[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 44 (Monday, March 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10500-10501]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-4926]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Environmental Assessment Prepared for Proposed Cape Wind Energy 
Project in Nantucket Sound, MA

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of the Availability of an Environmental Assessment (EA) 
and Draft Finding of No New Significant Impact (FONNSI) for Public 
Review and Comment.

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SUMMARY: The Minerals Management Service (MMS), in accordance with 
Federal regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA), announces the availability for public review and comment of 
an EA and Draft FONNSI prepared by MMS for the Cape Wind Energy Project 
proposed for Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. On January 16, 2009, the 
MMS announced the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement 
(FEIS) for the Cape Wind Energy Project. The FEIS assessed the 
physical, biological, and social/human impacts of the proposed project 
and 13 alternatives, including a no-action alternative (i.e., the 
project is not built), and proposed mitigation.
    The MMS has identified new information that has become available 
since the publication of the FEIS in January 2009 that pertains to the 
proposed project, the feasibility of alternatives to the proposed 
project, and to some of the resources that were analyzed in the FEIS. 
The MMS used an environmental assessment (EA) to determine whether it 
needs to supplement its existing analysis under the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This EA, in accordance with CEQ 
regulations (40 CFR 1501.3(b) and 40 CFR 1502.9), examines whether the 
new information indicates that there have been ``substantial changes in 
the proposed action'' or ``significant new circumstances or 
information'' that either were not fully discussed or did not exist at 
the time the FEIS was prepared that are relevant to environmental 
concerns and have a bearing on the proposed action or its impacts. MMS 
researched and reviewed new information obtained from the scientific/
technical literature, government reports and actions, intergovernmental 
coordination and communications, required consultations, and comments 
made during two comment periods offered after the FEIS was circulated 
to determine if any assumptions, data or analysis related to resources 
should be reevaluated or if the new information would alter conclusions 
of the FEIS. This includes new information in the January 13, 2010, MMS 
Documentation of Section 106 Finding of Adverse Effect (Revised) 
(Revised Finding), and the comments received during a comment period on 
this document. No new information was found that would necessitate a 
reanalysis of range of the alternatives or the kinds, levels or 
locations of the impacts by the Proposed Action upon biologic, 
physical, socioeconomic or cultural resources. The analyses, potential 
impacts, and conclusions detailed in the FEIS remain applicable and 
unchanged. Therefore, MMS has determined that a supplemental EIS is not 
required and proposes to issue the attached FONNSI. MMS seeks public 
comment on the analysis, findings and conclusions in the proposed EA 
and Draft FONNSI.

DATES: The comment period for the EA/Draft FONNSI document closes April 
7, 2010.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James F. Bennett, Chief, Environmental 
Assessment Branch, Minerals Management Service, 381 Elden Street MS-
4042, Herndon, Virginia 20170.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Cape Wind Energy Project Description

    In November 2001, Cape Wind Associates, LLC, applied for a permit 
from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) under the Rivers and 
Harbors Act of 1899 to construct an offshore wind power facility on 
Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. Following the 
adoption of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) and its associated 
amendments to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), the 
Department of the Interior was given statutory authority to issue 
leases, easements, or rights-of-way for renewable energy projects on 
the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Accordingly, Cape Wind Associates, 
LLC, submitted an application to MMS in 2005 to construct, operate, and 
eventually decommission an offshore wind power facility on Horseshoe 
Shoal in Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. The project calls for 130, 
3.6<plus-minus> megawatt (MW) wind turbine generators, each with a 
maximum blade height of 440 feet, to be arranged in a grid pattern in 
25 square miles of Nantucket Sound, offshore of Cape Cod, Martha's 
Vineyard, and Nantucket Island. With a maximum electric output of 468 
megawatts and an average anticipated output of 182 megawatts, the 
facility is projected to generate up to three-quarters of the Cape and 
Islands' electricity needs. Each of the 130 wind turbine generators 
would generate electricity independently. Solid dielectric submarine 
inner-array cables (33 kilovolt) from each wind turbine generator would 
interconnect within the array and terminate on an electrical service 
platform, which would serve as the common interconnection point for all 
of the wind turbines. The proposed submarine transmission cable system 
(115 kilovolt) from the electric service platform to the landfall 
location in

[[Page 10501]]

Yarmouth is approximately 12.5 miles in length (7.6 miles of which 
falls within Massachusetts' territorial waters).
    Nantucket Sound is a roughly triangular body of water generally 
bound by Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Island. Open bodies 
of water include Vineyard Sound to the West and the Atlantic Ocean to 
the East and the South. Nantucket Sound encompasses between 500-600 
square miles of ocean, most of which lies in Federal waters. The Cape 
Wind Energy Project would be located completely on the OCS in Federal 
waters, aside from transmission cables running through Massachusetts 
waters ashore. For reference, the northernmost turbines would be 
approximately 5.2 miles (8.4 km) from Point Gammon on the mainland; the 
southernmost turbines would be approximately 11 miles (17.7 km) from 
Nantucket Island (Great Point); and the westernmost turbines would be 
approximately 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from the island of Martha's Vineyard 
(Cape Poge).
    Public Comment Procedures: The EA can be accessed online at: http://www.mms.gov/offshore/RenewableEnergy/CapeWind.htm. Comments on the EA 
and FONNSI should be mailed or hand carried to the Minerals Management 
Service, Attention: James F. Bennett, 381 Elden Street, Mail Stop 4042, 
Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817. Envelopes or packages should be marked 
``Cape Wind Energy Project Environmental Assessment Document.'' The MMS 
will also accept comments submitted electronically through the Web page 
at Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. In the entry 
titled ``Enter Keyword or ID,'' enter docket ID MMS-2010-OMM-0006, then 
click ``Search.'' Under the tab ``View By Docket Folder'' you can 
submit public comments for this EA. The MMS will post all comments.
    Public Comment Procedures: Before including your address, phone 
number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying 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 can 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.

    Dated: March 3, 2010.
L. Renee Orr,
Acting Associate Director for Offshore Energy and Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 2010-4926 Filed 3-4-10; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P