The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will issue this week a Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) of the 800MW Vineyard Wind project offshore Massachusetts.
The NOA will be published in the Federal Register on Friday, 7 December, BOEM said.
The DEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the proposed action described in the Vineyard Wind COP and reasonable alternatives to the proposed action.
The publication of the NOA opens a 45-day public comment period. During this time, BOEM will conduct five public meetings and accept comments. The input received via this process will inform the preparation of the Final Environmental Impact Statement. Comments on the DEIS should be submitted or postmarked no later than 21 January 2019.
Public meetings will be held during the comment period in Hyannis, Narragansett, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and New Bedford.
“The Vineyard Wind Draft Environmental Impact Statement is another important opportunity for us to hear from our stakeholders,” said BOEM Acting Director Walter Cruickshank .
“Public feedback is a vital part of our process and we would like to hear from everyone before preparing the Final Environmental Impact Statement.”
The Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm is located some 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and will feature MHI Vestas 9.5MW turbines.
The wind farm is expected to enter the construction phase in 2019 and be operational by 2021.
The project is being developed by Vineyard Wind LLC, a partnership between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.