Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 34771 

2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.). Before including 

your address, telephone number, email 

address, or other personal indentifying 

information in your comment, you 

should be aware that your entire 

comment—including your personal 

identifying information—may be made 

publicly available at any time. While 

you may ask us in your comment to 

withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. All comments will be made part 

of the public record and will be 

electronically distributed to all Council 

members. 

Dated: June 12, 2014. 

Alma Ripps, 

Chief, Office of Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2014–14234 Filed 6–17–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–EE–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

[Docket No. BOEM–2014–0034; 

MMAA104000] 

Atlantic Wind Lease Sale 4 (ATLW4) 

Commercial Leasing for Wind Power 

on the Outer Continental Shelf 

Offshore Massachusetts—Proposed 

Sale Notice 

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management (BOEM), Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed Sale Notice for 

Commercial Leasing for Wind Power on 

the Outer Continental Shelf Offshore 

Massachusetts. 

SUMMARY: This document is the 

Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) for the sale 

of commercial wind energy leases on 

the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) 

offshore Massachusetts, pursuant to 

BOEM’s regulations at 30 CFR 585.216. 

BOEM proposes to offer for sale four 

leases: Lease OCS–A 0500, Lease OCS– 

A 0501, Lease OCS–A 0502, and Lease 

OCS–A 0503. BOEM proposes to use a 

multiple-factor auction format for the 

lease sale. In this PSN, you will find 

information pertaining to the areas 

available for leasing, proposed lease 

provisions and conditions, auction 

details, the lease form, criteria for 

evaluating competing bids, award 

procedures, appeal procedures, and 

lease execution. BOEM invites 

comments during a 60-day comment 

period following publication of this 

notice. The issuance of the leases that 

would result from this proposed sale 

would not constitute approval of 

project-specific plans to develop 

offshore wind energy. Such plans, 

expected to be submitted by successful 

lessees, will be subject to subsequent 

environmental and public review prior 

to a decision to proceed with 

development. 

DATES: Comments should be submitted 

electronically or postmarked no later 

than August 18, 2014. All comments 

received or postmarked during the 

comment period will be made available 

to the public and considered prior to 

publication of the Final Sale Notice 

(FSN). 

All bidders interested in participating 

in the lease sale who have not 

previously been qualified by BOEM to 

participate in this lease sale must 

submit the required qualification 

materials by the end of the 60-day 

comment period for this notice. All 

qualification materials must be 

postmarked no later than August 18, 

2014. 

ADDRESSES: Potential auction 

participants, Federal, state, and local 

government agencies, tribal 

governments, and other interested 

parties are requested to submit their 

written comments on the PSN in one of 

the following ways: 

1. Electronically: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. In the entry 

entitled, ‘‘Enter Keyword or ID,’’ enter 

BOEM–2014–0034 then click ‘‘search.’’ 

Follow the instructions to submit public 

comments. 

2. Written Comments: In written form, 

delivered by hand or by mail, enclosed 

in an envelope labeled ‘‘Comments on 

Massachusetts PSN’’ to: Office of 

Renewable Energy Programs, Bureau of 

Ocean Energy Management, 381 Elden 

Street, HM 1328, Herndon, Virginia 

20170. 

3. Qualifications Materials: Those 

submitting qualifications materials 

should contact Jessica Stromberg, BOEM 

Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 

381 Elden Street, HM 1328, Herndon, 

Virginia 20170, (703) 787–1320, or 

jessica.stromberg@boem.gov. 

If you wish to protect the 

confidentiality of your comments or 

qualification materials, clearly mark the 

relevant sections and request that BOEM 

treat them as confidential. Please label 

privileged or confidential information 

with the caption ‘‘Contains Confidential 

Information’’ and consider submitting 

such information as a separate 

attachment. Treatment of confidential 

information is addressed in the section 

of this PSN entitled ‘‘Protection of 

Privileged or Confidential Information.’’ 

Information that is not labeled as 

privileged or confidential will be 

regarded by BOEM as suitable for public 

release. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jessica Stromberg, BOEM Office of 

Renewable Energy Programs, 381 Elden 

Street, HM 1328, Herndon, Virginia 

20170, (703) 787–1320 or 

jessica.stromberg@boem.gov. 

Authority: This PSN is published 

pursuant to subsection 8(p) of the OCS Lands 

Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(p)) (the Act), as amended 

by section 388 of the Energy Policy Act of 

2005 (EPAct), and the implementing 

regulations at 30 CFR Part 585, including 30 

CFR 585.211 and 30 CFR 585.216. 

Background: The area described for 

leasing in this PSN is the same as the 

Wind Energy Area (WEA) that BOEM 

announced on May 30, 2012, (see Area 

Identification announcement available 

at: http://www.boem.gov/RenewableEnergy-Program/State-Activities/

Massachusetts.aspx). Detailed 

information regarding the lease areas is 

provided in the section entitled, ‘‘Areas 

Offered for Leasing.’’ 

On November 2, 2012, BOEM 

published a Notice of Availability 

(NOA) for the Commercial Wind Lease 

Issuance and Site Assessment Activities 

on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf 

(OCS) Offshore Massachusetts 

Environmental Assessment (EA) (77 FR 

66185) with a 30-day public comment 

period. BOEM received 25 comments, 

which are available at: http:// 

www.boem.gov/Renewable-EnergyProgram/State-Activities/MA/ 

Commercial-Wind-Leasing-OffshoreMassachusetts.aspx. BOEM has 

concluded consultations under the 

Endangered Species Act (ESA) and 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(MSFCMA). BOEM will initiate 

consultations under the Coastal Zone 

Management Act (CZMA) concurrent 

with the publication of a revised EA. 

BOEM has prepared and executed a 

programmatic agreement (PA) to guide 

its consultations under Section 106 of 

the National Historic Preservation Act 

(NHPA). The PA provides for 

consultations to continue through 

BOEM’s decision-making process 

regarding the approval, approval with 

modification, or disapproval of a 

lessee’s Site Assessment Plan (SAP), 

and allows for phased identification and 

evaluation of historic properties. 

Based on the public comments 

received in response to the EA, the 

conclusion of required consultations, 

and public outreach and information 

meetings, BOEM decided to make 

certain revisions to the EA originally 

published in November 2012. As a 

result of the analysis in the revised EA, 

BOEM is issuing a Finding of No 

Significant Impact (FONSI). The 

Commercial Wind Lease Issuance and 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
34772 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 

Site Assessment Activities on the 

Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) 

Offshore Massachusetts Revised 

Environmental Assessment (EA) and the 

FONSI can be found at: http:// 

www.boem.gov/Renewable-EnergyProgram/State-Activities/MA/ 

Commercial-Wind-Leasing-OffshoreMassachusetts.aspx. 

Additional environmental reviews 

will be conducted upon receipt of a 

successful Lessee’s proposed projectspecific plans, such as a SAP or 

Construction and Operations Plan 

(COP). 

Deadlines and Milestones for Bidders: 

This section describes the major 

deadlines and milestones in the auction 

process from publication of this PSN to 

execution of leases pursuant to the sale. 

These are organized into various stages: 

(1) The PSN comment period; (2) from 

the end of PSN comment period to 

publication of the FSN; (3) the FSN 

waiting period; (4) conducting the 

Auction; and (5) from the Auction Stage 

to Lease Execution. 

1. The PSN Comment Period 

• Submit Comments: The public is 

invited to submit comments during this 

60-day period. 

• Public Seminar: BOEM will host a 

public seminar to discuss the lease sale 

process and the auction format. 

• Receive Qualifications Materials: 

All qualifications materials must be 

received by BOEM by the end of the 60- 

day PSN comment period. This includes 

materials sufficient to establish a 

company’s legal, technical and financial 

qualifications. 

2. End of PSN Comment Period to FSN 

Publication 

• Review Comments: BOEM will 

review all comments submitted in 

response to the PSN during the 

comment period. 

• Finalize Qualifications Reviews: 

BOEM will complete any outstanding 

qualifications reviews using materials 

that were submitted during the PSN 

comment period and requested by 

BOEM prior to the publication of the 

FSN. The final list of eligible bidders 

will be published in the FSN. 

• Prepare the FSN: BOEM will 

prepare the FSN by updating the PSN 

where appropriate. 

• Select and Invite Panelists: BOEM 

will appoint a panel of three BOEM 

employees for the purposes of reviewing 

the non-monetary packages and 

verifying the results of the lease sale. 

• Publish FSN: BOEM will publish 

the FSN in the Federal Register. 

3. FSN Waiting Period 

• Bidder’s Financial Form (BFF): No 

later than 14 days after publication of 

the FSN in the Federal Register, eligible 

bidders must submit a complete and 

signed BFF to BOEM. Once this 

information has been processed by 

BOEM, bidders may log into pay.gov 

and leave bid deposits. If BOEM does 

not receive the BFF by the date 

mentioned in the Federal Register, a 

company may be disqualified from 

participating in the auction. 

• Bid Deposits: No later than 30 days 

after publication of the FSN in the 

Federal Register, bidders must submit a 

bid deposit meeting the requirements 

listed in the FSN. Any bidder that fails 

to submit the bid deposit by the 

deadline included in the FSN may be 

disqualified from participating in the 

auction. 

