BOEM Holding Public Meetings on North Carolina’s WEA Auction

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is hosting a public auction seminar in Raleigh, North Carolina, today to describe the format, explain the rules, and demonstrate the process of the auction for an offshore wind lease off North Carolina.

Tomorrow, BOEM will hold a public information meeting in Nags Head, North Carolina, to provide an overview of recent leasing and planning efforts for North Carolina, an introduction of the Proposed Sale Notice and Request for Interest, as well as an overview of the environmental review process.

In August, the Proposed Sale Notice and Request for Interest were announced for 122,405-acre Kitty Hawk Wind Energy Area (WEA) off North Carolina, which requires public comments on BOEM’s proposed lease area auction.

The Proposed Sale Notice and Request for Interest also require any prospective bidders already qualified for commercial wind energy development offshore North Carolina to affirm their continued interest and any prospective bidders that have not been qualified by BOEM to submit the required qualification materials.

The public comment period closes on October 17, 2016. Comments received or postmarked by then will be made available to the public and considered before the publication of the Final Sale Notice, which will announce the time and date of the lease sale.

On September 21, 2016, BOEM will host a public information meeting to provide an overview of recent leasing and planning efforts for North Carolina, an introduction of the PSN and RFI, as well as an overview of BOEM’s environmental review process.