally take marine mammals.

Specified Activities

    In Executive Order 14008, President Biden stated that it is the 
policy of the

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United States to organize and deploy the full capacity of its agencies 
to combat the climate crisis to implement a Government-wide approach 
that reduces climate pollution in every sector of the economy; 
increases resilience to the impacts of climate change; protects public 
health; conserves our lands, waters, and biodiversity; delivers 
environmental justice; and spurs well-paying union jobs and economic 
growth, especially through innovation, commercialization, and 
deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure.
    Through a competitive leasing process under 30 CFR 585.211, 
Atlantic Shores was award Commercial Lease OCS-A 0499, located offshore 
of New Jersey in the New Jersey Wind Energy Area and has the exclusive 
rights to submit a construction and operations plan (COP) for 
activities within the lease area. Atlantic Shores has submitted a COP 
to BOEM proposing the construction, operation, maintenance, and 
conceptual decommissioning of Project 1 and Project 2, collectively 
generating 1,510 megawatts (MW) of clean energy. Combined, these 
projects will have a maximum of 200 WTGs, 10 OSSs, 1 meteorological 
tower, and 8 transmission cables making landfall at 2 locations in 
Atlantic and Monmouth Counties.
    Atlantic Shores anticipates that activities potentially resulting 
in the take of marine mammals could occur during the life of the 
requested regulations and associated 5-year Letters of Authorization 
(LOAs). Specifically, these activities are:
     The installation, via impact pile driving, of up to 200 
WTGs utilizing either monopile (up to 15-meter (m) in diameter) or 
jacket foundations (up to 5-m in diameter pin piles). Project 1 would 
be comprised of 105-111 foundations and Project 2 would be comprised of 
89-95 foundations;
     The installation, via impact driving, of up to 10 OSSs 
using up to jacket foundations comprised of 5-m pin piles (with 5 OSSs 
allocated to each project);
     Construction-related high-resolution site assessment 
geophysical surveys utilizing acoustic sources with frequencies of <180 
kilohertz (kHz) for up to 300 days (estimate of 60 days annually) 
during all 5 years;
     The installation, via impact driving, of one permanent met 
tower in Project 1 using either a monopile up to 15-m in diameter or a 
jacket foundation using up to 5-m pin piles; and
     The installation and removal, via vibratory driving, of up 
to eight temporary steel sheet pile cofferdams at the Atlantic cable 
landfall site (Project 1) and the Monmouth cable landfall site (Project 
2).

Information Solicited

    Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and 
comments concerning Atlantic Shores' request (see ADDRESSES). NMFS will 
consider all information, suggestions, and comments related to the 
request during the development of proposed regulations governing the 
incidental taking of marine mammals by Atlantic Shores, if appropriate.

    Dated: September 23, 2022.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-21104 Filed 9-28-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P