Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the CVOW-C Wind Energy Facility Offshore of Virginia, 56634-56635 [2022-19964]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 178 (Thursday, September 15, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56634-56635]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19964]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XC094


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to the CVOW-C Wind Energy Facility Offshore of Virginia

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for Letter of Authorization; 
request for comments and information.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the Virginia Electric and 
Power Company, also known as Dominion Energy Virginia (Dominion 
Energy), for authorization to take small numbers of marine mammals 
incidental to the development of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind 
Commercial Project (CVOW-C) in Lease Area Outer Continental Shelf 
(OCS)-A-0483 off of Virginia over the course of 5 years beginning on 
March 4, 2024. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal 
Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of Dominion Energy's 
request for the development and implementation of regulations governing 
the incidental taking of marine mammals. NMFS invites the public to 
provide information, suggestions, and comments on Dominion Energy's 
application and request.

DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than October 
17, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the applications should be addressed to Jolie 
Harrison, Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. Physical comments should 
be sent to 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 and 
electronic comments should be sent to [email protected].
    Instructions: NMFS is not responsible for comments sent by any 
other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the 
end of the comment period. Comments received electronically, including 
all attachments, must not exceed a 25-megabyte file size. Attachments 
to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word or Excel or 
Adobe PDF file formats only. All comments received are a part of the 
public record and will generally be posted online at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address) voluntarily submitted by the 
commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential 
business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelsey Potlock, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401. An electronic copy of Dominion 
Energy's application may be obtained online at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act. In case of problems accessing these 
documents, please call the contact listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) 
direct the Secretary of Commerce (as delegated to NMFS) to allow, upon 
request, the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers 
of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity 
(other than commercial fishing) within a specified geographical region 
if certain findings are made and either regulations are issued or, if 
the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed 
authorization is provided to the public for review.
    An incidental take authorization shall be granted if NMFS finds 
that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or 
stock(s), will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the 
availability of the species or stock(s) for subsistence uses (where 
relevant), and if the permissible methods of taking and requirements 
pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring and reporting of such takings 
are set forth.
    NMFS has defined ``negligible impact'' in 50 CFR 216.103 as an 
impact resulting from the specified activity that cannot be reasonably 
expected to, and is not reasonably likely to, adversely affect the 
species or stock through effects on annual rates of recruitment or 
survival.
    The MMPA states that the term ``take'' means to harass, hunt, 
capture, kill or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine 
mammal.
    Except with respect to certain activities not pertinent here, the 
MMPA defines ``harassment'' as: any act of pursuit, torment, or 
annoyance, which (i) has the potential to injure a marine mammal or 
marine mammal stock in the wild (Level A harassment); or (ii) has the 
potential to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild 
by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including, but not 
limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or 
sheltering (Level B harassment).

Summary of Request

    On February 16, 2022, NMFS received application from Dominion 
Energy, requesting authorization to take marine mammals incidental to 
the development of CVOW-C in the BOEM Lease Area (OCS)-A-0483 
Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development 
off of Virginia. In response to our comments, and following

[[Page 56635]]

extensive information exchanges with NMFS, Dominion Energy submitted a 
revised application on August 9, 2022 that we determined was adequate 
and complete on August 12, 2022. Dominion Energy requested the 
regulations and subsequent 5-year Letter of Authorization (LOA) be 
valid from March 4, 2024 through March 3, 2029.
    Dominion Energy plans to conduct the following activities 
associated with the wind farm construction: vibratory and impact 
installation of wind turbine generators (WTG) monopiles foundations and 
offshore substation (OSS) jacket foundations; temporary use of goal 
posts to guide installation activities during the trenchless 
installation by impact pile driving; vibratory installation and removal 
of temporary cofferdams using sheet piles at the sea-to-shore 
transitions; site characterization surveys using a range of 
frequencies; placement of scour protection; and export cable trenching, 
laying, and burial. Vessels will be used to transport crew, supplies, 
and materials to the project area and to support pile installation. A 
subset of these activities (i.e., installing piles using impact and 
vibratory pile driving; site characterization surveys) may result in 
the take, by Level A harassment and Level B harassment, of marine 
mammals. Therefore, Dominion Energy requests authorization to 
incidentally take marine mammals.

Specified Activities

    In Executive Order 14008, President Biden stated that it is the 
policy of the United States to organize and deploy the full capacity of 
its agencies to combat the climate crisis to implement a Government-
wide approach that reduces climate pollution in every sector of its 
economy; increases resilience to the impacts of climate change; 
protects public health; conserves our lands, water, and biodiversity; 
delivers environmental justice; and spurs well-paying union jobs and 
economic growth, especially through innovation, commercialization, and 
deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure. 
Furthermore, this project would directly support the goals of the 
Virginia Clean Economy Act passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 
2020, which supports the development of clean and reliable offshore 
wind energy to be developed by 2028 and consist of approximately 2,500 
to 3,000 MW of energy.
    Through a competitive leasing process under 30 CFR 585.211, 
Dominion Energy was awarded Commercial Lease OCS-A 0483 offshore of 
Virginia and the exclusive right to submit a construction and 
operations plan (COP) for activities within the lease area. Dominion 
Energy submitted a COP to BOEM proposing the construction, operation, 
maintenance, and conceptual decommissioning of the CVOW-C project, a 
2,500 to 3,000 megawatt (MW) commercial-scale offshore wind energy 
facility with a Lease Area covering approximately 112,799 acres (456.48 
km\2\) and located 27 nautical miles (50 km) off of the coastline of 
Virginia Beach. Per the ITA application, CVOW-C would consist of up to 
205 WTGs with associated monopile foundations, up to three OSSs with 
associated jacket foundations, and one transmission cable-to-shore.
    Dominion Energy anticipates that activities potentially resulting 
in the take of marine mammals could occur for the life of the requested 
5-year Incidental Take Regulation (ITR) and associated Letter of 
Authorization (LOA). This includes:
     Several construction-related high-resolution site 
assessment geophysical surveys using acoustic sources <180 kilohertz 
(kHz) for up to 1,108 days during all 5 years (with varying effort 
based on survey year);
     The installation of up to 205 WTGs monopile foundations; 
each foundation would be a tapered (i.e., one end has a larger diameter 
than the other end) 7.5/9.5-meter (m) pile by vibratory and impact pile 
driving;
     The installation of up to three OSSs jacket foundations 
using four pin piles (2.8-m) each by vibratory and impact pile driving;
     The installation and removal of up to nine temporary 
cofferdams using steel sheet piles by vibratory pile driving at the 
offshore nearshore trenchless installation punch-out for the burial of 
the direct pipe west of the firing range at the State Military 
Reservation in Virginia Beach; and,
     The installation of temporary goal posts (i.e., a steel 
support structure to support the direct pipe installation).
    We note that Dominion Energy is not requesting take incidental to 
the detonation of munitions and explosives of concern or unexploded 
ordnances (MEC/UXOs) during the effective period of the regulation.

Information Solicited

    Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and 
comments concerning the Dominion Energy's request (see ADDRESSES). NMFS 
will consider all information, suggestions, and comments related to the 
request during the development of proposed regulations governing the 
incidental taking of marine mammals by Dominion Energy, if appropriate.

    Dated: September 12, 2022.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-19964 Filed 9-14-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P