June 14, 2021 — The Biden administration on Friday took another major step toward powering local electric grids with offshore wind power, releasing a proposed sale notice for hundreds of thousands of acres off the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey.
An auction for the lease areas could take place later this year or early next, pending a 60-day comment period, an environmental assessment and other steps, officials have previously said, with development of the wind areas potentially taking place in mid- to late 2020s and beyond.
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management earlier this year had released maps of the proposed sites and, after briefly including areas off the entire East End of Long Island, ultimately eliminated two sections located 15 miles south of the Hamptons. BOEM said they’re not being included “at this time” due to maritime traffic concerns, commercial fisheries, commercial viability and “state preferences.”
On Friday, the Fisheries Survival Fund, representing scallop fishermen and others in the industry, urged the Biden administration to “incrementally change” the proposed lease areas, noting that two are “located in particularly sensitive areas for scallops,” and would have a “serious negative impact” on the scallop fishery.
BOEM, in a statement, said the lease process will include a list of stipulations that would require developers to, among other things, issue a summary of existing users of their area and a “description of efforts to minimize any conflict between existing users” and the developer.