Abstract
Park City Wind LLC (the Proponent) has prepared this draft Piping Plover Protection Plan (PPPP) per consultation with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP) on April 15, 2020 regarding the New England Wind 1 Connector (NE Wind 1 Connector). The New England Wind 1 Connector PPPP aligns with the Vineyard Wind Connector 1 PPPP, which was developed in collaboration with NHESP to avoid noise-related impacts to nesting piping plovers from horizontal directional drilling (HDD) activities at the Covell’s Beach Landfall Site in Barnstable, MA. The NE Wind 1 Connector will utilize a landfall site at either Craigville Public Beach, approximately 0.4 miles west of Covell’s Beach, or at the Covell’s Beach Landfall Site. Since both landfall sites have similar characteristics and resource areas, the New England Wind 1 Connector PPPP applies to both landfall sites under consideration for NE Wind 1 Connector.
For Vineyard Wind Connector 1, NHESP requested the following:
Please provide a Piping Plover protection plan that addresses measures to protect state-listed species and their habitats during the nesting season (April 1 – August 31) and a contingency plan in the event problems arise during the HDD cable installation, including:
a.Work begins prior to April 1 and lapses for 3 or more days.
b.Weather or other unforeseen problems arise which delay the start of work to April 1 – August 31.
c.Problems with the HDD drill arise which require physical access to the coastal beach or result in physical disturbance to the coastal beach (e.g. obstructions, blow-outs).
d.Details regarding how the work area will be delineated to prevent encroachment onto the coastal beach.