The Department of the Interior released Thursday a draft program that proposes over the next five years almost three dozen offshore lease sales, none of which is in the Atlantic, but instead are around Alaska and in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.

The secretary of the Interior directed Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, to draft the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program to replace the 2024–2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program put in place during the Biden administration, according to a press release.

A 60-day public comment period opens when the draft program is published in the Federal Register, which is expected to happen Monday.

The draft program proposes up to 34 potential offshore lease sales across 21 of 27 existing outer continental shelf planning areas, with 21 areas off the coast of Alaska, seven in the Gulf of Mexico, and six along the Pacific Coast, totaling around 1.27 billion acres.

The sites selected in the proposed program are not restricted by presidential memorandum, unlike much of the Atlantic Coast. The North Carolina section of the Atlantic Coast is unavailable for oil and gas leasing until 2032 per a presidential memorandum.

The draft is the first of three proposals that will be developed before final approval of the 2026-2031 program, and is a directive in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that requires the secretary of the Interior to prepare a national program that identifies the size, timing, and location of potential lease sales.

The two Carolina governors are urging the Trump administration to maintain the moratorium on offshore drilling the president set during his first term, citing possible disruptions to the coastal economy from a disaster without the existing protection.

Trump issued in September 2020 memoranda preventing leases for oil and gas drilling off the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina until June 30, 2032.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced plans in April to begin the process of developing a new schedule for offshore oil and gas lease sales for the outer continental shelf. Called the “11th National Outer Continental Shelf Program,” the public comment period opened April 29. The 45-day comment period closes Monday, June 16.

In the letter to BOEM dated June 16, Gov. Josh Stein and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster urge removing North Carolina and South Carolina’s outer continental shelf from consideration for the program. 

“Because of the significant risks associated with offshore oil and gas exploration, development and production off the Carolina coasts, every North Carolina and South Carolina coastal municipality has passed a resolution opposing offshore drilling and seismic testing,” the governors wrote. “This position has been reaffirmed by other municipalities and counties, as well as state legislators and members of our Congressional delegations from both parties. We ask you to respect the wishes of our states and our coastal communities and reaffirm President Trump’s decision to protect our coastlines and the industries they support.” 

North Carolina and South Carolina have a combined 513 miles of ocean beaches and 6,251 miles of coastline that are home to more than 2.7 million people and include numerous national wildlife refuges. The coastal economy for the two states in 2021 contributed $9.6 billion to the gross domestic product, supported more than 125,000 jobs, and provided $3.8 billion in wages, led by tourism and recreation, shipbuilding, fishing, and marine transportation industries.

“These industries would be highly vulnerable to disruption from offshore drilling,” according to the governors’ offices.

Guest Commentary

To stimulate discussion and debate, Coastal Review welcomes differing viewpoints on topical coastal issues. 

It’s a story Carolinians already know: The Trump administration is once again pushing to expand offshore drilling along America’s coasts. It claims to have a mandate, insisting that “America spoke” in last November’s election and that those results endorse the administration’s energy agenda and “national energy emergency” claims.

When America last had a real chance to weigh in on offshore drilling during the first Trump term, it spoke loudly and clearly in opposition. Nowhere was this more evident than in the Carolinas, where communities, local leaders and even Republican lawmakers stood up and firmly said, “No.”

In 2018, the first Trump administration proposed opening up vast stretches of the Atlantic Coast to offshore drilling, including waters off North and South Carolina. That plan ran headfirst into a wall of resistance built by residents from coastal towns and inland cities who came together to protect their way of life. Environmental groups, fishermen, small business owners and tourism industry leaders formed unlikely alliances to stop the drilling. More than a hundred coastal communities passed formal resolutions against Atlantic oil drilling. Those unlikely alliances bloomed into rallies, marches and protests for months on end. Their message was simple: Environmentally and economically, the risks were too high.

