A month later, BOEM published its draft EA that assessed the potential impacts associated with site assessment and characterization activities related to issuing wind energy leases in the Central Atlantic.
BOEM plans to hold a sale in the Central Atlantic later this year, with the final sale notice being published at least 30 days before the sale, detailing the time and date of the lease sale and qualified participants.
For any proposed offshore wind projects, BOEM will develop an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyse the specific impacts of those projects before making decisions on whether to approve the proposed construction and operations plan.
BOEM announced three Central Atlantic Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) in July 2023 and indicated that the area WEA B-1, which is not included in this lease sale, needed to be studied further.
Located approximately 23.5 nautical miles offshore Ocean City, Maryland, the WEA was removed from this proposed lease sale due to the significant costs and mitigation that would be required. However, WEA B-1 may be considered as part of a potential second lease sale in the Central Atlantic, which could occur as soon as 2025, BOEM noted.
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