The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced the completion of its final Environmental Assessment (EA) regarding the potential impacts of issuing leases for offshore wind energy development off the Oregon coast.
The review covers site assessment and site characterization activities, including geophysical, geological, and archaeological surveys. The EA concluded that issuing leases would not have significant impacts on people or the environment. BOEM plans to hold an offshore wind energy lease sale in Oregon later this year. Any leases issued from this sale would not authorise the construction or operation of an offshore wind facility. Instead, a lease grants the lessee the right to submit a project plan for BOEM’s review. For any future proposed offshore wind projects, BOEM will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the specific impacts of those projects before deciding whether to approve the construction and operations plan.
