The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Managemen’s (BOEM) Office of Renewable Energy Programs (OREP) is working to update the Guidelines for Providing Avian Survey Information for Renewable Energy Development on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf.
OREP will discuss the proposed changes to the guidelines at a webinar on September 8, when it will also give participants the opportunity to provide feedback.
BOEM updates its guidelines periodically as new information or methodologies become available. The updated avian guidelines will assist lessees in:
Before receiving BOEM’s approval for the siting of a facility, structure, or cable proposed for a renewable energy project on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), an applicant must submit its Site Assessment Plan (SAP), Construction and Operations Plan (COP), or General Activities Plan(GAP), and as applicable, the results of its site characterization surveys and supporting data to BOEM.
BOEM will use the data from these surveys to evaluate the impact of construction, installation, and operation of meteorological towers, buoys, cables, wind turbines, and supporting structures on physical, biological, and socioeconomic resources, as well as the seafloor and sub-seafloor conditions.