BOEM Announces Draft Environmental Review of Potential Mitigation of Future Development of Wind Lease Areas Offshore California

In support of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030 and 15 GW of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) invites the public to comment on a regional environmental analysis of potential mitigation measures on future development activities for five offshore wind lease areas off California’s central and north coasts.  

The Notice of Availability (NOA) for the California Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) will publish in the Federal Register on Nov. 14, 2024, initiating a 90-day comment period. BOEM estimates that full development of these leases, totaling over 373,268 acres, has the potential to produce over 4.6 GW of offshore wind energy, enough to power over 1.5 million homes.

"BOEM invites feedback from a wide range of stakeholders as we work towards achieving President Biden’s clean-energy goals, which are essential for the well-being of all Americans," said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “Public input on our analysis will guide mitigation of future offshore wind energy development across multiple leases offshore California. We believe that this comprehensive regional approach will foster efficiencies for future project-specific wind energy project environmental reviews, all while ensuring the protection of our ocean environment and marine life.”

In December 2022, BOEM held an auction that brought in over $757 million for the rights to five lease areas offshore California – the first U.S. lease areas granted for future floating offshore wind development.

This is only the second time BOEM has conducted a regional analysis of offshore renewable energy development and operations over multiple lease areas. BOEM decided to take this additional step to complete a PEIS because of the relatively close proximity of the five lease areas and the timing of when BOEM expects to receive future project plans for review.

The Draft PEIS analyzes programmatic avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures that BOEM may require as conditions of its approval for any future proposed offshore wind projects in California.

This new regional approach is an evolution of BOEM’s process to help ensure timely decisions that advance offshore wind energy development while safeguarding the ocean environment and marine life and reducing conflicts with other ocean uses.  

Additional environmental analyses specific to each proposed wind energy project will build off this programmatic review once BOEM receives individual proposed project plans from the existing leaseholders.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of the Interior has approved more than 15 GW of clean energy from ten offshore wind projects, enough to power nearly 5.25 million homes. It has also held six offshore wind lease auctions, including a record-breaking sale offshore New York and New Jersey and the first-ever sales offshore the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts. Earlier this year, Secretary Haaland announced a schedule of potential additional lease sales through 2028.

How to Comment

The “Notice of Availability of a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Expected Wind Energy Development in California” will publish in the Federal Register on Nov. 14, 2024, which initiates a 90-day public comment period ending on Feb. 12, 2024.

During the comment period, BOEM is seeking additional information on important resources and issues, potential impacts to the environment, and programmatic avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures found in the Draft PEIS.

BOEM will hold two virtual public meetings:  

• Jan. 28, 2025 at 5:00 pm PT
• Jan. 30, 2025 at 12:00 pm PT

More information on BOEM’s regional environmental review of offshore wind development in California, including a map of the five lease areas, how to register for the public meetings, locations of the in-person meetings, and how to provide comments can be found on BOEM’s website: www.boem.gov/California.

BOEM | https://www.boem.gov/