That opposition was echoed by elected officials, regardless of their side of the aisle. Republican governors and lawmakers broke ranks with the administration to defend their states’ coastlines. Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and South Carolina’s Henry McMaster both called for their states to be excluded from the drilling plan. Coastal communities passed resolutions opposing drilling off their shores. It was a rare display of bipartisan unity, driven by the urgent need to protect local economies, natural heritage and public safety.

The high stakes haven’t changed. The Atlantic Ocean is home to fragile marine ecosystems including species like endangered North Atlantic right whales, sea turtles and countless fish species. Those species and ecosystems are under constant pressure from overfishing, climate change, as well as plastic, chemical and noise pollution. Habitat destruction from coastal development, bottom trawling and dredging further disrupts vital ecosystems. The oil industry could very well be the tipping point for our Atlantic species.

The damage doesn’t stop at the drill site. Seismic testing — the method used to locate oil beneath the ocean floor — blasts powerful sound waves through the water, disorienting and sometimes killing marine animals. Infrastructure to support offshore drilling brings onshore pollution, industrialization of coastal areas, and heightened risk of oil spills. And the closer the drilling moves to shore, the greater the danger to beaches, estuaries, as well as the tourism and fishing industries that rely on clean water and healthy ecosystems. Additionally, due to the proximity of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, spilled oil could rapidly travel thousands of miles, creating widespread ecological damage that would be incredibly difficult to mitigate. That’s thousands of miles of chances for oil to get on and inside the bodies of wildlife, leading to everything from hypothermia to ulcers and a gruesome death.

Now, the first public comment period is open in the 11^th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which the Department of the Interior will use to create a process for selling leases for drilling off our coasts.

The people of North and South Carolina stood up to offshore drilling once before, and we must do it again: Submit comments to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and demand that our coast be kept free from new drilling. Offshore drilling has had no place on the Atlantic Coast before, and it has no place here now. America didn’t ask for oil rigs off its beaches — and the Carolinas are once again ready to lead the fight to keep them out.

Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Coastal Review or our publisher, the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

The federal agency that identifies offshore wind energy areas is in the early stages of siting another possible commercial lease sale for the East Coast.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held an open house last week at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City, the first in the multiyear, multistep planning process for Central Atlantic 2. BOEM manages development of the U.S. outer continental shelf energy, mineral and geological resources.

BOEM Project Coordinator Seth Theuerkauf explained that the agency has just begun the work to identify lease areas in the Central Atlantic region.

“We’re at the call area stage, the first step of our process,” Theuerkauf said, adding that what’s really driving the effort is the remaining offshore wind energy needs for North Carolina and Maryland.

Officials on Aug. 22 published in the federal register the call area, which is 13 million acres off the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, and launched the 60-day public comment period that ends Oct. 21.

BOEM has scheduled open houses over the coming weeks in the other states plus a virtual meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 2. Register for the Zoom meeting online. This meeting will feature presentations and offer a chance to comment.

North Carolina has a goal for 8 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2040 and need 3 more gigawatts of lease area to meet that goal. This process is intended to try to identify those lease areas – about 185,000 acres — that would help North Carolina meet its goals. Gov. Roy Cooper’s office established the goal in 2021 with executive order 218.

The call stage looks at a broad area, between 3 nautical miles offshore, where state and federal waters meet, “all the way out to 60 meters, which is basically as deep as you can go and have fixed foundations for offshore wind turbines,” Theuerkauf said.

The intent of this stage is to gather as much information as possible to help identify resource or use conflicts in the call area, Theuerkauf said.

BOEM is building the project on the momentum of the wind energy lease sale that took place in August and included two areas, one off Virginia and one off of Maryland and Delaware. The call area for that sale included offshore Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, between the Virginia line and Cape Hatteras.

For the second round, Theuerkauf said the boundaries are being extended.

“The state of North Carolina indicated interest in looking at areas further south from Cape Hatteras, down to that South Carolina, North Carolina border. Again, we’re really looking for enough lease area to meet those state goals. We know there’s a lot of conflict, there’s a lot of usage, military activities, vessel traffic, natural resource considerations. And that’s really the information we’re trying to gain to identify and narrow.”

