Environmental review completed on wind lease areas offshore New York and New Jersey
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed an environmental review to assess potential wind development activities within six wind lease areas covering over 488,000 acres (197,000 hectares) offshore New York and New Jersey in an area known as the New York Bight.
BOEM estimates that full development of the lease areas could generate up to seven GW of offshore wind energy, which is enough to power up to two million homes.
"BOEM has collected input from Tribes, Federal and state government agencies, local communities, ocean users, and key stakeholders as part of our comprehensive environmental review," said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. "We appreciate the feedback we have received, and we believe our regional approach will provide a solid baseline for future environmental reviews for any proposed offshore wind projects in the New York Bight."
In February 2022, BOEM held an auction that brought in over US$4.3 billion for the rights to six lease areas in the New York Bight – a record amount for any US offshore renewable or conventional energy lease sale.
BOEM prepared a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to analyse potential environmental impacts of offshore wind activities in the six New York Bight lease areas. The Proposed Action for the PEIS identifies avoidance, minimisation, mitigation, and monitoring (AMMM) measures that BOEM may require as conditions for approval for activities proposed by lessees in the individual construction and operations plans submitted for these six lease areas.
Additional environmental analyses specific to each proposed project would build on the PEIS. This is the first time BOEM has conducted a regional analysis of offshore renewable energy development activities across multiple lease areas.
In early 2024, BOEM held five public meetings and eight regional environmental justice forums between 2022 and 2024 to receive input on the Draft PEIS from Tribal Nations, local community members, government partners, and ocean users. This public engagement was supported by funds from the Inflation Reduction Act.
BOEM sought information on important resources and issues, potential impacts to the environment, and AMMM measures found in the Draft PEIS. BOEM received 1,568 unique comments from 560 submissions, which informed the Final PEIS, including the categorisation and analysis of the AMMM measures. The Final PEIS analyses 58 AMMM measures that have been applied previously to offshore wind activities, and eight that have not been applied previously but may help reduce potential impacts.
The “Notice of Availability of a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Expected Wind Energy Development in the New York Bight” will be published in the Federal Register on October 25, 2024.