• Non-Monetary Package: No later 

than 30 days after publication of the 

FSN in the Federal Register, bidders 

seeking a non-monetary credit must 

submit a non-monetary package meeting 

the requirements listed in the FSN. 

• Mock Auction: BOEM will hold a 

Mock Auction, open to qualified sale 

bidders only. The Mock Auction will 

take place approximately one week 

before the lease sale. Final details of the 

Mock Auction will be provided in the 

FSN. 

4. Conducting the Auction 

BOEM, through its contractor, will 

hold an auction as described in this 

notice. The auction will take place no 

sooner than 30 days following 

publication of the FSN in the Federal 

Register. The estimated timeframes 

described in this notice assume an 

auction date approximately 45 days 

after publication of the FSN. 

• Convene Panel: The panel will 

convene to consider non-monetary 

packages submitted by qualified 

bidders. The panel will send 

determinations of credit eligibility to 

BOEM, and BOEM will inform eligible 

bidders. Bidders will not be informed of 

the non-monetary credit eligibility of 

other bidders before the auction. 

• Monetary Auction: The monetary 

auction will be conducted on the date 

specified in the FSN. 

• Announce Provisional Winners: 

BOEM will announce the provisional 

winners of the lease sale after the 

auction ends. 

• Reconvene the Panel: The panel 

will reconvene to verify auction results. 

5. From Auction to Lease Execution 

• Refund Non-Winners: BOEM will 

return the bid deposit of any bidder that 

did not win a lease in the lease sale. 

BOEM will provide a written 

explanation of why the bidder did not 

win. 

• Department of Justice (DOJ) Review: 

BOEM will allow DOJ 30 days in which 

to conduct an antitrust review of the 

auction, pursuant to 43 U.S.C. 1337(c), 

which reads, in relevant part: 

Antitrust review of lease sales. 

Following each notice of a proposed 

lease sale and before the acceptance of 

bids and the issuance of leases based on 

such bids, the Secretary of the 

Department of the Interior shall allow 

the Attorney General, in consultation 

with the Federal Trade Commission, 30 

days to review the results of such lease 

sale, except that the Attorney General, 

after consultation with the Federal 

Trade Commission, may agree to a 

shorter review period. 

• Delivery of Leases: BOEM will send 

three lease copies to each winner, with 

instructions on how to execute the 

leases. The first year’s rent payment is 

due 45 days after the winner receives 

the lease copies for execution. 

• Return the Leases: The auction 

winners will have 10 business days 

from receiving the lease copies in which 

to file financial assurance, pay any 

outstanding balance of their bonus bids, 

and return the three executed lease 

copies. 

• Execution of Leases: Once BOEM 

has received the signed lease copies and 

verified that all required materials have 

been received, BOEM will make a final 

determination regarding its execution of 

the leases and will execute the leases if 

appropriate. 

Financial Terms and Conditions: This 

section provides an overview of the 

basic annual payments required of a 

Lessee that will be fully described in 

each lease, and the financial assurance 

requirements that will be associated 

with each lease. 

BOEM has proposed these financial 

terms and conditions in this PSN and in 

the four commercial leases that 

accompany the PSN. However, BOEM 

recognizes that there may be concerns 

related to the potential costs associated 

with development of commercial wind 

energy projects in the water depths 

associated with the Massachusetts WEA. 

Therefore, BOEM is requesting 

comments in order to evaluate whether 

the following modifications to said 

terms and conditions are warranted: (1) 

Reduction of the annual rent to less than 

$3 per acre; (2) reduction of the annual 

rent for any project easement associated 

with the lease; and (3) reduction of the 

annual operating fee rate to less than 

0.02 (i.e., 2%). If a potential bidder is 

interested in obtaining a lease that 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 34773 

reflects the adjustments to the financial 

terms and conditions described above, 

then that party should submit their 

qualifications package during the 

comment period of this PSN, in addition 

to submitting comments and proposed 

revisions to the financial terms and 

conditions. 

Rent 

The first year’s rent payment of $3 per 

acre for the entire Lease Area (LA) is 

due within 45 days of the date the 

Lessee receives the lease for execution. 

Thereafter, annual rent payments are 

due on the anniversary of the Effective 

Date of the lease, i.e., the Lease 

Anniversary. Once the first commercial 

operations under the lease begin, rent 

will be charged on the remaining part of 

the lease not authorized for commercial 

operations, i.e., not generating 

electricity. However, instead of 

geographically dividing the LA into 

acreage that is ‘‘generating’’ and acreage 

that is ‘‘non-generating,’’ the fraction of 

the lease accruing rent is based on the 

fraction of the total nameplate capacity 

of the project that is not yet in 

operation. The fraction is the nameplate 

capacity (as defined herein), which is 

not yet authorized for commercial 

operations at the time payment is due, 

divided by the maximum nameplate 

capacity after full installation of the 

project, as defined in the COP. This 

fraction is then multiplied by the 

amount of rent that would be due for the 

Lessee’s entire LA at the rental rate of 

$3 per acre, to obtain the annual rent 

due for a given year. 

For example, for a lease the size of 

742,978 acres (the size of the entire 

Massachusetts WEA), the amount of rent 

payment would be $2,228,934 per year 

if no portion of the leased area is 

authorized for commercial operations. If 

500 megawatts (MW) of a project’s 

nameplate capacity is operating (or 

authorized for operation), and its most 

recent approved COP specifies a 

maximum nameplate capacity of 1000 

MW, the rent payment would be 

$1,114,467. For the above example, this 

would be calculated as follows: 500 

MW/1000 MW × ($3/acre × 742,978 

acres) = $1,114,467. 

The Lessee also must pay rent for any 

project easement associated with the 

lease commencing on the date that 

BOEM approves the COP (or COP 

modification) that describes the project 

easement. Annual rent for a project 

easement 200-feet wide and centered on 

the transmission cable is $70.00 per 

statute mile. For any additional acreage 

required, the Lessee must also pay the 

greater of $5.00 per acre per year or 

$450.00 per year. 

BOEM is requesting comments and 

supporting information to determine 

whether it should modify rent payments 

for the commercial leases to be executed 

for the Massachusetts WEA. 

Operating Fee 

For the purposes of calculating the 

initial annual proposed operating fee 

payment, an operating fee rate is 

applied to a proxy for the wholesale 

market value of the electricity expected 

to be generated from the project during 

its first twelve months of operations. 

This initial payment is prorated to 

reflect the period between the 

commencement of commercial 

operations and the Lease Anniversary. 

The initial annual operating fee 

payment is due within 45 days of the 

commencement of commercial 

operations. Thereafter, subsequent 

annual operating fee payments are due 

on or before each Lease Anniversary. 

The subsequent annual operating fee 

payments are calculated by multiplying 

an operating fee rate by the imputed 

wholesale market value of the projected 

annual electric power production. For 

the purposes of this calculation, the 

imputed market value is the product of 

the project’s annual nameplate capacity, 

the total number of hours in the year 

(8,760), a capacity utilization factor, and 

the annual average price of electricity 

derived from a historical regional 

wholesale power price index. For 

example, an annual operating fee for a 

100 MW wind facility operating at 40% 

capacity with a regional wholesale 

power price of $40/MWh under an 

operating fee rate of 0.02 (i.e., 2%) 

would be calculated as follows: Annual 

operating fee = 100 MW × 8,670 hours/ 

year × 0.4 × $40/MWh power price × 

0.02. 

Operating Fee Rate: BOEM is 

proposing a fixed operating fee rate of 

0.02 (i.e., 2%) during the project’s entire 

life of commercial operations. BOEM is 

requesting comments and supporting 

information to determine whether it 

should modify the proposed operating 

fee rate for the commercial lease 

agreements to be executed for the 

Massachusetts WEA. 

Nameplate Capacity: Nameplate 

capacity is the maximum rated electric 

output, expressed in MW, which the 

turbines of the wind facility under 

commercial operations can produce at 

their rated wind speed as designated by 

the turbine’s manufacturer. The 

nameplate capacity at the start of each 

year of commercial operations on the 

lease will be specified in the COP. For 

example, if a Lessee has 20 turbines 

under commercial operations rated by 

the design manufacturer at 5 MW of 

output each, the nameplate capacity of 

the wind facility at the rated wind speed 

of the turbines would be 100 MW. 

Capacity Factor: The capacity factor 

relates to the amount of energy 

delivered to the grid during a period of 

time compared to the amount of energy 

the wind facility would have produced 

at full capacity during that same period 

of time. This factor is represented as a 

decimal between zero and one. There 

are several reasons why the amount of 

power delivered is less than the 

theoretical 100% of capacity. For a wind 

facility, the capacity factor is mostly 

determined by the availability of wind. 

Transmission line loss and down time 

for maintenance or other purposes also 

affect the capacity factor. 

The capacity factor for the year in 

which the Commercial Operation Date 

occurs and for the first six full years of 

commercial operations on the lease is 

set to 0.4 (i.e., 40%) to allow for one 

year of installation and testing followed 

by five years at full availability. At the 

end of the sixth year, the capacity factor 

may be adjusted to reflect the 

performance over the previous five 

years based upon the actual metered 

electricity generation at the delivery 

point to the electrical grid. Similar 

adjustments to the capacity factor may 

be made once every five years thereafter. 

