15088 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 50 / Wednesday, March 14, 2012 / Notices 

d. Potential impacts to Navigation, 

commercial and recreational. 

e. Potential impacts to the long-term 

management of the oceanfront 

shorelines. 

f. Potential effects on regional sand 

sources and how it relates to sand 

management practices and North 

Carolina’s Beach Inlet Management 

Practices. 

g. Potential effects of shoreline 

protection. 

h. Potential impacts on public health 

and safety. 

i. Potential impacts to recreational 

and commercial fishing. 

j. Potential impacts to cultural 

resources. 

k. Cumulative impacts of past, 

present, and foreseeable future dredging 

and nourishment activities. 

3. Alternatives 

Several alternatives are being 

considered for the development of the 

protection plan. These alternatives will 

be further formulated and developed 

during the scoping process and an 

appropriate range of alternatives, 

including the no federal action 

alternative, will be considered in the 

DEIS. 

4. Scoping Process 

A public scoping meeting (see DATES) 

will be held to receive public comment 

and assess public concerns regarding 

the appropriate scope and preparation 

of the DEIS. Participation in the public 

meeting by federal, state, and local 

agencies and other interested 

organizations and persons is 

encouraged. 

The USACE will consult with the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service under the 

Endangered Species Act and the Fish 

and Wildlife Coordination Act; with the 

National Marine Fisheries Service under 

the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act and 

the Endangered Species Act; and with 

the North Carolina State Historic 

Preservation Office under the National 

Historic Preservation Act. Additionally, 

the USACE will coordinate the DEIS 

with the North Carolina Division of 

Water Quality (NCDWQ) to assess the 

potential water quality impacts 

pursuant to Section 401 of the Clean 

Water Act, and with the North Carolina 

Division of Coastal Management 

(NCDCM) to determine the projects 

consistency with the Coastal Zone 

Management Act. The USACE will 

closely work with NCDCM and NCDWQ 

in the development of the DEIS to 

ensure the process complies with 

current State Environmental Policy Act 

(SEPA) requirements. It is the intention 

of both the USACE and the State of 

North Carolina to consolidate the NEPA 

and SEPA processes thereby eliminating 

duplication. 

6. Availability of the DEIS 

The DEIS is expected to be published 

and circulated by the end of 2012. A 

public hearing will be held after the 

publication of the DEIS. 

Dated: March 2, 2012. 

Scott McLendon, 

Assistant Chief, Regulatory Division. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6127 Filed 3–13–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3720–58–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of the Army; Corps of 

Engineers 

Public Scoping Meeting and 

Preparation of Environmental Impact 

Statement for Baryonyx Corporation, 

Inc.’s Proposed Wind Farm, Offshore, 

Willacy and Cameron Counties, TX 

AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, DoD. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, Galveston District, has 

received a permit application for a 

Department of the Army (DA) Permit 

pursuant to Section 10 of the Rivers and 

Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403) and 

Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 

U.S.C. 1344) from Baryonyx 

Corporation, Inc. (SWG–2011–00511) 

for the proposed approximately 300- 

turbine offshore wind farm located in 

the Gulf of Mexico state waters, offshore 

Willacy and Cameron Counties in state 

tracts: 1068, 1069, 1085, 1086, 1087, 

1088, 1089, 1090, 1126, 1127, 1129, 

1130 and 1131. The primary Federal 

involvement associated with the 

proposed action is the discharge or 

dredged or fill material into waters of 

the United States, and the construction 

of structures that may affect navigable 

waters. Federal authorizations for the 

proposed project would constitute a 

‘‘major federal action.’’ Based on the 

potential impacts, both individually and 

cumulatively, the Corps intends to 

prepare an Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) in compliance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act to 

render a final decision on the permit 

applications. 

The Corps’ decision will be to issue, 

issue with modification or deny DA 

permits for the proposed action. The EIS 

will assess the potential social, 

economic and environmental impacts of 

the construction and operation of the 

offshore wind farm, associated facilities, 

and appurtenances and is intended to be 

sufficient in scope to address Federal, 

State and local requirements, 

environmental and socio-economic 

issues concerning the proposed action, 

and permit reviews. 