Some of the activity in the ocean that could conflict with an offshore wind energy area are military training activities and are areas that are important to vessel traffic, called fairways. The Coast Guard is working through the process to identify fairways and once those are established, these paths will be “no-go zones for offshore wind energy.”

Theuerkauf said other conflicts include fisheries, in terms of avoiding areas where there’s higher levels of fishing activity.

In all, “there’s really a whole lot that goes into the process” of determining an offshore wind area, Theuerkauf added. “We’re partnering with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to basically build a spatial model that takes all that information into account and is able to tell us on this sort of red-yellow- green scale, where are those areas that are best or worst based on all of that information.”

He said there’s also an expert focused on viewshed considerations. “We typically have applied coastal setback” for viewshed, Theuerkauf said, which is basically establishing a distance that wind energy areas had to be from land. “The state of North Carolina shared that 20 nautical miles is their recommended coastal setback.”

Theuerkauf said the next stage in the process is to identify draft wind energy areas. That process is essentially to narrow down the call area to smaller, less-conflicted areas. Those draft wind energy areas would go back out for public comment.

Along with Theuerkauf to explain the spatial modeling were Bryce O’Brien and Alyssa Randall with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. Randall said they gather lots of data on all possible conflicting uses and categorize that information into submodels to run a suitability model to determine the best spot is to site a lease.

O’Brien said the submodels — constraints, national security, industry, fisheries, wind, and natural and cultural resources — are combined and that’s how they determine the area with the lowest number of conflicts.

Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean, or Marco, Communications Director Karl Vilacoba, said while gesturing to a map of the Central Atlantic region that MARCO has online a free, publicly accessible mapping site that shows “pretty much anything you can imagine at sea, including where vessel concentrations are, fishing grounds, sensitive habitat, real life distributions. People can use the portal to see how all these things relate to each other, and in some cases, conflict with one another, so that people in ocean management worlds can make better informed decisions.”

He said that the portal “gives the public a chance to look at a lot of the same information that the agencies are using to make their decisions.”

MARCO Executive Director Avalon Bristow added that while MARCO is not a program of BOEM, it works in partnership with BOEM and other federal agencies, states and other stakeholders “who are interested in the ocean to present information that might be useful to understand how decision making is made offshore.”

From a fisheries perspective, Thomas Moorman, a scientist with BOEM, said that different types of fisheries-related information is taken into consideration that would affect the suitability for a potential site.

For instance, data from the National Marine Fisheries Service that illustrates where commercial fishermen are going for specific species is incorporated.

“We look at like density of areas where fishing is occurring, and we do that by species,” which helps inform siting an area. “If we think about siting this area, what are the main fisheries that would occur here? And how does a potential sale interact with the fisheries that occur here?” Moorman continued. They take that information to form the question “is this an area where we should or shouldn’t consider for a lease sale?”

BOEM Marine Biologist Jeri Wisman said that when it comes to how offshore wind projects affect endangered species, she spends a lot of time explaining the impacts to marine mammals, particularly the related noise and vessel traffic, and mitigation strategies.

Another consideration, BOEM environmental specialist Lisa Landers explained, that is taken into consideration is how an offshore wind energy lease could impact cultural resources.

With the open houses and public comment period, “We’re looking for information, any recommendations regarding areas that we should avoid — or should we provide consideration to specific setbacks or buffers — anything that should be taken into consideration,” and that includes known shipwrecks, archeological sites “anything that is culturally significant,” Landers said. “Also, we are taking into consideration the visual impacts to historic properties. So, there are national historic landmarks, lighthouses, historic districts along the coast that could be visually adversely impacted future offshore wind energy development.”

To give an idea of what the viewshed would be like, John McCarty, a landscape architect with BOEM, had designed simulations of what the viewshed would look like for wind turbines at different offshore distances. By illustrating the potential visual impacts, McCarty said it gives the public an opportunity to comment on what distance is acceptable for them from a visual standpoint.