The maximum change in the capacity 

factor from one period to the next will 

be limited to plus or minus 10 percent 

of the previous period’s value. 

Wholesale Power Price Index: The 

wholesale power price, expressed in 

dollars per MW-hour, is determined at 

the time each annual operating fee 

payment is due, based on the weighted 

average of the inflation-adjusted peak 

and off-peak spot price indices for the 

Northeast—Massachusetts Hub power 

market for the most recent year of data 

available as reported by the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) 

as part of its annual State of the Markets 

Report with specific reference to the 

summary entitled, ‘‘Electric Market 

Overview: Regional Spot Prices.’’ The 

wholesale power price is adjusted for 

inflation from the year associated with 

the published spot price indices to the 

year in which the operating fee is to be 

due based on the Lease Anniversary 

using annual implicit price deflators as 

reported by the U.S. Department of 

Commerce, Bureau of Economic 

Analysis. 

Financial Assurance 

Within 10 business days after 

receiving the lease copies, the 

provisional winner must provide an 

initial lease-specific bond or other 

approved means of meeting the Lessor’s 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
34774 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 

initial financial assurance requirements, 

in the amount of $100,000. BOEM will 

base the amount of all SAP, COP, and 

decommissioning financial assurance 

requirements on estimates of cost to 

meet all accrued lease obligations. The 

amount of supplemental and 

decommissioning financial assurance 

requirements will be determined on a 

case-by-case basis. 

The financial terms can be found in 

Addendum ‘‘B’’ of the proposed leases, 

which BOEM has made available with 

this notice on its Web site at: http://

www.boem.gov/Renewable-EnergyProgram/State-Activities/

Massachusetts.aspx. 

Place and Time: The auction will be 

held online. The time that the auction 

will be held will be published in the 

FSN. The date has not been finalized, 

but will be no earlier than 30 days after 

publication of the FSN in the Federal 

Register. 

Public Seminar: BOEM will host a 

public seminar to introduce potential 

bidders and other stakeholders to the 

auction format provided in the PSN, 

explain the auction rules, and 

demonstrate the auction process. The 

time and place of the seminar will be 

announced by BOEM and published on 

the BOEM Web site. No registration or 

RSVP will be required to attend. 

Mock Auction: BOEM will host a 

Mock Auction to educate qualified 

bidders about the procedures to be 

employed during the auction and to 

answer questions. The Mock Auction 

will take place between the publication 

of the FSN in the Federal Register and 

the date of the auction. Following 

publication of the FSN in the Federal 

Register, details of the Mock Auction 

will be distributed to those eligible to 

participate in the auction. All qualified 

bidders that intend to participate in the 

auction are strongly encouraged to 

participate in the Mock Auction. 

Bidders will be eligible to participate in 

the Mock Auction if they have been 

legally, technically and financially 

qualified to participate in the lease sale, 

and have submitted an adequate bid 

deposit as discussed herein. 

Bid Deposit: A bid deposit is an 

advance cash deposit submitted to 

BOEM in order to participate in the 

auction. No later than the deadline 

provided in the FSN, each bidder must 

have submitted a bid deposit of 

$450,000 per unit of desired initial 

eligibility. Each lease is worth one unit 

of bid eligibility in the auction. Any 

participant intending to bid on only one 

of the leases during the auction must 

submit a bid deposit of $450,000. The 

required bid deposit for any participant 

intending to bid on multiple leases in 

the first round of the auction will be the 

number of leases the bidder intends to 

bid on multiplied by $450,000. For 

example, the required bid deposit for 

any participant intending to bid on 

three leases in the first round of the 

auction will be $1,350,000. Any bidder 

that fails to submit the bid deposit by 

the deadline described in the FSN may 

be disqualified from participating in the 

auction. Bid deposits will be accepted 

online via pay.gov. Following 

publication of the FSN, each bidder 

must fill out the BFF included in the 

FSN. BOEM has made a copy of the 

proposed BFF available with this notice 

on its Web site at: http://www.boem.gov/ 

Renewable-Energy-Program/StateActivities/Massachusetts.aspx. This 

form requests that each bidder designate 

an email address, which the bidder 

should use to create an account in 

pay.gov. After establishing the pay.gov 

account, bidders may use the Bid 

Deposit Form on the pay.gov Web site 

to leave a deposit. 

Following the auction, bid deposits 

will be applied against any bonus bids 

or other obligations owed to BOEM. If 

the bid deposit exceeds a bidder’s total 

financial obligation, the balance of the 

bid deposit will be refunded to the 

bidder. BOEM will refund bid deposits 

to unsuccessful bidders. 

Minimum Bid: In this auction, 

approximately 187,523 acres will be 

offered for sale as Lease OCS–A 0500, 

approximately 166,886 acres will be 

offered for sale as Lease OCS–A 0501, 

approximately 248,015 acres will be 

offered for sale as Lease OCS–A 0502, 

and approximately 140,554 acres will be 

offered for sale as Lease OCS–A 0503. 

BOEM proposes for this lease sale a 

minimum bid of $2 per acre for each 

LA. Therefore, the minimum acceptable 

bid will be $375,046 for Lease OCS–A 

0500, $333,772 for Lease OCS–A 0501, 

$496,030 for Lease OCS–A 0502, and 

$281,108 for Lease OCS–A 0503. 

Area Offered for Leasing: The area 

described for leasing in this PSN is the 

same as the Massachusetts WEA 

described as the proposed action and 

preferred alternative in the EA. The area 

proposed to be available for sale will be 

auctioned as four leases: Lease OCS–A 

0500, Lease OCS–A 0501, Lease OCS–A 

0502, and Lease OCS–A 0503. Lease 

OCS–A 0500 consists of 187,523 acres, 

Lease OCS–A 0501 consists of 166,886 

acres, Lease OCS–A 0502 consists of 

248,015 acres, and Lease OCS–A 0503 

consists of 140,554 acres. The total area 

is approximately 742,978 acres. If there 

are adequate bids, four leases will be 

issued pursuant to this lease sale. A 

description of the LAs can be found in 

Addendum ‘‘A’’ of the proposed leases, 

which BOEM has made available with 

this notice on its Web site at: http://

www.boem.gov/Renewable-EnergyProgram/State-Activities/

Massachusetts.aspx. 

Map of the Area Offered for Leasing 

A map of the four proposed LAs and 

a table of the boundary coordinates in 

X, Y (eastings, northings) UTM Zone 18, 

NAD83 Datum and geographic X, Y 

(longitude, latitude), NAD83 Datum can 

be found at the following URL: http:// 

www.boem.gov/Renewable-EnergyProgram/State-Activities/

Massachusetts.aspx. 

A large scale map of these areas 

showing boundaries of the area with 

numbered blocks is available from 

BOEM at the following address: Bureau 

of Ocean Energy Management, Office of 

Renewable Energy Programs, 381 Elden 

Street, HM 1328, Herndon, Virginia 

20170, Phone: (703) 787–1320, Fax: 

(703) 787–1708. 

Delineation of the Leasing Areas 

BOEM commissioned the Department 

of Energy’s National Renewable Energy 

Laboratory (NREL) to develop a 

methodology for delineation of the 

Massachusetts WEA into nonoverlapping LAs for BOEM to consider 

for inclusion in this PSN. NREL 

obtained relevant information related to 

the Massachusetts WEA, such as 

bathymetry and wind speed 

information, and calculated gross 

capacity and annual energy production 

using different wind turbine generator 

spacing and layout scenarios. BOEM 

provided NREL with the industry 

nominations received in response to 

previously published notices associated 

with BOEM’s Massachusetts offshore 

wind planning process to inform this 

analysis. Additionally, NREL conducted 

wake effects analysis with the goal of 

minimizing wake effects between LAs. 

NREL also provided draft reports and 

presented the draft and final findings to 

the BOEM Massachusetts 

Intergovernmental Renewable Energy 

Task Force. NREL’s final report, entitled 

‘‘Assessment of Offshore Wind Energy 

Leasing Areas for the BOEM 

Massachusetts Wind Energy Area,’’ was 

released on December 20, 2013, and is 

available on BOEM’s Web site at: 

http://www.boem.gov/RenewableEnergy-Program/State-Activities/

Massachusetts.aspx. 

In the final report, NREL presented 

three alternatives for BOEM’s 

consideration for delineation of the 

Massachusetts WEA: Alternative 1 

consists of four LAs divided along 

diagonal lines parallel to the prevailing 

wind direction (southwest to northeast) 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 34775 

and perpendicular to the bathymetry; 

Alternative 2 consists of five LAs 

divided along diagonal lines parallel to 

the prevailing wind direction and 

perpendicular to the bathymetry; and 

Alternative 3 consists of five LAs, four 

divided along diagonal lines parallel to 

the prevailing wind direction and 

perpendicular to the bathymetry, and 

the fifth comprised mostly of water 

depths greater than 50 meters. In the 

final report, NREL indicated that their 

preferred delineation option is 

Alternative 2 because it would 

maximize the development potential of 

the Massachusetts WEA. After sharing 

the results of NREL’s analysis with the 

BOEM Massachusetts Intergovernmental 

Task Force, BOEM received one 

comment from the Commonwealth of 

Massachusetts indicating that their 

preferred delineation would be 

Alternative 1 because it would allow 

individual lessees the maximum 

flexibility in designing projects. 