DATES: The agency must receive 

comments on or before May 14, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: Mail: 

Jayson M. Hudson, U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, Regulatory Branch, P.O. Box 

1229, Galveston, TX 77553–1229; Fax: 

(409) 766–3931 or Email: 

SWG2011511@usace.army.mil. Emailed 

comments, including attachments, 

should be provided in .doc, .docx, .pdf 

or .txt formats. Documents pertinent to 

the proposed project may be examined 

at http://www.swg.usace.army.mil/reg/ 

eis.asp. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Jayson Hudson, (409) 766–3108. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Galveston District intends to prepare an 

EIS on the proposed Baryonyx offshore 

wind farm which would include the 

proposed construction of approximately 

300 offshore turbines in the Gulf of 

Mexico offshore Willacy and Cameron 

Counties, TX. Baryonyx Corporation, 

Inc. proposed this project and is the 

applicant for the DA permit SWG–2011– 

00511. 

1. Project Background: The applicant 

proposes to construct an approximately 

300-turbine wind farm in two areas 

referred to as the North Rio Grande 

Lease and Rio Grande Lease. The project 

is located in Gulf of Mexico state waters, 

offshore Willacy and Cameron Counties 

in state tracts: 1068, 1069, 1085, 1086, 

1087, 1088, 1089, 1090, 1126, 1127, 

1129, 1130 and 1131. The proposed 

project consists of the following: 

a. Wind Turbines and Foundations: 

Each lease site will be comprised of 

100–200 wind turbine generators in a 

grid pattern (turbine array). The final 

locations will be determined by 

consultation with appropriate state and 

federal agencies and consideration of 

constraints including: wind resource 

characteristics; safety and navigation; 

technical characteristics of the wind 

turbine generators; electrical collection 

system characteristics; geophysical site 

constraints; and environmental and 

ecological considerations. The specific 

turbine has not been selected so that 

Baryonyx may take advantage of the 

latest technologies in wind generation 

which may become commercially 

available at the time of procurement. 

Turbines will be installed onto 

individual platform foundations 

attached to the seabed. Foundation type 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 50 / Wednesday, March 14, 2012 / Notices 15089 

and design will be determined based on 

the technical requirements of the 

selected turbines, soils profile, depth, 

and site conditions. Typical foundations 

may include monopole, gravity based, 

suction caisson, or jacket structures. 

Scour protection in the form of 

prefabricated materials or clean stone 

may be placed at the base of the 

foundations. 

b. Transmission Lines: Installation of 

up to 4 substations will be required in 

each lease to reduce the number of 

transmission lines to shore and reduce 

electricity loss. Offshore substations 

gather electricity from the rows of 

turbines through an inter-array of subsea 

cables and convert it into a higher 

voltage. Transforming power into a 

higher voltage allows for the installation 

of fewer export cables, more efficient 

transmission of power and minimizes 

power loss. The inter-array cables will 

be buried to a target depth of 3 feet and 

18 inches wide, but will be dependent 

on the nature of the seabed. Connection 

between turbines and the substation 

platform is pre-installed j-tubes which 

protect the cable from the seabed to 

topside. To transfer the electricity to 

shore, up to 2 transmission lines per 

substation will be installed which 

connect the offshore substation to 

onshore electrical facilities. The 

dimension of the cables is in the range 

of 10 inches. However, for redundancy 

and safety issues, the transmission lines 

will be kept separate. Routing will be 

designed to minimize impacts to natural 

and cultural resources by following 

previously disturbed areas and areas 

devoid of vegetation, reefs, seagrasses, 

dunes and other valuable habitats. 

Scheduling of the work will also take 

into consideration minimization of 

impacts to marine mammals, sea turtles, 

birds, fisheries and other natural 

resources. 

c. Planning and Construction: Prior to 

Construction, Baryonyx Corporation 

will conduct the necessary surveys and 

studies to describe and quantify natural 

resources. These studies will include 

geophysical geotechnical survey, 

delineation of aquatic habitats, and 

cultural resource surveys. Onshore 

construction and assembly will utilize 

existing port facilities. No new onshore 

or port facilities are anticipated to be 

constructed. 

d. Mitigation: The Applicant proposes 

to avoid impacts to special aquatic sites 

and sensitive sea areas where 

practicable. No surface areas or 

wetlands are proposed to be filled at 

this time other than temporary side-cast 

material from trench construction. 

