The Benefits and Burdens of OCS Wind Development

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The Benefits and Burdens of OCS Wind Development

• Rodney Cluck, Ph.D.
• Cape Wind Project Manager
• Department of the Interior
• Minerals Management Service

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Who is MMS?

• The Minerals Management Service manages the
  mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf
  and Federal and Indian mineral revenues to
  enhance public and trust benefit, promote
  responsible use, and realize fair value

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What does MMS Manage?

• Human Activity on the OCS
• Industry
• Recovery of resources
• Ensure environmental protection under NEPA
• We do not manage fish, marine mammals or sea
  birds.

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Examples of potential projects
Current
Wind
Wave
Hydrogen
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Relevant Laws include

• NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)
• OCSLA (Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act)
• MMPA (Marine Mammal Protection Act)
• ESA (Endangered Species Act)
• CZMA (Coastal Zone Management Act)
• EFH (Essential Fish Habitat)
• MSA (Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
  Management Act)
• EPAct (Environmental Policy Act of 2005)

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What Does EPAct05 do?

• Amends OCS Lands Act (OCSLA) to authorize the
  U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to act as
  lead agency for certain alternative energy and
  marine-related uses on the OCS
• MMS must develop regulatory regime that
• Ensures consultation with States and other
  stakeholders
• Grants leases, easement, or right-of ways
• Enforces regulatory compliance
• Requires financial surety
• Provides fair return to the Nation

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Alternate Energy-Related Uses on the OCS

• Create a new regulatory process
• Issue necessary regulations
• Establish revenue sharing formula
• Comprehensive mapping initiative
• Develop consultation and coordination process

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Size and Location of Offshore Wind generation
creates different challenges

• Engineering
• Onshore staging areas (ports and fabrication)
• Construction
• Vessel traffic
• Cabling
• Navigation
• Air
• water
• Radar interference
• Air
• Water
• Viewshed
• Wildlife

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Standards and Data for Environmental Assessment

• Develop adequate baseline then begin monitoring
  protocol (wildlife examples)
• Birds
• Fish
• Fisheries
• Benthic ecology
• Marine mammals
• Etc.

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Adaptive Management Dealing with Uncertainty
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Cape Wind Project Description

• 454 MW capacity
• Horseshoe Shoals in Nantucket Sound
• 130 turbines, 100x200ft ESP
• 24 sq. mi. (1/3-1/2 mi spacing)
• Power to ISO-NE grid
• Two 115kv AC transmission lines coming ashore in
  Yarmouth

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MMS Consultation on Cape Wind

• Federal
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  (section 7)
• US Army Corps of Engineers (section 10)
• US Coast Guard (navigation)
• US Department of Energy (engineering standards)
• US Environmental Protection Agency (conformity
  analysis)
• US Federal Aviation Administration
• United States Fish and Wildlife Service
  (biological opinion)
• United States Department of the Interior /Office
  of Environmental Policy and Compliance
• State
• Cape Cod Commission
• Massachusetts Department of Environmental
  Protection
• Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental
  Affairs
• (MEPA and CZM is under them conduct joint
  EIS/EIR)
• Massachusetts Historical Commission
• Tribal
• Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) G2G

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Benefits and Burdens Discursive Environmental
Assumptions (Cluck 1998, The Multi-Dimensional
Basis of Environmental Attitudes Dissertation)

• Worldview benefit example
• Move towards renewable energy is good for the
  global environment
• Air quality
• Climate change
• Clean Energy
• Local concern burden example
• WTG will negatively impact specific species and
  habitat
• Birds
• Fish/Fisheries
• View shed

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The Energy Trade-off

• MMS development decision(s)
• Cannot be solely determined by discourse towards
  worldviews or local concerns
• But rather
• Empirical data
• Compliance with environmental laws
• Objectivity
• Stakeholder input
• The trade-off is based on balancing the need
  for clean renewable energy while protecting the
  environment, mitigating impacts, ensuring safe
  operations and providing for multiple use of the
  OCS.
• This establishes a credible basis for
  decision-making that serves to enhance the
  benefits and abate the burdens