In this PSN, BOEM is proposing to 

auction the Massachusetts WEA as four 

leasing areas as described in Alternative 

1 of NREL’s final report. However, 

potential bidders should note that 

BOEM may choose to offer for sale the 

LAs outlined in Alternative 2 or 3 of 

NREL’s final report, after considering 

the comments submitted in response to 

the PSN. BOEM will announce its final 

decision as to the Massachusetts WEA 

leasing areas that will be offered for sale 

in the FSN. 

Withdrawal of Blocks: Interested 

parties should note that BOEM reserves 

the right to withdraw portions of the 

LAs prior to its execution of a lease 

based upon comments received in 

response to this PSN and other relevant 

information provided to the Bureau. 

Lease Terms and Conditions: The 

proposed leases contain proposed lease 

terms, conditions and stipulations for 

OCS commercial wind leases in the 

Massachusetts WEA. BOEM reserves the 

right to add additional terms and 

conditions to any approval or approval 

with modifications of a SAP and/or 

COP. The proposed leases, including 

Addendum ‘‘C’’, are available on 

BOEM’s Web site at: http://

www.boem.gov/Renewable-EnergyProgram/State-Activities/

Massachusetts.aspx. Each proposed 

lease includes the following seven 

attachments: 

• Addendum ‘‘A’’ (Description of 

Leased Area and Lease Activities); 

• Addendum ‘‘B’’ (Lease Term and 

Financial Schedule); 

• Addendum ‘‘C’’ (Lease Specific 

Terms, Conditions, and Stipulations); 

• Addendum ‘‘D’’ (Project Easement); 

• Addendum ‘‘E’’ (Rent Schedule); 

• Appendix A to Addendum ‘‘C’’: 

(Incident Report: Protected Species 

Injury or Mortality); and 

• Appendix B to Addendum ‘‘C’’: 

(Required Data Elements for Protected 

Species Observer Reports). 

Addenda ‘‘A’’, ‘‘B’’, and ‘‘C’’ provide 

detailed descriptions of lease terms and 

conditions. Addenda ‘‘D’’ and ‘‘E’’ will 

be completed at the time of COP 

approval. 

After considering comments on the 

PSN and proposed leases, BOEM will 

publish final lease terms and conditions 

in the FSN. 

Required Plans for Potential 

Development of Executed Leases 

Pursuant to 30 CFR 585.601, the 

leaseholder must submit a SAP within 

12 months of lease issuance. If the 

leaseholder intends to continue its 

commercial lease with an operations 

term, the leaseholder must submit a 

COP at least 6 months before the end of 

the site assessment term. 

The commercial wind leasing areas 

proposed for sale in this PSN are among 

the largest delineated by BOEM to date. 

In light of this, BOEM is soliciting 

comments on the concept of executing 

commercial leases for the Massachusetts 

WEA with an operations term greater 

than the 25 years proposed in this PSN. 

If a potential bidder is interested in 

obtaining a lease that reflects the 

adjustments to the operations term 

described above, then that party should 

submit their comments and 

qualifications package during the 

comment period of this PSN. The 

decision whether to execute leases with 

an operations term greater than 25 years 

will be made in accordance with 30 CFR 

585.235. 

Qualifications—Who May Bid: Any 

potential bidder that has not already 

submitted a complete set of 

qualifications materials must do so by 

the end of the 60-day comment period 

of this PSN. To be eligible to participate 

in the auction, each potential bidder 

must have been found by BOEM to be 

legally, technically and financially 

qualified under BOEM’s regulations at 

30 CFR 585.106–107 by the time the 

FSN for this sale is published. Please 

note that technical and financial 

qualifications are lease-specific; it is not 

sufficient to have been technically and 

financially qualified to pursue a project 

offshore another state. 

Guidance and examples of the 

appropriate documentation 

demonstrating the required legal 

qualifications can be found in Chapter 

2 and Appendix B of Guidelines for the 

Minerals Management Service 

Renewable Energy Framework, available 

on BOEM’s Web site at: http://

www.boem.gov/Renewable-EnergyProgram/Regulatory-Information/

Index.aspx. Guidance regarding how 

bidders may demonstrate their technical 

and financial qualifications is provided 

in Qualification Guidelines to Acquire 

and Hold Renewable Energy Leases and 

Grants and Alternate Use Grants on the 

U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, available 

on BOEM’s Web site at: http://

boem.gov/Renewable-Energy-Program/

Regulatory-Information/

QualificationGuidelines-pdf.aspx. 

BOEM strongly recommends that 

bidders refer to this guidance before 

submitting their qualification materials, 

as the guidance is updated periodically. 

Bidders must submit documentation 

necessary to demonstrate their legal, 

technical, and financial qualifications to 

BOEM in both paper and electronic 

formats. BOEM considers an Adobe PDF 

file stored on a compact disc (CD) to be 

an acceptable format for submitting an 

electronic copy. In their qualification 

materials, bidders must provide a 

general description of the project that 

they would like to construct on the LA 

sought in this sale, including estimates 

of the project area and total nameplate 

capacity of the proposed facilities. 

Please note that it may take a number 

of weeks for bidders to establish their 

legal, technical, and financial 

qualifications. BOEM advises potential 

bidders planning to participate in a sale 

to establish their qualifications 

promptly. It is not uncommon for BOEM 

to request additional materials 

establishing qualifications following an 

initial review of the qualifications 

package. Any potential bidder whose 

qualification package is incomplete at 

the time the FSN for this sale is 

published in the Federal Register will 

be found to have failed to establish its 

qualifications and will be unable to 

participate in the sale. 

Finally, potentially interested parties 

should note that BOEM may decide to 

move forward with one of the other two 

LA alternatives outlined in NREL’s final 

report, based upon comments received 

in response to this PSN and other 

relevant information provided to the 

Bureau. Potentially interested parties 

should also note that BOEM is 

considering (1) lowering certain 

payment requirements, and (2) 

lengthening the operations terms 

associated with the proposed 

commercial leases, as described earlier 

in this PSN. If a potential bidder is 

interested in obtaining a lease included 

in any of the the leasing alternatives 

outlined in NREL’s final report and/or is 

interested in obtaining a lease with the 

adjustments to the financial terms and 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
34776 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 

conditions and/or operations term 

described in this PSN, then that party 

should submit their qualifications 

package during the comment period of 

this PSN. 

Auction Procedures 

Summary 

For the sale of Lease OCS–A 0500, 

Lease OCS–A 0501, Lease OCS–A 0502, 

and Lease OCS–A 0503, BOEM will use 

a multiple-factor auction format with a 

multiple-factor bidding system. Under 

this system, BOEM may consider a 

combination of monetary and nonmonetary factors, or ‘‘variables,’’ in 

determining the outcome of the auction. 

BOEM will appoint a panel of three 

BOEM employees for the purposes of 

reviewing the non-monetary packages 

and verifying the results of the lease 

sale. BOEM reserves the right to change 

the composition of this panel prior to 

the date of the lease sale. The panel will 

determine whether any bidder has 

earned a non-monetary credit to be used 

during the auction (i.e., if a bidder holds 

a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) 

or a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)), 

and if one or more bidders have earned 

such a credit, the percentage that the 

credit will be worth. The auction will 

balance consideration of two variables: 

(1) A cash bid, and (2) a non-monetary 

credit. In sum, these two variables 

comprise the multi-factor bid or ‘‘AsBid’’ auction price. A bidder’s As-Bid 

price, which is the sum of its cash bid 

and any credit portion earned, will 

either meet BOEM’s asking price or be 

reflected in the bidder’s own IntraRound Bid price subject to certain 

conditions, as described more fully 

herein. A multiple-factor auction, 

wherein both monetary and 

nonmonetary bid variables are 

considered, is provided under BOEM’s 

regulations at 30 CFR 585.220(a)(4) and 

585.221(a)(6). 

Overview of the Multiple-Factor 

Bidding Format Proposed for This Sale 

Under a multiple-factor bidding 

format, as set forth at 30 CFR 

585.220(a)(4), BOEM may consider a 

combination of factors as part of a bid. 

The regulations state that one bid 

proposal per bidder will be accepted, 

but do not further specify the 

procedures to be followed in the 

multiple-factor format. This multiplefactor format is intended to allow BOEM 

flexibility in administering the auction 

and in balancing the variables 

presented. The regulations leave to 

BOEM the determination of how to 

administer the multiple-factor auction 

format to ensure the receipt of a fair 

return under the Act, 43 U.S.C. 

1337(p)(2)(A). 

