The Business Network for Offshore Wind, the leading organization dedicated solely to the advancement of the industry and its supply chain, supports the NOI Checklist that will provide much-needed clarity for project developers and offers the supply chain greater certainty on environmental review timelines.

The NOI Checklist establishes threshold requirements for information to be included in construction and operations plans (COPs) before BOEM will issue the formal Notice of Intent. It also provides a detailed set of recommendations for federal interagency engagement milestones that should occur before the NOI is issued. These requirements include documentation of coordination with federal agencies and tribes, authorizations from other federal agencies, a proposed schedule for supplemental filings, a thorough project description including considerations for subsea cables, assessments, and descriptions of possible impacts to marine life and ecosystems, safety and geological assessments, a radar assessment, viewshed modeling, reporting under the National Historic Preservation Act, and acoustic modeling. BOEM notes that the checklist represents a guideline only, rather than a change in rules or policy, but said it will generally not publish an NOI until the checklist’s requirements have been met.

Alongside the checklist, BOEM released recommendations for marine acoustic modeling and measurement relating to impact pile driving used in offshore wind farm installation. These recommendations include general approaches, data collection and analysis methods, and suggestions for reporting study results.

The following statement can be attributed to Liz Burdock, founder and CEO of the Business Network for Offshore Wind:

“Today’s announcement further demonstrates the Biden Administration’s strong commitment to develop a reliable and replicable process for the thorough and efficient environmental review of offshore wind projects. BOEM’s new guidelines will improve the process for all involved by providing clear guidance to developers, encouraging earlier cooperation between developers and stakeholder agencies, and helping to avoid delays once an NOI has been published. These guidelines will enable the industry to develop more projects, more quickly as we work to reach US offshore wind goals.”