The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced a Determination of No Competitive Interest in a proposed research lease area off the coast of Maine. This decision follows last year's BOEM Request for Competitive Interest (RFCI) in the Gulf of Maine.
This means that BOEM will proceed with the State of Maine's research proposal. BOEM received an application for a research lease from the State of Maine on October 1, 2021, requesting 9,700 acres on the US Outer Continental Shelf more than 20 nautical miles off the Maine coast.
BOEM received complete submissions from two qualified entities following the RFCI. However, after careful consideration of the submissions, BOEM determined that there was no competitive interest in the RFCI area due to concerns about commercial scale viability in the proposed research lease area.
The determination that there is no competitive interest in the RFCI area does not guarantee the State of Maine a research lease. The following steps in processing the research application are to publish a Determination of No Competitive Interest in the Federal Register and to begin an environmental review of potential impacts from offshore wind leasing activities associated with the research lease.