BOEM’s regulations at 30 CFR 

585.220(a)(4) allow for a multi-round 

auction in which each bidder may 

submit only one proposal per LA or for 

a set of LAs in each round of the 

auction. The auction will be conducted 

in a series of rounds. At the start of each 

round, BOEM will state an asking price 

for each LA offered. The asking price for 

a bid on more than one LA is the sum 

of the asking prices for each LA in the 

bid. Each bidder will indicate whether 

it is willing to meet the asking price for 

one or more LAs. A bid submitted at the 

full asking price for one or more LAs in 

a particular round is referred to as a 

‘‘live bid.’’ A bidder must submit a live 

bid for at least one of the LAs in each 

round to participate in the next round 

of the auction. As long as there is at 

least one LA that is included in two or 

more live bids, the auction continues, 

and the next round is held. 

A bidder’s As-Bid price must meet the 

asking price in order for it to be 

considered a live bid. A bidder may 

meet the asking price by submitting a 

monetary bid equal to the asking price 

or, if it has earned a credit, by 

submitting a multiple-factor bid—that 

is, a live bid that consists of a monetary 

element and a non-monetary element, 

the sum of which equals the asking 

price. A multiple-factor bid would 

consist of the sum of a cash portion and 

any credit portion which the bidder has 

earned. 

An uncontested bid is a live bid that 

does not overlap with other live bids in 

that round. For example, a bid for two 

LAs is considered contested if any LA 

included in that bid is included in 

another bid—a bid cannot be ‘‘partially 

uncontested.’’ An uncontested bid 

represents the only apparent interest in 

that bid’s LA(s) at the asking price for 

that round. If a bidder submits an 

uncontested bid consisting of one or 

more LAs, and the auction continues for 

another round, BOEM automatically 

carries that same live bid forward as a 

live bid into the next round, and 

BOEM’s asking price for the LA(s) 

contained in the uncontested bid would 

remain unchanged from the previous 

round. If the price on any LAs in that 

bid rises later in the auction because 

another bidder places a live bid on one 

or more of those LAs, BOEM will stop 

automatically carrying forward the 

previously uncontested bid. Once the 

asking price(s) goes up, the bidder that 

placed the previously carried-forward 

bid is free to bid on either LA at the new 

asking price(s). 

Following each round in which a LA 

is contained in more than one live bid, 

BOEM will raise the asking price for 

that LA by an increment determined by 

BOEM. The auction concludes when 

each LA is included in no more than 

one live bid. The series of rounds and 

the rising asking prices set by BOEM 

will facilitate consideration of the first 

variable—the cash portion of the bid. 

The second variable—a credit of 5% 

of a monetary bid for holding a CBA or 

a credit of up to 25% of a monetary bid 

for holding a PPA—will be applied 

throughout the auction rounds as a form 

of imputed payment against the asking 

price for the highest priced LA in a 

bidder’s multiple-factor bid. This credit 

serves to supplement the amount of a 

cash bid proposal made by a particular 

bidder in each round. In the case of a 

bidder holding a credit and bidding on 

more than one LA, the credit will be 

applied only on the LA with the highest 

asking price. More details on the nonmonetary factors are found in the 

‘‘Credit Factors’’ section herein. 

The panel will evaluate non-monetary 

packages consisting of any CBA or PPA 

to determine whether it meets the 

criteria provided in the FSN, and 

therefore whether it will qualify for a 

credit for its holder. It is possible that 

the panel could determine that no 

bidder qualifies for a non-monetary 

credit during the auction, in which case 

the auction would otherwise proceed as 

described in the FSN. The panel will 

determine the winning bids for each LA 

on the basis of the procedures described 

in the FSN. 

Details of the Auction Process 

Bidding—Live Bids 

Each bidder is allowed to submit a 

live bid for any number of LAs based on 

its ‘‘eligibility’’ at the opening of each 

round. A bidder’s eligibility is either 

four, three, two, one, or zero LAs, and 

it corresponds to the maximum number 

of LAs that a bidder may include in a 

live bid during a single round of the 

auction. A bidder’s initial eligibility is 

determined based on the amount of the 

bid deposit submitted by the bidder 

prior to the auction. To be eligible to 

offer a bid on one LA at the start of the 

auction, a bidder must submit a bid 

deposit of $450,000. To be eligible to 

offer a bid on two LAs in the first round 

of the auction, the bidder must submit 

a bid deposit of $900,000; for three LAs, 

the bid deposit is $1,350,000; for four 

LAs, the bid deposit is $1,800,000. A 

bidder’s bid deposit will be used by 

BOEM as a down payment on any 

monetary obligations incurred by the 

bidder should it be awarded a lease. 

As the auction proceeds, a bidder’s 

eligibility is determined by the number 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 34777 

of LAs included in its live bid submitted 

in the round prior to the current round. 

That is, if a bidder submitted a live bid 

on one LA in the previous round, that 

bidder may submit a bid that includes 

at most one LA in the current round. If 

a bidder submitted a live bid comprised 

of two or more LAs in the previous 

round, that bidder may submit a live bid 

that also includes that number of LAs in 

the current round. Unless a bidder has 

an uncontested bid that is carried 

forward into the next round, a bidder 

that submitted a live bid for one or more 

LAs also may choose to submit a live 

bid with fewer LAs than the maximum 

number it is eligible to include in its 

bid. Thus, eligibility in successive 

rounds may stay the same or go down, 

but it can never go up. 

In the first round of the auction, 

bidders have the following options: 

A bidder with an initial eligibility of 

one (that is, a bidder who submitted a 

bid deposit of $450,000) may: 

• Submit a live bid on any of the four 

LAs, or 

• Submit nothing, and drop out of the 

auction. 

A bidder with an initial eligibility of 

more than one (that is, a bidder who 

submitted a bid deposit of $900,000 up 

to $1,800,000) may: 

• Submit a live bid for any number of 

LAs up to its bid eligibility, or 

• Submit nothing, and drop out of the 

auction. 

There is no requirement that the LAs 

contained in a live bid be contiguous. A 

bidder who has included multiple LAs 

in a live bid can include any 

combination of LAs up to the bidder’s 

bid eligibility. Before each subsequent 

round of the auction, BOEM will raise 

the asking price for any LA that was 

contained in more than one live bid in 

the previous round. BOEM will not raise 

the asking price for a LA that was in 

only one or no live bids in the previous 

round. 

Asking price increments will be 

determined by BOEM, in its sole 

discretion. BOEM will base asking price 

increments on a number of factors, 

including: 

• Making the increments sufficiently 

large that the auction will not take an 

unduly long time to conclude; and 

• Decreasing the increments as the 

asking price of a LA nears its apparent 

final price. 

BOEM reserves the right during the 

auction to increase or decrease 

increments if it determines, in its sole 

discretion, that a different increment is 

warranted to enhance the efficiency of 

the auction process. Asking prices for 

the LAs included in multiple live bids 

in the previous round will be raised and 

rounded to the nearest whole dollar 

amount to obtain the asking prices in 

the current round. 

A bidder must submit a live bid in 

each round of the auction (or have an 

uncontested live bid automatically 

carried forward by BOEM) for it to 

remain active and continue bidding in 

future rounds. All of the live bids 

submitted in any round of the auction 

will be preserved and considered 

binding until determination of the 

winning bids is made. Therefore, the 

bidders are responsible for payment of 

the bids they submit and can be held 

accountable for up to the maximum 

amount of those bids determined to be 

winning bids during the final award 

procedures. 

Between rounds, BOEM will release 

the following information to the 

bidders: 

• The level of demand for each LA in 

the previous round of the auction (i.e., 

the number of live bids that included 

the LA); and 

• The asking price for each LA in the 

upcoming round of the auction. 

In any subsequent round of the 

auction, if a bidder’s previous round bid 

was uncontested, and the auction 

continues for another round, then 

BOEM will automatically carry forward 

that bid as a live bid in the next round. 

A bidder whose bid is being carried 

forward will not have an opportunity to 

modify or drop its bid until some other 

bidder submits a live bid that overlaps 

with the LA(s) in the carried forward 

bid. In particular, for rounds in which 

a bidder finds its uncontested bid is 

carried forward, the bidder will be 

unable to do the following: 

• Switch to any other LAs; 

• Submit an Intra-Round Bid (see 

herein for discussion of Intra-Round 

Bids); or 

• Drop out of the auction. 

A bidder may be bound by that bid or, 

indeed, by any other bid which BOEM 

determines is a winning bid in the 

award stage. Hence, a bidder cannot 

drop an uncontested bid. In no scenario 

can a bidder be relieved of any of its 

bids from previous or future rounds 

until a determination is made in the 

award stage about the LAs won by the 

bidder. 

Except when a bidder’s bid is being 

carried forward by BOEM (i.e., an 

uncontested bid), a bidder with an 

eligibility of one (that is, a bidder who 

submitted a live bid for one LA in the 

previous round) may: 

• Submit a live bid for any of the four 

LAs; 

• Submit an Intra-Round Bid for the 

same LA for which the bidder submitted 

a live in the previous round, and exit 

the auction; or 

• Submit nothing, and drop out of the 

auction. 

A bidder with an eligibility of two or 

more (that is, a bidder who submitted a 

live bid for two or more LAs in the 

previous round) may: 

• Submit a live bid for any number of 

LAs up to its eligibility; 

• Submit an Intra-Round Bid for the 

specific combination of LAs in that 

bidder’s previous-round bid, and a live 

bid for any number of LAs fewer than 

the number of LAs in that bidder’s 

previous-round bid; 

• Submit an Intra-Round Bid for the 

specific combination of LAs in that 

bidder’s previous-round bid, no live 

bids, and exit the auction; or 

• Submit nothing, and drop out of the 

auction. 

