Abstract
I. Guidance Document Statement
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issues guidance documents to clarify, supplement, and provide more detail about certain BOEM regulatory requirements and to outline information required of the lessee to support their various submittals. This guidance document sets forth a policy and an interpretation of a regulatory requirement to provide a clear and consistent approach to complying with that requirement. A lessee may use an alternate approach for compliance; however, early and frequent coordination with BOEM will be especially critical to ensure the work conducted meets BOEM’s regulatory requirements.
II. Introduction to Guidelines
Before the U.S. Department of the Interior, BOEM will approve the siting of a facility proposed for a renewable energy project on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a lessee must submit the results of its site characterization surveys to BOEM with its Site Assessment Plan (SAP), Construction and Operations Plan (COP), or General Activities Plan (GAP). The purpose of this national guidance document is to provide recommendations for complying with the marine mammal and sea turtle information requirements in 30 CFR Part 585 Subpart F.
BOEM requires the results of site characterization studies to evaluate the impact of proposed activities on physical, biological, and socioeconomic resources as well as the seafloor and subseafloor conditions which could be affected by the construction, installation, and operation of meteorological towers, buoys, cables, wind turbines, and supporting structures. The information will be used by BOEM, other Federal agencies, and potentially affected states in the preparation of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents; interagency consultations, such as Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA); and to meet other statutory and regulatory requirements. Early communication with BOEM and adherence to these guidelines should ensure BOEM’s information needs are met. Survey results obtained through procedures consistent with these guidelines should be sufficient for BOEM’s decision-making process. BOEM may stipulate through lease and grant terms that lessees and grantees submit a SAP, COP, or GAP survey plan, and schedule a pre-survey meeting with BOEM to discuss the plan prior to conducting survey activities in the leased or granted area.
Site characterization activities in this document refer only to marine mammal and sea turtle surveys. BOEM provides recommendations for conducting and reporting the results of other baseline 2 collection studies in separate guidelines: http://www.boem.gov/Survey-Guidelines/. These national guidelines may be updated periodically, as new information or methodologies become available. This version supersedes any previous versions.
The overall purpose of the required information is to describe the key species and habitat within the survey area possibly affected by the proposed operations. The marine mammal and sea turtle survey plan should aim to:
- Identify and confirm which marine mammal and sea turtle species are using the project site, and when these species may be present, where development is proposed; Special consideration should be given to identifying threatened and endangered species.
- Establish a pre-construction baseline which may be used to assess whether detectable changes associated with proposed operations occurred in post-construction abundance and distribution of marine mammal and sea turtle species;
- Collect additional information aimed at reducing uncertainty associated with baseline estimates and/or to inform the interpretation of survey results; and
- Develop an approach to quantify any substantial changes in the distribution and abundance of marine mammal and sea turtle species associated with proposed operations.
For all projects, lessees should also describe the measures to be taken to minimize or eliminate potential impacts to migratory bird species in their COP, SAP, or GAP. In addition, for projects involving the installation of wind energy turbines on the Atlantic OCS, the lessee should prepare a marine mammal and sea turtle survey plan that describes its methods for collecting sufficient information on the occurrence and habitat of marine mammals and sea turtles in the lease area to allow BOEM and other agencies with jurisdiction to make well-founded decisions in context with the regional biology.