How would the environmental impacts of the proposed Humboldt offshore wind farm be evaluated and mitigated?

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is the lead agency for environmental review of offshore wind. BOEM has developed an environmental review process that takes nearly a decade. First, the Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) that were identified were specifically chosen with consideration of environmental factors through a formal environmental assessment (1), which was published and included a public comment period. Factors considered included sensitive habitats, migration routes, fisheries, vessel traffic, and more. As part of the process of confirming the Humboldt WEA suitable for potential wind development, BOEM had to prove to the California Coastal Commission that their plans for leasing activities would comply (2) with the Coastal Zone Management Act and the California Coastal Act of 1976. On April 7, 2022, the Coastal Commission conditionally approved (3) BOEM’s plans.

Once a site is chosen, developers must spend approximately five years conducting site assessments and surveys. These surveys consider everything from the ocean floor to the air above the turbines in order to understand, to the extent possible, the ecosystems in which the turbines would operate. With that data in hand, developers create a construction and operations plan (COP), which is submitted to BOEM for environmental review in accordance with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). Each COP will require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which includes public review and comment periods. The COP must explain how they would avoid, minimize, and mitigate any expected environmental impacts. The COP also requires a high level decommissioning plan and related funding commitment. BOEM may require additional data collection in order to approve a COP. BOEM will be the final decision-maker for whether the developers have complied with all of the federal laws surrounding environmental protection. For the Humboldt WEA, BOEM has decided to conduct both a programmatic Environmental Impacts Statement (pEIS) (4) that will consider the cumulative impact of all 5 current wind energy leases (3 in Morro Bay and 2 in Humboldt) together as well as to conduct individual EISs for the individual COPs, all of which will require public review and comment periods. Before a single wind turbine can be installed, they will have undergone more environmental review than any other project in Humboldt County history. This will provide many different opportunities for the public to weigh in.