Subsequent auction rounds occur in 

this sale as long as one of the four LAs 

is contested. The auction concludes at 

the end of the round in which none of 

the LAs is included in the live bid of 

more than one bidder, i.e., all live bids 

are uncontested. 

Bidding—Intra-Round Bids 

All asking prices and asking price 

increments will be determined by the 

BOEM Auction Manager, as described 

previously in this PSN. Intra-Round 

Bidding allows bidders to more 

precisely express the maximum price 

they are willing to offer for a single LA 

or for a combination of LAs while also 

minimizing the chance of ties. An IntraRound Bid must consist of a single offer 

price for exactly the same LA(s) 

included in the bidder’s live bid in the 

previous round. 

When submitting an Intra-Round Bid, 

the bidder is indicating that it is not 

willing to meet the current round’s 

asking price, but it is willing to pay 

more than the previous round’s asking 

price. In particular, in an Intra-Round 

Bid, the bidder specifies the maximum 

(higher than the previous round’s asking 

price and less than the current round’s 

asking price) that it is willing to offer for 

the specific LA(s) in its previous 

round’s live bid. 

Although an Intra-Round Bid is not a 

live bid, in the round in which a valid 

Intra-Round Bid is submitted for any 

number of LAs, the bidder’s eligibility 

for a live bid in that same round and 

future rounds is permanently reduced 

from including the amount of LAs in the 

previous round to one less than that. In 

other words, once an Intra-Round Bid is 

submitted, the bidder will never again 

have the opportunity to submit a live 

bid on as many LAs as it has bid in 

previous rounds. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
34778 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 

BOEM will not consider Intra-Round 

Bids for the purpose of determining 

whether to increase the asking price for 

a particular LA or to end the auction. 

Also, BOEM will not count nor share 

with bidders between rounds the 

number of Intra-Round Bids received for 

each LA. 

All of the Intra-Round Bids submitted 

during the auction will be preserved, 

and may be determined to be winning 

bids. Therefore, bidders are responsible 

for payment of the bids they submit and 

may be held accountable for up to the 

maximum amount of any Intra-Round 

Bids or live bids determined to be 

winning bids during the final award 

procedures. 

Determining Provisional Winners 

After the bidding ends, BOEM will 

determine the provisionally winning 

bids in accordance with the process 

described in this section. This process 

consists of two stages: Stage 1 and Stage 

2, which are described herein. Once the 

auction itself ends, nothing further is 

required of bidders within or between 

Stages 1 and 2. In practice, the stages of 

the process will take place as part of the 

solution algorithm for analyzing the 

monetary and credit portion of the bids, 

determining provisional winners, 

finding the LAs won by the provisional 

winners, and calculating the applicable 

bid prices to be paid by the winners for 

the LAs they won. This evaluation will 

be reviewed, checked, and validated by 

the panel. The determination of 

provisional winners, in both stages, will 

be based on the two auction variables, 

as well as on a bidder’s adherence to the 

rules of the auction, and the absence of 

conduct detrimental to the integrity of 

the competitive auction. 

• Stage 1 

Live bids submitted in the final round 

of the auction are Qualified Bids. In 

Stage 1, a bidder with a Qualified Bid 

is provisionally assured of winning the 

LA(s) included in its final round bid, 

regardless of any other prior-to-final 

round live bids or Intra-Round Bids in 

any round. If all LAs are awarded to 

bidders in Stage 1, the second award 

stage is not necessary. If any LA 

received a bid but was not awarded in 

Stage 1 because no live bids were 

received in the final round of the 

auction, BOEM will proceed to Stage 2 

to award the leases. 

Following the auction, all winning 

bidders must pay the price associated 

with their winning bids, which may 

consist of cash and non-monetary 

credits or just cash. 

• Stage 2 

All bids are either Qualified Bids or 

Contingent Bids. Contingent bids are all 

live bids received before the final round, 

and any Intra-Round Bids received 

during the auction. In Stage 2, BOEM 

will consider Contingent Bids to see if 

the non-awarded LA(s) can be awarded 

without interfering with Stage 1 awards. 

BOEM will award leases in Stage 2 to 

the bid(s) that maximize(s) the total AsBid prices. 

Any Contingent Bids that conflict 

with Qualified Bids will not be 

considered. There is one notable 

exception to this rule. This exception 

allows BOEM to accept a Contingent Bid 

for a combination of LAs 

notwithstanding the existence of a 

Qualified Bid, provided the acceptance 

of the Contingent Bid for these LAs 

results in higher overall As-Bid prices 

than acceptance of only the Qualified 

Bid. In this scenario, a bidder would be 

awarded the LAs included in the 

Contingent Bid and would be required 

to pay its live bid price or its IntraRound Bid price for those LAs included 

in the Contingent Bid. 

This exception represents the only 

situation in which BOEM will consider 

for award a Contingent Bid which 

overlaps a Qualified Bid. In contrast, 

there is no situation in which one 

bidder’s Contingent Bid will be 

considered for award if it overlaps with 

any LA that is included in another 

bidder’s Qualified Bid. 

Under certain circumstances, different 

combinations of Contingent Bids may 

result in the same total As-Bid price. In 

such cases, BOEM will resolve the 

resulting tie with a random drawing. 

In the event a bidder submits a bid for 

a LA that the panel and BOEM 

determine to be a winning bid, the 

bidder will be expected to sign the 

applicable lease documents in a timely 

manner and submit the full cash 

payment due, pursuant to 30 CFR 

585.224. If a bidder fails to timely sign 

and pay for the lease, then BOEM will 

not issue the lease to that bidder, and 

the bidder will forfeit its bid deposit. 

BOEM may consider failure of a bidder 

to timely pay the full amount due an 

indication that the bidder is no longer 

financially qualified to participate in 

other lease sales under BOEM’s 

regulations at 30 CFR 585.106 and 

585.107. 

Credit Factors 

Shortly before the auction, BOEM will 

convene a panel (as provided in BOEM’s 

regulations, discussed above) to 

evaluate bidders’ non-monetary 

packages to determine whether and to 

what extent each bidder is eligible for a 

non-monetary credit applicable to the 

As-Bid auction price for one of the LAs 

in each round of the auction, as 

described herein. In order to receive a 

credit for a PPA or a CBA, a bidder must 

be legally, technically and financially 

eligible to acquire a commercial OCS 

wind lease, and must not be affiliated 

with any other bidding entity also 

seeking credit for the same PPA or CBA. 

The percentage credit that will be 

applicable to each bidder throughout 

the auction and award process is 

determined based on the panel’s 

evaluation of required documentation 

submitted by the bidders as of the 

deadline specified in the FSN. Bidders 

will be informed by email before the 

monetary auction about the percentage 

credit applicable to their bids. A bidder 

may not receive more than one bid 

credit, and the bid credit will be 

applicable to only one LA. Any nonmonetary credit would only be 

applicable to the highest priced LA in 

a bid for multiple LAs. For an IntraRound Bid containing multiple LAs, the 

highest priced LA will be determined 

using the previous round’s asking 

prices. In each round, the auction 

system will display to each bidder 

information showing how their As-Bid 

auction prices are affected by the credit 

imputed to their bid to determine their 

net monetary payment due to BOEM, 

should their bids prevail as winning 

bids in the award stages. Application of 

the credit percentage to the appropriate 

As-Bid auction price will be rounded to 

the nearest whole dollar amount. 

The bidder’s credit percentage is 

limited to the greater of 5% for a CBA 

or up to 25% for a PPA. This credit 

percentage will be applied to the highest 

priced LA related to the bidder’s latest 

live bid or Intra-Round Bid. In the case 

of an Intra-Round Bid for multiple LAs, 

the credit will apply only to the highestpriced LA, but the applicable price for 

calculating the credit will be based on 

the previous round’s asking prices, not 

on any additional amount above the 

previous round’s asking prices as 

reflected in the incremental amount 

associated with its Intra-Round Bid. 

The panel will review the nonmonetary package submitted by each 

bidder and, based on the criteria 

provided in the FSN for a CBA and PPA, 

determine whether bidders have 

established that they are qualified to 

receive a credit, and the percentage at 

which that credit will apply. If the panel 

determines that no bidder has qualified 

for a non-monetary factor, the auction 

will proceed with each bidder registered 

with no imputed credit. 

Credit Factor Definitions 

The definitions herein will apply to 

the factors for which bidders may earn 

a credit. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 34779 

Community Benefits Agreements 

(CBA). BOEM proposes a 5% credit in 

the monetary phase of the auction to 

any bidder that can demonstrate that it 

has executed a CBA, as defined in this 

section. BOEM is proposing this nonmonetary factor and credit in response 

to comments requesting CBAs be 

recognized in the multiple-factor 

auction format received in response to 

notices associated with the 

Massachusetts planning and 

environmental review process. BOEM 

received comments recommending that 

a non-monetary factor for CBAs be given 

a larger percent credit than 5%. BOEM, 

however, believes that the 5% credit 

fairly represents the value associated 

with CBAs that meet the criteria 

described in this notice. In particular, 

these criteria, while recognizing the 

contribution a CBA may provide to the 

ultimate success of a project, may not 

require substantial financial 

consideration in support of the project. 

