Long Island Offshore Wind Park Scoping Report

1
Long Island Offshore Wind Park Scoping Report

• Scoping Period
• June 19 August 21, 2006

2
Proposed Project

• 40 wind turbines
• 3.6 miles southwest of Jones Beach
• 400 feet high
• Produce 140 megawatts of electricity
• Come onshore via submarine transmission line at
  West Amityville
• Purpose To provide a utility-scale renewable
  energy facility for the Long Island electrical
  grid

3
Project Location
4
NEPA

• MMS determined an Environmental Impact Statement
  (EIS) required under NEPA
• Scoping is a required first step
• announced for 60 days 6/19-8/21
• identifies significant issues, alternatives, or
  mitigations
• includes public participation in addition to
  inputs by the lead and cooperating agencies

5
Purpose of Scoping Report

• Collect concerns and information from
  individuals, federal and state agencies, and
  organizations regarding scope of EIS
• Trace comments to origin
• necessary step to credibly show people their
  comments are considered
• Summarize and report concerns by themes
• Show what we received by objective evidence
• Does NOT include recommendations or conclusions
  about the EIS
• Organized in 2 volumes
• Volume 1 is main report cross-referencing
  appendices
• Volume 2 contains scanned images of all sources

6
Scoping Comments

• 2,877 sources submitted 6,075 comments
• Letters (1,988)
• 1,949 received before August 21
• 39 received after Aug 21 were included
• Many multiple signatories per letter or letters
  per address
• Testimony at two public meetings (156 speakers)
• July 10 (West Babylon, NY)
• July 11 (Massapequa, NY)
• Included various submittals on site
• OCS Public Connect website (208 entries)
• FOIA package from Save Jones Beach Association
  COE comment records, correspondence, and
  miscellany
• materials in this package that informed our
  evaluation were included in our scoping

7
Scoping CommentsGeneral Impressions

• Support w/ or w/o conditions 3,786
• Support w/ full environmental review Natural
  Resources Defense Council 8,054 letters
• Oppose w/ or w/o conditions or prefer no action
  - 714
• Support fair full evaluation 1,574
• Signatures on petitions supporting LIOWP from
  Citizens Campaign for the Environment (12,000)
• petitions do not help inform the scope of our
  environmental review and will be made part of the
  EIS administrative record

8
Report Organization Vol. I

• Introduction
• The Scoping Process
• Summary Of Scoping Comments
• Conceptual Concerns
• Potential Impacts or Issues of Concern
• Alternatives
• Mitigation Measures
• General Comments
• Summary Of People Offering Comments
• Next Steps

9
Report Organization Vol. I (cont.)

• Appendix A Individual Source Numbers for Each
  Comment Code
• Appendix B Comment Codes and File Names in
  Volume II (Adobe PDF) for Each Person Offering
  a Comment
• Appendix C Comment Codes (with no file names)
  for Each Person Offering a Comment
• Appendix D Comment Codes and File Names for Each
  Agency and Organization
• Appendix E Comment Codes for Each Scoping
  Meeting Testifier
• Appendix F Comment Codes for Each Person
  Offering a Comment through OCS Public Connect
• Appendix G List of Supplementary Materials
  Included with Comments

10
Report Organization Vol. II

• Adobe PDF files referenced in Appendices B - G

11
Comment Coding - Traceability

• By person or group that commented
• L1 first letter (L2 second letter, etc)
• SW1 first speaker at West Babylon
• SM1 first speaker at Massapequa
• P1 first OCS Public Connect comment
• By comment
• C1 first conceptual comment
• I1 first issue/impact of concern
• A1 first alternative
• M mitigation
• G general comments

12
Conceptual

• Comments that were general
• and broad for or against the project
• Examples
• C1 Support project
• C1A Support project for environmental reasons
• C2 Oppose project
• C2B Oppose project for political reasons
• C3 Support a fair, full evaluation

13
Issues of Concern

• Comments that demonstrated concern about impacts
  to the biological, physical and socioeconomic
  environment
• Examples
• I1 Benthic and shellfish resources
• I2 Protected marine species
• I16B Discuss the impacts of cable construction
  on neighbors, nearby schools, and other
  sensitive receptors
• I16E Discuss the impacts of cable operation on
  neighbors, nearby schools, and other sensitive
  receptors

14
Alternatives

• Comments that provided
• alternatives to the proposed project
• Examples
• A1 Consider alternative renewable energy
  resources
• A2 Consider alternatives within current
  proposal
• A3 Update existing facilities
• A4 Expand the current plan

15
Mitigation

• Comments that provided mitigation ideas for
  various portions of the proposed project
• Examples
• M2 Establish a long-term monitoring program
• M5 Paint turbines a different color to lessen
  impacts

16
General

• Comments about the EIS process
• unbiased general comments
• Examples
• G4 Perform a regulatory review comply with
  all state and Federal laws
• G6 Thoroughly justify project costs, need, and
  methods perform a cost-benefit analysis
  compensate for takings

17
Main Report (Conceptual Impacts)
18
Main Report (Specific Impacts)
19
Appendix A (sample)

• C1 Support project (96 comments)
• L1035, L1130, L1164, L123, L1359, L1488, L1674,
  L1695, L1767, L1768,
• L1878, L192, L193, L1930, L1931, L2006, L2063,
  L2079, L2151, L2212, L2268,
• L2314, L2315, L249, L377, L389, L390, L426, L479,
  L623, L647, L683, L689,
• L691, L692, L693, L764, L781, L817, L827, L871,
  L872, L984, L985, L1063,
• L1184, L1185, L1373, L1412, L1516, L2170, L2192,
  L706, L808, L2416, SM42,
• SM70, SW55, SM38, SM61, SM32, SM78, SM69, P208
  P3, P14, P19, P25, P31,
• P37, P38, P50, P51, P52, P79, P84, P88, P114,
  P115, P116, P117, P120, P127,
• P131, P145, P146, P148, P160, P162, P166, P171,
  P172, P182, P81, P144, P159
• C1A Support project for environmental reasons
  (i.e. human health, children,
• safety, the environment in general, etc.)
  (2123)
• L10, L1001, L1005, L1006, L101, L1011, L1012,
  L1013, L1017, L102, L1024,
• L1027, L1028, L1029, L1030, L1031, L1032, L1033,
  L1034, L1037, L1039,
• L1040, L1041, L1046, L1048, L1049, L1052, L1053,
  L1055, L1057, L1058,
• L1059, L106, L1061, L1064, L1065, L1068, L1069,
  L1070, L1071, L1072,
• L1073, L1074, L1075, L1077, L107, L1079, L1080,
  L1082, L1083, L1086,

20
Appendix B (sample)
21
Next Steps

• Scoping Report, public meeting transcripts, and
  all submitted materials and letters are
  available on the MMS website at
  http//www.mms.gov/offshore/RenewableEnergy/LIOWP
  .htm

• Draft EIS planned for release in April 2007
• 60-day public review and comment period on DEIS
  after release
• MMS is required under NEPA to consider comments
  made on DEIS and incorporate them into the Final
  EIS