Getting the power generated by wind turbines to the shore is another part of the puzzle, particularly what uses exist between a possible lease area and land.

BOEM Renewable Energy Program Specialist Josh Gange said the wind turbines produce energy that is then transferred to an offshore substation. The power is transmitted from there by an export cable buried under the sea floor to a point of interconnection onshore, which is typically another substation, and that’s where that power is then distributed throughout the existing grid.

BOEM economist Jayson Pollock said that overtime as technology evolves, there’s bigger output and more efficiencies are created but, like with anything, there’s tradeoffs. The further away from shore that a project is developed, the higher the cost will be and “I think that’s a very important point.” It costs more money for boats to go the distance, to manufacture longer cables, for example.

Vessel traffic is another conflict taken into consideration. BOEM oceanographer Will Waskes said that the Coast Guard is in the process of codifying fairways offshore for large ships, especially those traveling to and from ports. Once the fairways are formalized through the rulemaking process, the highways for ships will be considered conflicts for wind energy areas.

Jennifer Mundt, the assistant secretary for Clean Energy Economic Development under the North Carolina Department of Commerce, was on hand to answer questions from the state level.

Mundt amplified that the state is appreciative of the “collaborative spirit that BOEM brings” and the effort to solicit feedback from the public. “I think this is really important for a transparent process.”

In a follow-up call, Brian Walch with BOEM’s communication office told Coastal Review that the reception was positive from the 40 or so that attended. They seemed interested in the information and wanted to know more about the lease siting process.

It can take as long as a decade to develop a wind project from when there’s the first review of a possible lease area to when there could be any project actually in operation.

“BOEM is meticulous,” and thoroughly looks through the public comments, Walch said. Adding the team puts a great deal of effort in public outreach, like the open houses. There are four more for this round and “it’s a pretty significant undertaking” to get the staff and representatives in one place but BOEM feels that it is a responsibility to communities and to individuals.

Comments can be submitted until 11:59 p.m. Oct. 21 in writing by using the portal at regulations.gov or by mail to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 45600 Woodland Road, Mailstop: VAM-OREP, Sterling, VA 20166.

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management officials are asking for feedback on possible commercial wind energy development in areas totaling 13.47 million acres off the coasts of North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, or Central Atlantic 2.

BOEM announced Wednesday that it will publish in the Federal Register on Thursday a call for information and nominations for a second regional offshore wind energy sale in the Central Atlantic 2, one of the first steps in the leasing process. Publishing the call will initiate a 60-day public comment period that ends 11:59 p.m. Oct. 21. Information on how to comment is to be posted Thursday at regulations.gov. Search for BOEM-2024-0040.

The Central Atlantic 2 Call Area “is broad to allow for flexibility to minimize conflicts with other uses, such as commercial fisheries, military activities, and vessel traffic,” according to the federal agency.

This announcement builds on the input and planning that led to the first Central Atlantic lease sale on Aug. 14, the fifth offshore wind lease sale held during the Biden-Harris administration, according to BOEM.

BOEM will host open houses throughout the region, including one 5 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City, and from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, at Tidewater Community College’s Virginia Beach Campus Student Center, 1700 College Crescent, Virginia Beach.

To register online for either open house, visit https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/central-atlantic-2-public-meetings. The public will be able to submit written comments during the open houses. There will not be formal comment period.

A virtual Zoom meeting is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 2. Register online.

“Today’s announcement kicks off the process for a second potential auction in the Central Atlantic and provides an important avenue to solicit information as we identify potential areas that may be suitable for future offshore wind energy leasing,” BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein said Wednesday in a statement. “BOEM looks forward to building upon years of working with ocean users, Tribal governments, and local, state, and federal agencies as we drive toward achieving the ambitious goals of the Biden-Harris administration to fight climate change and create good-paying jobs.”

