[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 4, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23798-23799]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-10486]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


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

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of an Environmental Assessment (EA) and 
Finding of No New Significant Impact (FONNSI)

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SUMMARY: The MMS, in accordance with regulations implementing the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), announces the availability of 
an EA and FONNSI for the Cape Wind Energy Project proposed for 
Nantucket Sound, offshore 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 prepared this EA to determine whether MMS needs to 
supplement the FEIS for the Cape Wind Energy Project by examining 
whether there are ``substantial changes in the proposed action that are 
relevant to environmental concerns'' or whether ``there are significant 
new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and 
bearing on the proposed action or its impacts'' that either were not 
fully discussed or did not exist at the time the FEIS was prepared (40 
CFR 1502.9). The MMS reviewed information obtained from the scientific/
technical literature, government reports and actions, intergovernmental 
coordination and communications, required consultations, comments made 
during the FEIS comment period, and comments received during the 30-day 
comment period after the initial circulation of this EA on March 8, 
2010. This included the information discussed in the January 13, 2010, 
MMS Documentation of Section 106 Finding of Adverse Effect (Revised 
Finding), contained in the comments received during the 30-day period 
offered after the Revised Finding was circulated, and the information 
contained in the April 2, 2010, comment by the Advisory Council on 
Historic Preservation.
    The MMS has determined that there is no new information that would 
necessitate a re-analysis of the range of the alternatives or the 
kinds, levels, or locations of the impacts of the Proposed Action on 
socioeconomic conditions or biologic, physical, or cultural resources. 
The analyses, potential impacts, and conclusions detailed in the FEIS 
remain valid. Therefore, the MMS has concluded that a supplemental EIS 
is not required. The EA and FONNSI are available at http://www.mms.gov/offshore/RenewableEnergy/CapeWind.htm.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 a wind power 
facility on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, offshore Massachusetts. 
Following the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) and 
associated amendments to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), 
the Department of the Interior was given statutory authority to issue 
leases, easements, and rights-of-way for renewable energy projects on 
the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Accordingly, Cape Wind Associates, 
LLC, submitted an application to the MMS in 2005 to construct, operate, 
and eventually decommission an offshore wind power facility on 
Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound.
    The project calls for 130, 3.6 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 Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Island. With a 
maximum electric output of 468 MW and an average anticipated output of 
182 MW, the facility is projected to generate up to three-

[[Page 23799]]

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 Yarmouth would be 
approximately 12.5 miles in length (7.6 miles of which falls within 
Massachusetts' territory).
    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 and 600 
square miles of ocean, most of which lies above the OCS. The Cape Wind 
Energy Project would be located completely on the OCS, except for the 
transmission cables, which would run through Massachusetts' territory 
to shore. 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).

    Dated: April 28, 2010.
Chris C. Oynes,
Associate Director for Offshore Energy and Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 2010-10486 Filed 5-3-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P