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[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 246 (Friday, December 21, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75656-75658]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-30829]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2012-0079]

Research Lease for Renewable Energy on the Outer Continental 
Shelf (OCS) Offshore Virginia, Request for Competitive Interest (RFCI)

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.

ACTION: Public Notice of an Unsolicited Request for an OCS Research 
Lease; Request for Competitive Interest; and Request for Public 
Comment.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this public notice is to: (1) Describe the 
proposal submitted to BOEM by the Commonwealth of Virginia, Department 
of Mines Minerals and Energy (DMME) to acquire an OCS lease for wind 
energy research activities; (2) solicit public input regarding the 
proposal, its potential environmental consequences, and the use of the 
area in which the proposed project would be located; and (3) solicit 
indications of competitive interest for a research lease in the area 
identified by DMME for activities that would support future, potential 
commercial wind development.
    On June 1, 2012, BOEM received an unsolicited request for a 
research lease from DMME. The objective of DMME is to obtain a lease 
under 30 CFR 585.238 for renewable energy research activities, 
including the siting of two meteorological and ocean monitoring 
platforms for pre-and post-construction collection of resource data, 
including wind velocities, water levels, waves, and bird and bat 
activities, to support the future production of renewable energy within 
and around the Wind Energy Area (WEA) offshore Virginia, identified by 
BOEM.
    This RFCI is published pursuant to subsection 8(p)(3) of the OCS 
Lands Act, as amended by section 388 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 
(EPAct) (43 U.S.C. 1337(p)(3)), and the implementing regulations at 30 
CFR Part 585.

DATES: If you are a Federal agency or a state entity submitting an 
indication of interest in acquiring a research lease for the area 
proposed by DMME, your submission must be sent by mail, postmarked no 
later than January 22, 2013 for your submission to be considered. If 
you are providing comments or other submissions of information, you may 
send them by mail, postmarked by this same date, or you may submit them 
through the Federal Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov, 
also by this same date.

[[Page 75657]]

    Submission Procedures: Federal agencies and state entities wishing 
to obtain a research lease for the area requested by DMME should submit 
detailed and specific information as described in the section entitled 
``Required Indication of Interest Information.'' If you are submitting 
an indication of competitive interest for a research lease or comments, 
please submit it by mail to the following address: Bureau of Ocean 
Energy Management, Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 381 Elden 
Street, HM 1328, Herndon, Virginia 20170. Submissions must be 
postmarked by January 22, 2013 to be considered by BOEM for the 
purposes of determining competitive interest. In addition to a paper 
copy of your submission, include an electronic copy on a compact disc. 
BOEM will list the parties that submit indications of competitive 
interest on the BOEM Web site after the 30-day comment period has 
closed.
    If you wish to protect the confidentiality of your submissions or 
comments, clearly mark the relevant sections and request that BOEM 
treat them as confidential. Please label privileged or confidential 
information ``Contains Confidential Information'' and consider 
submitting such information as a separate attachment. Treatment of 
confidential information is addressed in the section of this notice 
entitled, ``Privileged or Confidential Information.'' BOEM will post 
all comments on regulations.gov unless labeled as confidential. 
Information that is not labeled as privileged or confidential will be 
regarded by BOEM as suitable for public release.
    If you are submitting comments and other information concerning the 
proposed research lease area, you may use either of the following two 
methods:
    1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. In the 
entry entitled ``Enter Keyword or ID,'' enter BOEM-2012-0079, and then 
click ``search.'' Follow the instructions to submit public comments and 
view supporting and related materials available for this notice.
    2. Alternatively, comments may be submitted by mail to the 
following address: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Office of 
Renewable Energy Programs, 381 Elden Street, HM 1328, Herndon, Virginia 
20170.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Casey Reeves, Renewable Energy 
Program Specialist, BOEM, Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 381 
Elden Street, HM 1328, Herndon, Virginia 20170; phone (703) 787-1320.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Purpose of the RFCI

    Responses to this public notice will allow BOEM to determine, 
pursuant to 30 CFR 585.238, whether or not there is competitive 
interest in acquiring an OCS research lease in the area requested by 
DMME. At this time, BOEM is only soliciting indications of interest in 
obtaining a research lease in the area described in this notice. If 
BOEM receives no competing indications of interest for a research lease 
in response to this notice, BOEM may decide to move forward with the 
research leasing process using the non-competitive procedures described 
in 30 CFR 585.238(d).
    BOEM previously solicited nominations for commercial wind 
development in the Virginia WEA through the publication of a notice, on 
February 3, 2012, entitled, ``Commercial Leasing for Wind Power 
Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Offshore Virginia--
Call for Information and Nominations'' (77 FR 5545). In that notice, 
BOEM identified the area that DMME had proposed for potential research 
activities, and BOEM requested the any entity submitting a nomination 
for a potential commercial lease area that overlapped with DMME's 
potential research lease area include in their nomination information 
relating to potential interaction between the nominating entity's 
proposed activities and DMME's proposed activities. Specifically, BOEM 
asked whether the nominating entity would consider the proposed DMME 
activities to be compatible with its commercial wind activities 
proposed for the Virginia WEA. BOEM also stated that if the nominating 
entity believed it would be necessary to exclude or restrict DMME's 
proposed activities from occurring in the commercial lease area, then 
the nominating entity should provide an explanation. No nominating 
entities indicated that there would be potential incompatibilities with 
the proposed DMME research activities. Therefore, BOEM determined that 
it would be appropriate to move forward with DMME's research lease 
application and publish this RFCI.
    This notice also provides an opportunity for interested 
stakeholders to comment on the proposed lease area and the proposed 
DMME research project and any potential impacts that the project may 
have. BOEM will consider comments submitted when deciding whether and 
how to move forward with the research leasing process.

