Environmental Review of New York Bight Lease Areas Completed

October 22, 2024, by Adnan Memija

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has finalised an environmental review to assess potential wind development activities across six lease areas offshore New York and New Jersey in an area known as the New York Bight.

BOEM New York Bight — *Source: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management*

BOEM prepared a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to analyse the potential environmental impacts of offshore wind activities in the six New York Bight lease areas.

The proposed action for the PEIS identifies avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring (AMMM) measures that BOEM may require as conditions for approval for activities proposed by lessees in the individual construction and operations plans submitted for these six lease areas.

Additional environmental analyses specific to each proposed project would build on the PEIS, said BOEM.

This is the first time BOEM has conducted a regional analysis of offshore renewable energy development activities across multiple lease areas.

In February 2022, BOEM held an auction that brought in over USD 4.3 billion for the rights to six lease areas in the New York Bight – a record amount for any US offshore renewable or conventional energy lease sale.

BOEM estimates that the full development of leases in this area, totaling over 488,00 acres, has the potential to create up to 5.6 to 7 GW of offshore wind, enough to power up to two million homes.