For this reason, BOEM has not proposed 

a larger percentage credit for this nonmonetary factor. 

In order for a non-monetary package 

to qualify for a 5% credit in this 

auction, the BOEM-appointed panel 

must answer yes to the following 

questions: 

1. Is there a legally binding contract? 

2. Is the contract between: 

a. A bidder; and 

b. One or more community-based 

organizations (CBO)? 

3. Has the bidder committed to 

provide specified community benefits? 

4. Has the CBO committed in specific 

ways to support the project in the 

governmental approval process? 

A community-based organization 

(CBO) is defined as: A legally 

incorporated organization whose 

membership includes residents or 

property owners of a community within 

the potentially affected region, the local 

government of the community, or an 

entity created or managed by the local 

government(s) of the community or 

communities. 

Bidders seeking non-monetary credit 

for a CBA will be required to submit the 

CBA as part of their non-monetary 

package by the date specified in the 

FSN. In addition, bidders must include 

a description of how the CBA meets the 

requirements outlined in the FSN. For 

protection of confidential business 

information, please see the section 

entitled ‘‘Protection of Privileged or 

Confidential Information’’ in this notice. 

Power purchase agreement (PPA) is 

any legally enforceable long-term 

contract negotiated between an 

electricity generator (Generator) and a 

power purchaser (Buyer) that identifies, 

defines, and stipulates the rights and 

obligations of one party to produce, and 

the other party to purchase, energy from 

an offshore wind project to be located in 

the lease sale area. The PPA must state 

that the Generator will sell to the Buyer 

and the Buyer will buy from the 

Generator capacity, energy, and/or the 

environmental attributes generated by 

the project, as defined in the terms and 

conditions set forth in the PPA. Energy 

products to be supplied by the 

Generator and the details of the firm 

cost recovery mechanism approved by 

the state’s public utility commission or 

other applicable authority used to 

recover expenditures incurred as a 

result of the PPA must be specified in 

the PPA. To qualify, a PPA must contain 

the following terms or supporting 

documentation: 

(i) A complete description of the 

proposed project; 

(ii) Identification of both the 

electricity Generator and Buyer that will 

enter into a long term contract; 

(iii) A time line for permitting, 

licensing, and construction; 

(iv) Pricing projected under the long 

term contract being sought, including 

prices for all market products that 

would be sold under the proposed long 

term contract; 

(v) A schedule of quantities of each 

product to be delivered and projected 

electrical energy production profiles; 

(vi) The term for the long-term 

contract; 

(vii) Citations to all filings related to 

the PPA that have been made with state 

and Federal agencies, and identification 

of all such filings that are necessary to 

be made; and 

(viii) Copies of or citations to 

interconnection filings related to the 

PPA. 

If the panel determines a bidder has 

executed a PPA for at least 250 MW, it 

will be eligible for the entire 25% credit. 

If the panel determines a bidder has 

executed a PPA for an amount less than 

250 MW, the bidder may still be eligible 

for a non-monetary credit proportional 

to the PPA’s fraction of 250 MW. The 

smaller percentage for a partial credit 

will be calculated according to the 

formula below: 

Where: 

• Partial Credit = Percent credit for which 

a smaller PPA is eligible. 

• Full PPA = 250 MW 

• Full Credit = 25% 

• Partial PPA = amount (less than 250 

MW) of power under contract 

Additional Information Regarding the 

Auction Format 

Non-Monetary Auction Procedures 

All bidders seeking a non-monetary 

auction credit will be required to submit 

a non-monetary auction package prior to 

the auction. Instructions and deadlines 

for submittal will be provided in the 

FSN. If a bidder does not submit a nonmonetary package by the date specified 

in the FSN, then BOEM will assume that 

bidder is not seeking a non-monetary 

auction credit and the panel will not 

consider that bidder for a non-monetary 

auction credit. 

Bidder Authentication 

Prior to the auction, the Auction 

Manager will send several bidder 

authentication packages to each bidder 

shortly after BOEM has processed the 

BFFs. One package will contain tokens 

for each authorized individual. Tokens 

are digital authentication devices. The 

tokens will be mailed to the Primary 

Point of Contact indicated on the BFF. 

This individual is responsible for 

distributing the tokens to the 

individuals authorized to bid for that 

company. Bidders are to ensure that 

each token is returned within three 

business days following the auction. An 

addressed, stamped envelope will be 

provided to facilitate this process. In the 

event that a bidder fails to submit a BFF 

or a bid deposit, or does not participate 

in the auction, BOEM will de-activate 

that bidder’s token and login 

information, and the bidder will be 

asked to return its tokens. 

The second package contains login 

credentials for authorized bidders. The 

login credentials will be mailed to the 

address provided in the BFF for each 

authorized individual. Bidders can 

confirm these addresses by calling (703) 

787–1320. This package will contain 

user login information and instructions 

for accessing the Auction System 

Technical Supplement and Alternative 

Bidding Form. The login information, 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICESEN18JN14.000</GPH>
34780 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 

along with the tokens, will be tested 

during the Mock Auction. 

Monetary Auction Times 

Specific information regarding when 

the bidders can enter the auction system 

and the auction start time will be 

provided in the FSN. Additional 

information will be made available in an 

Auction System Technical Supplement, 

which will be posted on BOEM’s Web 

site prior to the auction. 

BOEM and the auction contractors 

will use the auction platform messaging 

service to keep bidders informed on 

issues of interest during the auction. For 

example, BOEM may change the 

schedule at any time, including during 

the auction. If BOEM changes the 

schedule during the auction, it will use 

the messaging feature to notify bidders 

that a revision has been made, and 

direct bidders to the relevant page. 

BOEM will also use the messaging 

system for other changes and items of 

particular note during the auction. The 

auction schedule and asking price 

increments are in BOEM’s discretion, 

and are subject to change at any time 

before or during the auction. 

During the auction, bidders may place 

bids at any time during the round. At 

the top of the bidding page, a 

countdown clock will show how much 

time remains in the round. Bidders have 

until the scheduled time to place bids. 

Bidders should place bids according to 

the procedures described in the Auction 

System Technical Supplement, and as 

practiced at the Mock Auction. No 

information about the round is available 

until the round has closed and results 

have been posted, so there should be no 

strategic advantage to placing bids early 

or late in the round. 

Alternate Bidding Procedures 

Any bidder who is unable to place a 

bid using the online auction and would 

be interested in placing a bid using the 

Alternate Bidding Procedures must call 

BOEM/the BOEM Auction Manager at 

the help desk number that is listed in 

the Auction System Technical 

Supplement before the end of the round. 

BOEM will authenticate the caller to 

ensure he/she is authorized to bid on 

behalf of the company. The bidder must 

explain to the BOEM Auction Manager 

the reasons for which he/she is forced 

to place a bid using the Alternate 

Bidding Procedure. At that time, BOEM 

may, in its sole discretion, permit or 

refuse to accept a request for the 

placement of a bid using the Alternative 

Bidding Procedure. 

The Alternative Bidding Procedure 

enables a bidder who is having 

difficulties accessing the Internet to 

submit its bid via an Alternative 

Bidding Form that must be faxed to the 

Auction Manager. If the bidder has not 

placed a bid, but calls BOEM before the 

end of the round and notifies BOEM 

that it is preparing a bid using the 

Alternate Bidding Procedure, and 

submits the Alternate Bidding Form by 

fax before the round ends, BOEM will 

likely accept the bid, though acceptance 

or rejection of the bid is within BOEM’s 

sole discretion. If the bidder calls during 

the round, but does not submit the bid 

until after the round ends (but before 

the round is posted), BOEM may or may 

not accept the bid, in part based on how 

much time remains in the recess. 

Bidders are strongly encouraged to 

submit the Alternative Bidding Form 

before the round ends. If the bidder calls 

during the recess following the round, 

but before the previous round’s results 

have been posted, BOEM will likely 

reject its bid, even if it has otherwise 

complied with all of BOEM’s Alternate 

Bidding Procedures. If the bidder calls 

to enter a bid after results have been 

posted, BOEM will reject the bid. 

Except for bidders who have 

uncontested bids in the current round, 

failure to place a bid during a round 

will be interpreted as dropping out of 

the auction. Bids in all rounds are 

preserved for consideration in Stage 2 of 

the award process. Bidders are held 

accountable for all bids placed during 

the auction. This is true if they 

continued bidding in the last round, if 

they placed an Intra-Round Bid in an 

earlier round, or if they stopped bidding 

during the auction. 

Acceptance, Rejection, or Return of 

Bids: BOEM reserves the right and 

authority to reject any and all bids. No 

leases will be awarded to any bidders 

and no bids will be accepted, unless (1) 

the bidder has complied with all 

requirements of the FSN, applicable 

regulations and statutes, including, 

among others, those related to bidder 

qualifications, bid deposits, and 

adherence to the integrity of the 

competitive bidding process, (2) the bid 

conforms with the requirements and 

rules of the auction, and (3) the amount 

of the bid has been determined to be 

adequate by the authorized officer. Any 

bid submitted that does not satisfy these 

requirements may be returned to the 

bidder by the Program Manager of 

BOEM’s Office of Renewable Energy 

Programs and, in that case, would not be 

considered for acceptance. 

