Oregon Offshore Wind Watch—BOEM Publishes Proposed Sale Notice And Draft Environmental Assessment – Environmental Law

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published a
proposed sale notice for an offshore wind energy lease auction in
Oregon on May 1, 2024.¹ The Oregon
lease sale is anticipated to occur in October 2024. Comments on the
proposed sale notice are due on July 1, 2024. A draft Environmental
Assessment (EA) for the Oregon lease sale accompanied the Oregon
proposed sale notice. A comment period on that draft EA is open now
until May 31, 2024.

Oregon Proposed Sale Notice

The Oregon proposed lease sale includes areas within the Coos
Bay Wind Energy Area (WEA) and the Brookings WEA, which BOEM
estimates to have a combined generation potential of about 2.4
gigawatts (GW). The lease areas have not changed since designation
of the Final WEAs.² The Coos Bay lease area is 133,792
acres, and bidding will start at $6,689,600. The Brookings lease
area is 61,203 acres, and bidding will start at $3,060,150. For
both WEAs, further restrictions on the developable area are
anticipated to ensure navigational safety and avoid sensitive
seafloor habitats.

Bidding credits are anticipated to be available for bidders that
commit to supporting workforce training programs for the floating
offshore wind energy industry, developing a domestic supply chain
for floating offshore wind industry, or both.³ As was
done in the California lease process in 2022, bidding credits will
also be available to bidders who commit to entering Lease Area Use
or General Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) with tribes, local
communities, ocean users, or stakeholder groups, including seafood
processors and commercial, recreational, and/or tribal fisheries
expected to be affected by the potential impacts of offshore wind
energy development in the WEAs. Bidding credits will be calculated
as a percentage of the whole bid instead of as a percentage of the
cash portion.

The 60-day comment period on the proposed sale notice closes
July 1, 2024. BOEM is seeking input on several elements of the
lease sale, including potential lease terms requiring a commitment
to utilize union jobs and to provide stakeholder engagement,
including with tribes, fishing communities, affected communities,
and other ocean users. It is also seeking comment on whether a
bidder should be limited to acquiring one lease area. After the
comment period closes, BOEM will review the comments and review
bidder qualifications, after which it will prepare and publish the
final sale notice.

The Oregon Draft Environmental Assessment Is Published

BOEM concurrently published its notice of availability of the
draft Environmental Assessment for Commercial Wind Lease Issuance
on the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (EA), which starts the
30-day comment period on the EA. BOEM will hold a virtual public
meeting on May 21, and comments must be received by May 31.
Comments may be provided orally at the May 21 public meeting or in
writing.

The draft EA, which is required under the National Environmental
Policy Act, analyzes whether and how BOEM’s proposed leases of
the Oregon WEAs may result in significant environmental impacts
that would require preparation of an environmental impact statement
before lease issuance. The draft EA defines and studies BOEM’s
proposed action—the issuance of commercial wind energy area
leases within the Oregon WEAS and the granting of rights-of-way and
easements in support of offshore wind energy development, which
would include site assessment activities. Because the lease
issuance only grants the right to perform limited site assessment
activities (not the actual development of wind energy facilities),
the draft EA does not need to consider the impacts associated with
the siting, construction, and operation of wind energy
facilities.

What Comes Next

Potential bidders in Oregon should review the proposed sale
notice and anticipate issuance of the final sale notice this
summer, with the anticipated lease auction in October 2024.
Potential developers in Oregon should review both the proposed sale
notice’s suggested lease terms and bidding credits and the
draft EA and consider how the potential financial obligations and
the impacts identified in the EA—and public
comments—may inform lease bids and development plans.

Footnotes

1. A proposed sale notice was also published on May 1,
2024, for the Gulf of Maine. We will cover that notice in a
separate publication. These two proposed sales follow BOEM’s
announcements of sales to be held in the Central Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico in the coming months and its announcement on April 24 of a five-year
leasing schedule.

2. See our prior alert analyzing BOEM’s designation of
final WEAs.

3. More details regarding the bidding credits and process
for qualifying can be found in the Bidders’ Financial Form
Addendum.

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guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.