On December 19, 2023, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced its intent to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for all of the lease areas in California including both those off Humboldt County and those off at San Luis Obispo County. The PEIS is a document that analyzes environmental impacts and potential mitigation measures as part of a programmatic review under the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. §4321 et seq.) It is BOEM’s responsibility to explain what concerns will be addressed in the PEIS.
The purpose of this PEIS will be to “propose programmatic mitigation measures and analyze the impacts from the human and natural environment that could result from adopting those measures.” Mitigation measures that might be proposed include best management practices, standard operating procedures, adaptive management practices, and comprehensive mitigation measures.
Some environmental analysis will have to be deferred because there are no site specific actions proposed yet since there are no Construction Operation Plans. Identifying potential adverse impacts early during a PEIS gives agencies the opportunity to make changes in later environmental reviews to avoid or mitigate adverse impacts and to develop monitoring programs to ensure that mitigation commitments identified at the programmatic level are implemented at the project-specific level.
Programmatic review is considered appropriate (40 CFR § 1508.18(b) when multiple projects are temporally or spatially connected such as several similar projects in a region such as a large-scale utility corridor project or multiple actions are reasonably foreseen in a common geography within federally controlled lands. A PEIS can form the basis for making decisions on site-specific future actions if the PEIS contains sufficient data and information. For example if an ecological risk assessment is done as part of a PEIS, it may not be necessary to redo this analysis for individual projects.
A PEIS is expected to make an agency’s compliance with NEPA more efficient and to ensure meaningful public engagement in the decision making process. A PEIS is expected to clearly state what decisions the agency proposes to make based on the content of the PEIS. The purpose and need for a PEIS should not be written in such a manner that would avoid eliminating reasonable alternatives but still be focused enough to allow the agency to conduct appropriate analysis. The analysis that an agency undertakes should requires the agency to take a “hard look at environmental consequences.” (Natural Resources Defense Council v. Morton, 458 F. 2d 827 (D.C. Cir. 1972) A PEIS should also be clear about how long the findings from the PEIS will be relevant before they need to be updated or supplemented. Results from the PEIS can be incorporated into future documents required by NEPA.
The public has the opportunity to provide public comments on what should be covered in the PEIS. This is the opportunity for community members to share their concerns about topics that need to be evaluated in relation to the proposed offshore wind developments on the Central Coast.
BOEM is seeking information about:
- Historic properties that may be affected by or impacted by activities associated with wind energy development
- Data, information and analysis that could inform an environmental impact report. BOEM is particularly looking for new sources of information that have not already been reviewed. BOEM has already collected some data, information, and analysis on many of the subjects that will be covered in the PEIS and is likely to rely on some of these sources again for the PEIS. These sources can be found in https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/morro-bay-final-environmental-assessment-and-appendices.
- Mitigation measures “including wind energy development alternatives offshore California” and impacts on biological resources including bats, birds, coastal fauna, finfish, invertebrates, essential fish habitat, marine mammals, and sea turtles plus impacts on physical resources (air quality, water quality, and other waters of the United States)
- Information about socioeconomic and cultural resources including resource important to Tribal Nations, commercial fisheries, recreational fishing, employment, environmental justice, land use and coastal infrastructure, navigation and vessel traffic, other uses (military use/aviation), recreation and tourism, and scenic and visual resources.
- Information about other current or planned activities in the vicinity of the California wind energy leases.
- Possible alternatives (and the possible impacts of the alternatives) on planned activities
- Other impacts on human environment from California wind energy development including any impacts from possible mitigation measures
- Information related to turbine layouts, lease setbacks, turbine sizes, wind assembly dimensions, number of turbines, offshore substation types and locations, types of foundations or mooring design, installation of foundations or mooring design, scour protection, installation approaches to cable laying, location of landfalls, onshore substation locations, point of grid interconnection, ports, fabrication facilities, staging areas, timing of onshore and offshore activities, and activities associated with vessel trips.
This is a very important step for public involvement. Impacts on state, tribal, and private lands should be addressed in the PEIS. A programmatic NEPA review can narrow alternatives and impact discussions in subsequent NEPA review documents.
Relationship of a Programmatic EIS to subsequent NEPA documents.