Officials said they will collaborate with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to help identify where conflicts may exist and inform decisions regarding the most appropriate locations for wind energy areas. After completing environmental reviews of the potential areas in consultation with the appropriate federal agencies, Tribes, state and local governments, and key stakeholders, BOEM may propose a competitive lease sale.

If North Carolina beaches are going to keep up their tug-of-war with the sea to maintain robust ocean shores, they’re going to need sand and a lot of it.

But, in an era when mining sand and pumping it onto beaches has become a go-to means of fortifying shores against erosion and storms, finding that just-right type of sand and enough of it for the foreseeable future might prove to be quite the challenge for many of the state’s coastal communities.

The dilemma is that beneath the surface of the vast Atlantic Ocean stretching from our shores, the amount of prized “beach-quality” sand needed to replenish them is finite.

There are, “critical sand shortages” across regions off North Carolina’s coast, according to a 2020 study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in partnership with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM.

Federal agencies are being asked to look elsewhere and explore potential untapped sand sources beyond the boundaries of state waters, miles and miles out to the outer continental shelf.

In return, those agencies are relaying a message to coastal communities throughout the country – it’s time to stop thinking about individual project needs and focus on a more regional approach if you want to keep putting sand on your beaches.

“We’re seeing this challenge through the South Atlantic region, call it ‘sand wars’ or ‘competing uses of the same resource,’” said Doug Piatkowski, a physical scientist with BOEM’s Office of Strategic Resources. “There’s a real need to start thinking about what we do know about offshore resource availability and then how we maximize use in a more holistic way, systems’ say, so that we can optimize what little resource we have.”

A century of coastal engineering

Little more than a century has passed since the first U.S. beach got sand from offshore to replump its eroded shoreline.

Since 1923, when Coney Island, New York, officially became the birthplace of the engineered beach, more than 1.5 billion cubic yards of sand has been dredged and injected onto the shores of some 475 communities in the country.

More than 3,200 sand projects have been completed on beaches from California to Florida to New York over the course of the last 100 years. Many of the communities that account for that number have renourished their beaches multiple times, according to the South Atlantic Coastal Study.

North Carolina is one of six coastal states that has placed a large portion of that total sand volume — more than 80% — on its shores, according to a beach nourishment study published in January 2021.

Carolina Beach has the distinction of being the first to have a federal beach erosion-control project completed in 1964.

Since then, the Army Corps has authorized dozens of federal projects, which entail routine sand nourishment throughout a period of 50 years.

Between 2010 and 2020, a total of 37 million cubic yards of sand was placed on U.S. beaches each year, according to the South Atlantic Coastal Study.

In the South Atlantic region, more than 1.3 billion cubic yards of sand is required to support the region’s 50-year sand needs. More than 1.56 million cubic yards of sand resources have been identified to fill those needs.

An evolving theme ‘many aren’t talking about’

That sand surplus isn’t expected to last.

“While regional sand resources are greater than documented sand needs as of today, economically viable long-term sources are limited in many areas across the region,” according to the study.

The South Atlantic study, also referred to as Sand Availability and Needs Determination, or SAND, was the first in which the Corps was given funding to do a regional assessment of sand needs.

It found that sand shortages were documented in every state within the Corps’ South Atlantic Division and identified “critical sand shortages” in regions of North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.

“If we were to continue at the rate that we’re going … we have a lot of work to do to figure out kind of this supply-and-demand assessment, realizing with climate change and increased storm frequency and this continued demand for sand that we’ve got to do a better job at assessing where this resource availability is, what conflicts may exist in their use and then, over this next 50-year horizon, really have a more realistic understanding of availability and what we can do in terms of meeting the resilience plans to address the need,” Piatkowski said.

Now, more than ever, it is important to recognize these regions are all within one system, he said.

It’s an “evolving theme that many aren’t talking about,” Piatkowski said.

But that isn’t to say that all beach communities are behind the regional-thinking curve.