Process for Issuing the Leases: If 

BOEM proceeds with lease issuance, it 

will issue three unsigned copies of the 

lease form to each winning bidder. 

Within 10 business days after receiving 

the lease copies, a winning bidder must: 

1. Execute the lease on the bidder’s 

behalf; 

2. File financial assurance as required 

under 30 CFR 585.515–537; and 

3. Pay by electronic funds transfer 

(EFT) the balance of the bonus bid (bid 

amount less the bid deposit). BOEM 

requires bidders to use EFT procedures 

(not to include pay.gov) for payment of 

the balance of the bonus bid, following 

the detailed instructions contained in 

the ‘‘Instructions for Making Electronic 

Payments’’ available on BOEM’s Web 

site at: http://www.boem.gov/

Renewable- Energy-Program/StateActivities/Massachusetts.aspx. 

If a winning bidder does not meet 

these three requirements within 10 

business days of receiving the lease 

copies as described herein, or if a 

winning bidder otherwise fails to 

comply with applicable regulations or 

the terms of the FSN, the winning 

bidder will forfeit its bid deposit. BOEM 

may extend this 10 business-day time 

period if it determines the delay was 

caused by events beyond the winning 

bidder’s control. 

In the event that the provisional 

winner does not execute and return the 

leases according to the instructions in 

the FSN, BOEM reserves the right to 

reconvene the panel to determine 

whether it is possible to identify a bid 

that would have won in the absence of 

the bid previously determined to be the 

winning bid. In the event that a new 

winning bid is selected by the panel, 

BOEM will follow the procedures in this 

section for the new winner(s). 

BOEM will not execute a lease until 

(1) the three requirements above have 

been satisfied, (2) BOEM has accepted 

the winning bidder’s financial 

assurance, and (3) BOEM has processed 

the winning bidder’s payment. The 

winning bidder may meet financial 

assurance requirements by posting a 

surety bond or by setting up an escrow 

account with a trust agreement giving 

BOEM the right to withdraw the money 

held in the account on demand. BOEM 

may accept other forms of financial 

assurance on a case-by-case basis in 

accordance with its regulations. BOEM 

encourages provisionally winning 

bidders to discuss the financial 

assurance requirement with BOEM as 

soon as possible after the auction has 

concluded. 

Within 45 days of the date that the 

winning bidder receives the lease 

copies, the winning bidder must pay the 

first year’s rent using the pay.gov 

Renewable Energy Initial Rental 

Payment Form available at: https://

pay.gov/paygov/forms/

formInstance.html

?agencyFormId=27797604. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 18, 2014 / Notices 34781 

Anti-Competitive Behavior: In 

addition to the auction rules described 

in this notice, bidding behavior is 

governed by Federal antitrust laws 

designed to prevent anticompetitive 

behavior in the marketplace. 

Compliance with BOEM’s auction 

procedures will not insulate a party 

from enforcement of antitrust laws. 

In accordance with the Act at 43 

U.S.C. 1337(c), following the auction, 

and before the acceptance of bids and 

the issuance of leases, BOEM will 

‘‘allow the Attorney General, in 

consultation with the Federal Trade 

Commission, thirty days to review the 

results of the lease sale.’’ If a bidder is 

found to have engaged in anticompetitive behavior or otherwise 

violated BOEM’s rules in connection 

with its participation in the competitive 

bidding process, BOEM may reject the 

high bid. 

Anti-competitive behavior 

determinations are fact specific. 

However, such behavior may manifest 

itself in several different ways, 

including, but not limited to: 

• An agreement, either express or 

tacit, among bidders to not bid in an 

auction, or to bid a particular price; 

• An agreement among bidders not to 

bid for a particular LA; 

• An agreement among bidders not to 

bid against each other; and 

• Other agreements among bidders 

that have the effect of limiting the final 

auction price. 

BOEM may decline to award a lease 

if, pursuant to the Act (43 U.S.C. 

1337(c)), it is determined by the 

Attorney General in consultation with 

the Federal Trade Commission that 

doing so would be inconsistent with 

antitrust laws (e.g., heavily concentrated 

market, etc.). 

For more information on whether 

specific communications or agreements 

could constitute a violation of Federal 

antitrust law, please see: http://

www.justice.gov/atr/public/businessresources.html, or consult counsel. 

Bidder’s Financial Form Certification: 

Each bidder is required to sign the selfcertification, in accordance with 18 

U.S.C. 1001 (Fraud and False 

Statements) in the Bidder’s Financial 

Form, which can be found on BOEM’s 

Web site at: http://www.boem.gov/

Renewable-Energy-Program/StateActivities/Massachusetts.aspx. The form 

must be filled out and returned to 

BOEM in accordance with the 

‘‘Deadlines and Milestones for Bidders’’ 

section of this notice. 

Non-Procurement Debarment and 

Suspension Regulations: Pursuant to 

regulations at 43 CFR Part 42, Subpart 

C, an OCS renewable energy Lessee 

must comply with the U.S. Department 

of the Interior’s non-procurement 

debarment and suspension regulations 

at 2 CFR 180 and 1400 and agree to 

communicate the requirement to 

comply with these regulations to 

persons with whom the Lessee does 

business as it relates to this lease by 

including this term as a condition in 

their contracts and other transactions. 

Final Sale Notice: BOEM will 

consider comments received or 

postmarked during the PSN comment 

period in preparing a FSN that will 

provide the final details concerning the 

offering and issuance of OCS 

commercial wind energy leases in the 

Massachusetts WEA. The FSN will be 

published in the Federal Register at 

least 30 days before the lease sale is 

conducted and will provide the date 

and time of the auction. 

Force Majeure: The Program Manager 

of BOEM’s Office of Renewable Energy 

Programs has the discretion to change 

any date, time, and/or location specified 

in the FSN in case of a force majeure 

event that the Program Manager deems 

may interfere with a fair and proper 

lease sale process. Such events may 

include, but are not limited to, natural 

disasters (e.g., earthquakes, hurricanes, 

floods), wars, riots, acts of terrorism, 

fire, strikes, civil disorder, or other 

events of a similar nature. In case of 

such events, bidders should call (703) 

787–1300 or access the BOEM Web site 

at: http://www.boem.gov/RenewableEnergy-Program/index.aspx. 

Appeals: The appeals procedures are 

provided in BOEM’s regulations at 30 

CFR 585.225 and 585.118(c). Pursuant 

to 30 CFR 585.225. 

(a) If BOEM rejects your bid, BOEM 

will provide a written statement of the 

reasons and refund any money 

deposited with your bid, without 

interest. 

(b) You will then be able to ask the 

BOEM Director for reconsideration, in 

writing, within 15 business days of bid 

rejection, under 30 CFR 585.118(c)(1). 

BOEM will send you a written response 

either affirming or reversing the 

rejection. 

The procedures for appealing final 

decisions with respect to lease sales are 

described in 30 CFR 585.118(c). 

Protection of Privileged or Confidential 

Information 

BOEM will protect privileged or 

confidential information that is 

submitted as required by the Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA). Exemption 4 of 

FOIA applies to trade secrets and 

commercial or financial information 

that is privileged or confidential. If you 

wish to protect the confidentiality of 

such information, clearly mark it and 

request that BOEM treat it as 

confidential. BOEM will not disclose 

such information, except as required by 

FOIA. Please label privileged or 

confidential information ‘‘Contains 

Confidential Information’’ and consider 

submitting such information as a 

separate attachment. 

However, BOEM will not treat as 

confidential any aggregate summaries of 

such information or comments not 

containing such information. 

Additionally, BOEM may not treat as 

confidential the legal title of the 

commenting entity (e.g., the name of a 

company). Information that is not 

labeled as privileged or confidential will 

be regarded by BOEM as suitable for 

public release. 

Section 304 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470w–3(a)) 

BOEM is required, after consultation 

with the Secretary of the Department of 

the Interior, to withhold the location, 

character, or ownership of historic 

resources if it determines that disclosure 

may, among other things, cause a 

significant invasion of privacy, risk 

harm to the historic resources or impede 

the use of a traditional religious site by 

practitioners. Tribal entities and other 

interested parties should designate 

information that they wish to be held as 

confidential and provide the reasons 

why BOEM should do so. 

Dated: May 30, 2014. 

Walter D. Cruickshank, 

Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management. 

[FR Doc. 2014–14116 Filed 6–17–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

[Docket No. BOEM–2014–0011; 

MMAA104000] 

Commercial Wind Lease Issuance and 

Site Assessment Activities on the 

Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) 

Offshore Massachusetts 

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management (BOEM), Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of the Availability of a 

Revised Environmental Assessment 

(EA) and a Finding of No Significant 

Impact (FONSI). 

SUMMARY: BOEM has prepared a revised 

EA considering the reasonably 

foreseeable environmental and 

socioeconomic effects of issuing 

renewable energy leases and lessees’ 

subsequent site characterization 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES