Bureau of Ocean Energy Management June 18, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

BOEM has prepared a revised EA considering the reasonably foreseeable environmental and socioeconomic effects of issuing renewable energy leases and lessees' subsequent site characterization activities (e.g., geophysical, geotechnical, archaeological, and biological surveys) and site assessment activities (including the installation and operation of meteorological towers and buoys) on those leases that may be issued in the Wind Energy Area (WEA) on the OCS offshore Massachusetts (MA). The purpose of this notice is to inform the public of the availability of the revised EA and FONSI, which can be accessed online at: https://www.boem.gov/State-Activities- Massachusetts. In accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) regulations implementing NEPA at 40 CFR 1500-1508, BOEM issued a FONSI supported by the analysis in the revised EA. The FONSI concluded that the reasonably foreseeable environmental impacts associated with the proposed action and alternatives, as set forth in the EA, would not significantly impact the quality of the human environment; therefore, the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is not required.