[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 199 (Monday, October 17, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62793-62794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-22425]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XC428]


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to the Mayflower Wind Project Offshore of Massachusetts

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

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

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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from Mayflower Wind, LLC 
(Mayflower Wind) for authorization to take small numbers of marine 
mammals incidental to the Mayflower Wind Project in a designated lease 
area on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) Lease Area Outer 
Continental Shelf (OCS)-A-0521 offshore of Massachusetts, over the 
course of 5 years beginning on April 1, 2025. Pursuant to regulations 
implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is 
announcing receipt of Mayflower Wind's request for the development and 
implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine 
mammals and issuance of a 5-year Letter of Authorization (LOA). NMFS 
invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on 
Mayflower Wind's application and request.

DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than November 
16, 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 and 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/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-other-energy-activities-renewable 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: Carter Esch, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401. An electronic copy of Mayflower Wind's 
application may be obtained online at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-other-energy-activities-renewable. In case of problems accessing these 
documents, please email 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

[[Page 62794]]

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

Summary of Request

    On March 18, 2022, NMFS received an application from Mayflower Wind 
requesting authorization to take marine mammals incidental to 
construction activities associated with the Mayflower Wind Offshore 
Wind Project offshore of Massachusetts in the designated Lease Area 
OCS-A-0521. In response to our comments, and following extensive 
information exchange with NMFS, Mayflower Wind submitted a final, 
revised application on September 14, 2022, which we determined was 
adequate and complete on September 19, 2022. Mayflower Wind requested 
the regulations and subsequent LOA be valid for 5 years beginning on 
April 1, 2025.
    Mayflower Wind plans to conduct wind farm construction activities, 
including impact and vibratory pile driving, cable installation, 
unexploded ordnances (UXO) detonation, and high-resolution geophysical 
(HRG) site characterization surveys to build and operate the Mayflower 
Wind Project. Vessel use and fishery surveys will also be necessary to 
support the project. The proposed action may incidentally expose marine 
mammals occurring in the vicinity to elevated levels of underwater 
noise during pile driving, UXO detonation, and HRG surveys, thereby 
resulting in incidental take, by Level A harassment and/or Level B 
harassment, of marine mammals. Therefore, Mayflower Wind requests 
authorization to incidentally take marine mammals.

Specified Activities

    Through a competitive leasing process under 30 CFR 585.211, 
Mayflower Wind was awarded Commercial Lease OCS-A 0521 offshore of 
Massachusetts and the exclusive right to submit a construction and 
operations plan (COP) for activities within the lease area. Mayflower 
Wind has submitted a COP to BOEM proposing the construction, operation, 
maintenance, and conceptual decommissioning of the Mayflower Wind 
Project, a 2,400 megawatt (MW) capacity commercial-scale offshore wind 
energy facility consisting of up to 147 wind turbines, up to five 
offshore sub-stations, and two export cable corridors making landfall 
in Falmouth and Somerset, Massachusetts.
    Mayflower Wind anticipates the following activities may potentially 
result in harassment of marine mammals during the effective period of 
the requested regulations and associated LOA:
     Installing up to 147 WTG monopile foundations with a 
maximum diameter tapering from 9 meters (m; 30 feet (ft)) above the 
waterline to 16 m (39 ft) below the waterline (9/16-m monopile) using a 
vibratory hammer and 6,600 kJ impact hammer, or installing up to 588 
pin piles with a 4.5-m maximum diameter to support up to 147 WTGs using 
a vibratory hammer and a 3,500 kJ impact hammer;
     Installing up to five 9/16-m diameter OSP monopile 
foundations using a 6,600 kJ impact hammer, or installing up to 135 pin 
piles with a 4.5-m maximum diameter to support five OSPs using a 3,500 
kJ impact hammer;
     Using HRG equipment to survey approximately 27,000 
kilometers (km) (16,777 miles (mi)) over 338 days across all 5 years 
(2025-2030);
     Detonating up to 10 UXOs over the course of 5 years with 
no more than 1 UXO detonation occurring on any given day.

Information Solicited

    Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and 
comments concerning Mayflower Wind's 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 Mayflower Wind, if appropriate.

    Dated: October 11, 2022.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-22425 Filed 10-14-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P