BOEM to Seek Public Comment on Beacon Wind Project

WASHINGTON — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is seeking public comment to drive its assessment of amendments developers of the Beacon Wind project made to their original site assessment plan.

Beacon Wind LLC has proposed developing a lease area — OCS-A 0520 — located approximately 20 miles southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts, into a wind farm that will ultimately produce 2,000 MW of wind energy.

The lease area is anticipated to be developed in two phases, identified as BW 1 and BW 2.

Federal regulators approved the developer’s original Site Assessment Plan on Sept. 24, 2021. In March 2023, the developers submitted an amendment that included activities not included in the original plan.

These include additional site assessment and foundation testing activities in the lease area.

On Tuesday, the Bureau will publish a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment to consider these additional activities.

The publication of the Notice in the Federal Register opens a 30-day public comment period that ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on Dec. 7. 

Interested parties may submit comments in either of the following methods: 

Through the regulations.gov web portal: Navigate to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket No. BOEM-2023-062 to submit public comments and view supporting and related materials available for this notice. 

Commenters are advised to click on the “Comment” button below the document link. Enter your information and comment, then click “Submit Comment.”

Those wishing to make their opinions known to the agency may also do so by mail or other delivery services.

Anyone wishing to go this route should send their comments and information to the following address: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 45600 Woodland Road, Mail Stop VAM-OREP, Sterling, VA 20166.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue