The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) plans to hold a lease sale in the central Atlantic later this year now that a final environmental assessment has been completed.
The assessment concluded that there would be no significant impacts from leases off Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The assessment included site assessment and characterisation activities such as geophysical, geological and archaeological surveys.
In December 2023, the Department of the Interior had announced a proposed offshore wind lease sale for two wind power areas in the central Atlantic: one off Delaware and Maryland, and one off Virginia.
A 410km2 area off Delaware and Maryland and a 714km2 area off Virginia are to be offered at auction.
A third site – off Maryland – was left out, as BOEM conceded that offshore wind developers would incur “significant costs” mitigating impacts on military and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) activities there.
The omitted Maryland site could be considered for a lease sale as soon as 2026, said a BOEM spokesman.
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