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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 208 / Monday, November 1, 2021 / Notices
the environmental assessment process.
See the section of this Call entitled BOEMs Environmental Review Process.
The Call Area was established in consultation with BOEMs GOM
Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force. Comments received in response to the RFI also were considered when delineating the Call Area. A detailed description of the Call Area is found in section 3 below.
The OCS Lands Act requires BOEM to award leases competitively, unless BOEM determines that there is no competitive interest 43 U.S.C.
1337p3. BOEM has determined that competitive interest exists in the identified Call area. BOEM now solicits nominations for any additional areas not previously identified as being of interest for obtaining a lease in the Call Area and requests information from interested and affected parties on issues relevant to BOEMs review of nominations for potential leases.
The responses to this Call could lead BOEM to proceed with the competitive leasing process in some parts of the Call Area i.e., where competition exists and a noncompetitive process in other parts of the Call Area i.e., where no competitive interest exists. The leasing process is described more thoroughly under the Determination of Competitive Interest and Noncompetitive Leasing Process sections of this Call. In any parts of the Call Area where an entity has nominated or identified an area of interest for a possible lease and where no competing submissions exist, BOEM
may proceed with the noncompetitive lease process pursuant to BOEMs regulations at 30 CFR 585.232. If BOEM
determines that competitive interest exists in some or all of the Call Area, then BOEM may proceed with area identification under 30 CFR 585.211b and the competitive leasing process under 30 CFR 585.211 through 585.225.
Whether issued through a competitive or noncompetitive process, a lease does not grant the lessee the right to construct any facilities on the OCS. The lease only grants the lessee the exclusive right to submit site assessment and development plans to BOEM.
BOEM must approve these plans before the lessee may proceed to the next stages of lease development 30 CFR
585.600 and 585.601.
Whether competitive or noncompetitive, the leasing process will include subsequent opportunities for public input and review of any proposed actions for potential environmental impacts and multiple use conflicts. BOEM has not yet determined
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which areas may be offered for lease, if any. Further, BOEM may include less than the total footprint of the Call Area in any leasing decision or may offer no areas for leasing at all.
3. Description of Call Area The Call Area comprises the area located seaward of the Gulf of Mexico Submerged Lands Act boundary, bounded on the east by the north-south line located at 89.858 W longitude, and bounded on the south by the 400-meter bathymetry contour and the United StatesMexico maritime boundary established by the Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Mexican States on the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf in the Western Gulf of Mexico beyond 200
Nautical Miles, which took effect in January 2001. The area for potential wind energy leasing consists of approximately 29,901,285 acres. BOEM
may issue an additional Call for areas in water depths between 400 meters and 1,300 meters when a better understanding exists of the competitive interest for floating wind energy development in the GOM.
4. Requested Information From Interested or Affected Parties On June 11, 2021, BOEM published in the Federal Register the Request for Interest in Commercial Leasing for Wind Power Development on the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf OCS
86 FR 31339. Any information that was previously submitted in response to the section of that RFI entitled Requested Information from Interested or Affected Parties does not need to be resubmitted; BOEM will consider it along with any information received in response to this notice.
BOEM requests specific and detailed comments from the public and other interested or affected parties regarding the following features, activities, mitigations, or concerns within or around the Call Area:
a. Geological, geophysical, and biological bathymetric conditions including bottom and shallow hazards and live bottom.
b. Known archaeological and cultural resource sites on the seabed.
c. Information regarding the identification of historic properties or potential effects to historic properties from leasing, site assessment activities including the construction of meteorological towers or the installation of meteorological buoys, or commercial wind energy development in the areas identified in the Call Area. This includes potential offshore
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archaeological sites or other historic properties within the areas described in this notice and also onshore historic properties that could potentially be affected by renewable energy activities within the Call Areas. This information will inform BOEMs review of future undertakings under section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act NHPA and under the National Environmental Policy Act NEPA.
d. Information about potentially conflicting uses of the Call Area, including navigation in particular, commercial and recreational vessel use, recreation, and fisheries commercial and recreational. Additional information regarding recreational and commercial fisheries including, but not limited to, the use of the areas, the types of fishing gear used, seasonal use, and recommendations for reducing use conflicts.
e. Information regarding the identification of protected species, federally designated or proposed critical habitat, essential fish habitat, or areas that are environmentally sensitive or crucial to marine productivity and are State or federally managed for their conservation value.
f. Available and pertinent data and information concerning renewable energy resources and environmental conditions. Where applicable, spatial information should be submitted in a format compatible with ArcGIS 10.8.1 in a geographic coordinate system NAD
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g. Information relating to visual resources and aesthetics, the potential impacts of wind turbines and associated infrastructure on those resources, and potential strategies to help mitigate or minimize any visual effects.
h. Other relevant socioeconomic, cultural, biological, and environmental information.
i. Any other relevant information BOEM should consider during its planning and decision-making process for the purpose of issuing leases in the Call Area.
j. BOEM is interested in understanding potential opportunities for all types of renewable energy development in the GOM. Please provide information to develop an understanding of the potential opportunities or interest in developing clean energy in the area. BOEM would like information on the economic viability of offshore renewable energy in the GOM, the potential insurance support, private equity investment, capacity of grid expansion, transmission concerns, and any positive net value analysis for industry support.
Specifically,
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