Horizontal drilling for burial of cables 

will be considered under unavoidable 

wetlands, seagrass beds, reefs and dunes 

where practicable. 

2. Scoping and Public Involvement 

Process: A Public Notice was published 

on June 15, 2011 to initiate the public 

scoping process for the proposed 

project. At that time, based on 

information provided by the Applicant, 

a preliminary review indicated that an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

was not required. However, based on 

continuing permit assessment and 

information brought forth during the 

initial coordination process, areas of 

potential significant impact on the 

human environment have been 

identified. Therefore, the EIS process is 

being implemented so that the permit 

application can be fully evaluated and 

a permit decision can be made. All 

comments received to date, including 

those provided for review during the 

Public Notice comment period, will be 

considered by the Galveston District 

during EIS preparation. The purpose of 

the EIS scoping meeting is to gather 

information on the subjects to be 

studied in detail by the EIS. In addition 

to the EIS, the Applicant has avoided 

and minimized impacts identified 

during the public notice comment 

period by removing the Mustang site, 

and its alternate, from consideration 

during this permit application. While 

the Applicant’s minimization effort is 

designed to avoid potential impacts to 

the Padre Island National Seashore and 

Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, it is 

without prejudice to apply for these 

sites at another date. 

3. Purpose and Need. The basic 

purpose of the proposed action is to 

construct a power generation facility. 

The overall purpose is to provide 

electrical generation capacity for current 

markets in Texas and potential sale in 

the wholesale market utilizing wind 

resources offshore. The Corps 

recognizes that there is a public and 

private need for additional power 

generation. 

4. Alternatives. An evaluation of 

alternatives to the Applicant’s preferred 

alternative initially being considered 

includes a No Action alternative, 

alternatives that would avoid, minimize 

and compensate for impacts to the 

aquatic environment within the project 

footprint, alternatives that would avoid, 

minimize and compensate for impacts 

to the aquatic environment outside of 

the footprint, alternatives utilizing 

alternative practices, and other 

reasonable alternatives that will be 

developed through the project scoping 

process which may also meet the 

identified purpose and need. 

5. Public Involvement. The purpose of 

the public scoping process is to 

determine relevant issues that will 

influence the scope of the 

environmental analysis and EIS 

alternatives. General concerns in the 

following categories have been 

identified to date: potential direct 

effects to waters of the United States 

including wetlands; water quality; 

aquatic species; air quality; 

environmental justice; socioeconomic 

environment; archaeological and 

cultural resources; recreation and 

recreational resources; energy supply 

and natural resources; hazardous waste 

and materials; aesthetics; public health 

and safety; navigation; erosion and 

accretion; invasive species; cumulative 

impacts; public benefit and needs of the 

people along with potential effects on 

the human environment. All parties 

who express interest will be given an 

opportunity to participate in the 

process. 

6. Coordination. The proposed action 

is being coordinated with a number of 

Federal, State, regional and local 

agencies including but not limited to the 

Environmental Protection Agency, the 

United States (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife 

Service, U.S. National Marine Fisheries 

Service, the Texas Commission on 

Environmental Quality, the Texas 

General Land Office, and the Texas 

Parks and Wildlife Department. 

7. Availability of the Draft EIS. The 

Corps currently expects the Draft EIS to 

be made available to the public by 

December 2014. A State and Federal 

agency scoping meeting will be held at 

Holiday Inn Brownsville at 2 p.m. on 

March 28, 2012. A public scoping 

meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn 

Brownsville on March 28, 2012 at 6 p.m. 

The Holiday Inn Brownsville is located 

at 3777 North Expressway, Brownsville, 

TX 78520. The Corps will announce the 

public scoping meeting through local 

news media and the Corps’ Web page at 

http://www.swg.usace.army.mil/reg at 

least 15 days prior to the first meeting. 

Brenda S. Bowen, 

Army Federal Register Liaison Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6128 Filed 3–13–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3720–58–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Equity and Excellence Commission 

Meeting 

AGENCY: Office for Civil Rights, U.S. 

Department of Education. 

ACTION: Notice of An Open Meeting. 

SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the 

schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the Equity and 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES