The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has made available the draft environmental assessment (EA) for the New York Bight offshore wind lease areas.
The EA assesses the potential impacts of the issuance of commercial and research leases within the nearly 800,000-acre wind energy areas (WEAs) of the New York Bight, and granting of rights-of-way and rights-of-use and easement in the region.
These WEAs include the lease areas proposed in the Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) for the New York Bight, an area of shallow waters between Long Island and the New Jersey coast, issued in June.
If approved, offshore wind development in the areas included in the PSN could encompass up to eight lease areas totaling over 627,000 acres, with the potential to generate over 7 gigawatts of wind energy.
The EA considers potential environmental consequences of site characterization activities and site assessment activities. The EA also considers project easements associated with each potential lease issued and grants for subsea cable corridors in the New York Bight.
The issuance of the draft EA also initiates a 30-day public comment period that ends on 9 September.
During the public comment period, BOEM will be hosting two virtual meetings on 24 and 25 August.