Carteret County, for example, is considered a leader in its long-term management of available sand options to meet the needs for all of Bogue Banks. The 25-mile-long barrier island is home to Atlantic Beach, Indian Beach, Pine Knoll Shores, Salter Path and Emerald Isle.

And Dare County is starting to think longer-term and look more broadly at its potential sediment availability options, Piatkowski said.

“This is something that BOEM’s trying to kind of message to the coastal stakeholder communities that, ‘Look, it’s beginning to be a scenario where you’ve got multiple interests and multiple needs all within one system and we need to be smarter about figuring out the dynamics of what is the underlying geology for the sediment that we do have. Why is it there? What are the transport processes in the location that we’re dredging it from?’ And then, where we’re placing it because, at the end of the day, if two beaches are connected, that sediment is ultimately moving in that system,” Piatkowski said.

Sand-challenged Long Bay

To understand the complexities faced by beach communities that face critical shortages in sand nourishment sources look no further than Brunswick County.

According to the South Atlantic study, Brunswick County has a sand deficit of nearly 30 million cubic yards.

That’s because Long Bay is essentially a sand-starved area, one where there are vulnerable coastlines in need of hardy sand borrow sources.

“Due to the nature and location of the beaches, it’s more likely to find rock or clay material rather than beach-quality sand,” said Jed Cayton, public affairs specialist with the Corps’ Wilmington District, in an email response to Coastal Review.

Frying Pan Shoals, an area off the seaward southeastern side of Bald Head Island with millions and millions of yards of sediment sand, is federally recognized as essential fish habitat. That designation has kept it from being tapped as a sand borrow source.

That has made Jay Bird Shoals, which is near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, a dredging hotspot for Brunswick beaches and, in recent years, the subject of growing contention between towns vying for sand security.

The town of Oak Island earlier this year received pushback from neighboring beach towns for including the inner ocean bar at the mouth of the river as a secondary sand source in its application for a beach nourishment project. The Brunswick beach town hopes to kick off the project this winter.

Oak Island is requesting to place up to 3 million cubic yards of sand along its 9-mile-long beach from a primary source some 18 miles offshore.

Oak Island’s project is estimated to cost $40 million. The town is awaiting a decision on the permit application.

The secondary source identified in Oak Island’s initial application is between Caswell Beach and Bald Head Island, which each argue that sand is crucial to their nourishment efforts.

In a board of commissioners meeting earlier this year, Caswell Beach Town Manager Joseph Pierce told board members, “If they pull that much sand from that area, our concern is that erosion is going to affect our east end, as well as Bald Head Island. There is a huge hole down there now where sand will continue to fall in, and it will affect both beaches,” The State Port Pilot reported.

Oak Island amended its Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, major permit last month and removed its request to use the inner ocean bar as a secondary source.

The Corps and BOEM are currently studying a longer-term coastal storm risk management project for Oak Island. That study is projected to be completed in the fall of 2027.

A draft assessment of the potential impacts of offshore wind fields in the central-Atlantic region is up for public review.

The public comment period on the Bureau of Ocean Management’s draft environmental assessment will include two upcoming virtual public hearings. Written comments will be accepted through Feb. 12.

The draft environmental assessment examines potential environmental impacts to geophysical, geological, and archaeological features within wind energy areas off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Easements and grants that would be associated with each proposed lease, including subsea cable corridors, are also considered in the assessment.

Proposed offshore wind lease sales in the Central Atlantic Wind Energy Areas, or WEAs, include WEA A-2 off the Delaware and Maryland coasts and WEA C-1, which lies off the coast of Virginia.

If offshore wind fields are built in these areas they have the potential to generate enough energy to power more than 2.2 million homes, according to BOEM.

“BOEM will continue to work closely with our government partners, key stakeholders, and the public as we consider proposed offshore wind activities in the Central Atlantic,” BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein stated in a release. “Our overarching goal is to ensure any development is done in a manner that avoids or reduces potential impacts to other ocean uses and the marine environment.”

