OCEAN CITY, Md. - US Wind has submitted a request for Incidental Take Regulations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in regards to construction of the Maryland Offshore Wind Project.
The regulations would govern the authorization of take of a small number of 19 species of marine mammals. A "small number" is considered less than one-third of estimated populations in the area, though specific small numbers are not defined. According to NOAA, take is harassing, hunting, capturing or killing any marine mammal, or attempting to do so. Though intentional take is prohibited, incidental take of small numbers can be allowed through an application process.
Actions of take can include negligent or intentional operation of an aircraft or boat, detaining marine mammals and other acts which result in disturbing them. Take can occur through acts with the potential to injure these animals in the wild, classified as level A harassment, or potential to disturb behavioral patterns like breathing, migration, breeding and sheltering, which are classified as level B harassment.
Project activities likely to result in incidental take, according to project documents, include pile driving and site assessment surveys. A seasonal moratorium of pile driving is included as a provision in the take proposal, for the time period from Dec. 1 through April 30, which is during the months of highest projected North Atlantic right whale presence in the project area. Additional provisions could include delays if the whales are observed or acoustically detected within certain distances.
The requested regulations are for five years ranging from 2025 to 2029, incidental to construction of the proposed wind farm off Maryland's shore in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management lease area and associated cable routes that would need to run ashore.
There are three construction campaigns currently called MarWin, which is expected to take place in 2025, Momentum Wind, expected in 2026, and one unnamed but referred to as Future Development, expected in 2027. In total these projects would result in a maximum of 114 wind turbine generators, four offshore substations and one meteorological tower within the lease area, which comprises of a space about 10 nautical miles off the coast of Fenwick Island and Ocean City.
Up to four offshore cables would be located among up to two corridors from the substations to planned landfall under the existing beach either 3Rs Beach or Tower Road within Delaware Seashore State Park.
Public comment is sought on this US Wind authorization request and will be considered before final decisions are made, according to NOAA. Public comment is open and closes on Feb. 5.
If issued, the proposed Incidental Take Regulations would be effective from Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2029. Additional details on the project are available by searching NOAA-NMFS-2023-0110-0001 on regulations.gov.