Offshore Wind

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Waves on the beach as a background. Beautiful natural background at the summer time

The Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) revealed its intention to request Calls for Information and Nominations for a variety of Call Areas along the Central Atlantic and Oregon coasts on April 27. The Calls for Information and Nominations evidence BOEM’s continued push to advance the development of offshore wind resources. BOEM intends to officially publish the Call Areas—those portions of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) preliminarily identified as suitable for development—for public comment on April 29, 2022.
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Continue Reading BOEM Readies Itself for Further Offshore Wind Development Along the Central Atlantic and Oregon Coasts

Turbines

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced this morning that it will offer 110,091 acres of the Outer Continental Shelf (ICS) in the Carolina Bay Area for lease this coming May.  The Carolina Bay Area lease sale follows the recent lease sale in the New York Bight and demonstrates the Bind Administration’s commitment to establishing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind production by 2030.  BOEM’s Federal Register notice may be found here.
Continue Reading BOEM Presses Forward with Offshore Wind Development in the Carolina Bay

Last week’s blog post on NEPA and renewable energy development discussed how NEPA intersects with legal challenges brought against wind and solar projects.  On March 9, 2022, concerned residents from the Town of East Hampton, New York filed suit to overturn the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) and Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) approval of the South Fork Wind Farm Project (South Fork Project).  In Mahoney v. Dept. of Interior, No. 2:22-cv-1305, plaintiffs allege violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, and Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Act by BOEM and the Corps. …
Continue Reading Property Owners Lodge a NEPA Challenge to the South Fork Offshore Wind Farm Project

Perspective line of ocean wind mills with dark water and sky

Last week, the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) held its second of two intergovernmental stakeholder meetings to discuss offshore wind in the Gulf of Mexico.  The February 2, 2022, meeting follows BOEM’s receipt of a second round of scoping comments for a proposed environmental assessment (EA) of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for offshore wind leasing.
Continue Reading BOEM Takes Another Step Toward Leasing the Outer Continental Shelf for Offshore Wind

The momentum behind offshore wind has continued to grow since our February 2021 post on the topic. Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced plans to open seven more offshore wind leases by 2025 off both coasts of the U.S. These potential leases will cover projects in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Maine, and off the Mid-Atlantic, the Carolinas, California, and Oregon. The agency’s announcement follows a March 2021 commitment by the Biden Administration to deploy 30 gigawatts (30,000 megawatts) of offshore wind by 2030. The agency’s announcement also came on the same day the Department of Energy set aside $13.5 million to support continued research on the impact of offshore wind on birds, bats, and marine mammals.
Continue Reading From Sea to Shining Sea, U.S. Continues Renewable Energy Push with Biden Administration’s Latest Commitment to Offshore Wind

Perspective line of ocean wind mills with dark water and sky

Europe’s offshore wind sector enjoyed a record $31 billion of investment in 2020. The U.S has some serious work to do to catch up. While development of land-based wind and solar projects continues at a rapid pace across the U.S., we lag far behind many other countries when it comes to offshore project development. There are currently only two small offshore wind projects operating in the U.S.

There are signs, though, that change is coming.…

Continue Reading Offshore Wind Positioned to Take Off Under Biden