DMME's Proposed Research Activities

    DMME's proposed research activities are described in their 
unsolicited request for a research lease, which is available at the 
following URL: http://www.boem.gov/uploadedFiles/BOEM/Renewable_Energy_Program/State_Activities/VA%20DMME%20Application%20for%20Sec238%20Research%20Lease1%202012-06-01.pdf.

Description of the Proposed Research Lease Area

    The proposed research lease area consists of four OCS sub-blocks 
(i.e., 1/16 of an OCS block). The table below describes the OCS lease 
sub-blocks included within the area of interest.

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                   Protraction  name                      Protraction  No.      Block  No.         Sub  block
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Currituck Sound........................................            NJ18-11               6014                B,C
Currituck Sound........................................            NJ18-11               6164                N,O
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Map of the Area

    A map of the area proposed by DMME and the area included in this 
RFCI can be found at the following URL: http://www.boem.gov/Renewable-Energy-Program/State-Activities/Virginia.aspx.
    A large scale map of the RFCI area showing boundaries of the area 
with the 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.

Required Indication of Interest Information

    If you are a Federal agency or a state entity and you intend to 
submit an indication of competitive interest for a research lease for 
the area identified in this notice you must provide the following:

[[Page 75658]]

    (1) A statement that you wish to acquire a research lease for the 
proposed lease area (i.e., the entire area as described above). BOEM 
will not consider indications of interest if they cover less than the 
entire proposed research lease area. Any interest in an area located 
outside of the proposed research lease area should be submitted 
separately pursuant to 30 CFR 585.238;
    (2) A general description of your objectives and the facilities 
that you would use to achieve those objectives;
    (3) A general schedule of proposed activities;
    (4) Available and pertinent data and information concerning 
renewable energy resources and environmental conditions in the area 
that you wish to lease, including energy and resource data and 
information used to evaluate the area of interest. Where applicable, 
spatial information should be submitted in a format compatible with 
ArcGIS 9.3 in a geographic coordinate system (NAD 83);
    (5) Documentation demonstrating that you are legally qualified to 
hold a research lease as set forth in 30 CFR 585.106 and 107. Examples 
of the documentation appropriate for demonstrating your legal 
qualifications and related guidance can be found in Chapter 2 and 
Appendix B of the Guidelines for the Minerals Management Service 
Renewable Energy Framework available at: http://www.boem.gov/Renewable-Energy-Program/Regulatory-Information/Index.aspx. Legal qualification 
documents will be placed in an official file that may be made available 
for public review. If you wish that any part of your legal 
qualification documentation be kept confidential, clearly identify what 
should be kept confidential, and submit it under separate cover (see 
``Protection of Privileged or Confidential Information Section,'' 
below); and
    (6) Documentation demonstrating that you are technically and 
financially capable of constructing, operating, maintaining and 
decommissioning the facilities described in your submission. Guidance 
regarding the required documentation to demonstrate your technical and 
financial qualifications can be found at: http://www.boem.gov/Renewable-Energy-Program/Regulatory-Information/Index.aspx.
    It is critical that you provide a complete submission of 
competitive interest including the items identified in (1) through (6) 
so that BOEM may consider your submission in a timely manner. If BOEM 
reviews your submission and determines that it is incomplete, BOEM will 
inform you of this determination in writing and describe the 
information that BOEM wishes you to provide in order for BOEM to deem 
your submission complete. You will be given 15 business days from the 
date of the letter to provide the information that BOEM found to be 
missing from your original submission. If you do not meet this 
deadline, or if BOEM determines your second submission is also 
insufficient, BOEM may deem your submission invalid. In such a case, 
BOEM would not consider your submission.

Environmental Review Process

    On February 3, 2012, BOEM published an environmental assessment 
(EA) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the issuance of 
commercial and research leases and approval of a reasonably foreseeable 
range of data collection devices in the WEAs offshore New Jersey, 
Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. The EA and FONSI can be found at: 
http://www.boem.gov/Renewable-Energy-Program/Smart-from-the-Start/Index.aspx. If BOEM issues a research lease to DMME, BOEM would 
determine whether the EA adequately considers the environmental 
consequences of the activities proposed in DMME's submitted plan, which 
would include the results of the necessary site characterization 
surveys. If the analysis in the EA adequately considers these 
consequences, then no further National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
analysis would be required before the plan could be approved. If, on 
the other hand, BOEM determines that the analysis in the EA is 
inadequate for that purpose, BOEM would prepare an additional NEPA 
analysis before approving the plan.

Protection of Privileged or Confidential Information

Freedom of Information Act

    BOEM will protect privileged or confidential information that you 
submit as required by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Exemption 
4 of FOIA applies to trade secrets and commercial or financial 
information that you submit 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, subject to the requirements of 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 will not treat as confidential: (1) The 
legal title of the nominating Federal or state agency; or (2) the 
geographic location of facilities and the types of those facilities. 
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 
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.''

    Dated: December 18, 2012.
Tommy P. Beaudreau,
Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2012-30829 Filed 12-20-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P
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