The draft environmental assessment includes a third potential lease site offshore of Ocean City, Maryland, but that area is not currently included as a proposed sale site because it is being evaluated further for potential conflicts with other existing ocean uses, according to the release.

Lease sales could occur in the region as early as next year.

BOEM’s draft assessment was published Jan. 12 in the Federal Register.

Anyone who would like to comment at one of the agency’s virtual public meetings must register.

Register for the Jan. 30 hearing, which begins at 5 p.m.

Register for the second hearing set for 1 p.m. Feb. 1.

To submit written comments, go to www.regulations.gov and search for BOEM-2024-0004.

After considering all public comments, BOEM will publish a final environmental assessment.

The federal government this week released a proposed sale notice for mid-Atlantic lease areas off the coasts of Delaware and Virginia.

The Bureau of Ocean Management, or BOEM, plans to hold a lease sale for two previously identified wind energy areas, including one a little more than 40 miles off Virginia’s coast.

This area includes 176,505 acres adjacent to the eastern edge of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project and northeast of the Kitty Hawk Wind project off North Carolina’s northern coast.

According to the Southeastern Wind Coalition, three wind energy areas spanning more than 336,000 acres off Virginia’s shores have the potential to exceed that state’s 5.6 gigawatt offshore wind goal.

“Additional development opportunities in proximity to Virginia not only provide the Commonwealth with clean energy options, but support the development of an offshore wind supply chain and workforce in the Hampton Roads region,” according to a coalition release. “Every GW of new development is anticipated to yield 5,200 direct and indirect jobs in Virginia and more than $740 million in economic output. Additional Central Atlantic lease sales are necessary to help North Carolina and other southeastern states realize the full economic potential of offshore wind.”

BOEM-approved wind fields including the Kitty Hawk and Wilmington East wind energy areas off North Carolina’s coast have been leased to three companies for more than $320 million.

Wind turbines to be built in those areas are expected to generate a combination of up to more than 4.5 GW of energy – enough to power an estimated 1.2 million homes, according to the coalition.

The nonprofit works in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Louisiana, focusing on offshore and land-based wind, wind imports and the wind industry’s supply chain.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is seeking public comment on a draft guide with ways the offshore wind industry and lessees can mitigate impacts to fisheries.

The draft released Thursday covers areas such as project siting, design, navigation, access, safety and financial compensation.

The 60-day public review and comment period ends Aug. 22.

“Fishing communities and fisheries stakeholders are critical to our offshore energy development process, and we’re looking forward to discussions on this draft guidance,” said BOEM Director Amanda Lefton in a statement. “We’re seeking open and honest conversations focused on finding solutions to potential challenges as we work to provide clean, safe domestic energy for American taxpayers while at the same time providing good-paying jobs and building a U.S. supply chain to support this effort.”

The document is intended to help ensure consistent use of data and methodologies across projects and states and assist lessees and BOEM in the preparation and review of construction and operations plans.

BOEM representatives have scheduled public meetings to discuss the draft guidance and hear from commercial and recreational fishers and other interested parties firsthand. The meeting for the East Coast is 9-11 a.m. July 11.

A meeting for developers is set for 9-11 a.m. July 21.

Registration for the meetings and additional information including meeting dates for the Gulf and West coasts, are available on BOEM’s website.

While these meetings are focused on collecting feedback from the fishing industry and recreational fishers, they are open to the public and anyone can provide comments.

BOEM said it will review and consider comments on the draft guidance as it develops final guidance this summer.

“We want feedback on the entirety of mitigation framework, from facility design considerations to recommendations on compensatory mitigation, particularly from the people and organizations that this guidance is meant to aid,” said BOEM Marine Biologist Brian Hooker.

The draft mitigation document is the next step in the development of guidance for offshore wind companies. The process began this past winter through a request for information from the fishing industry, government agencies, nongovernment organizations, and the general public, in consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service, according to BOEM.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has planned its first online wind energy auction May 11 for two lease areas in the Carolina Long Bay area, located offshore of the North Carolina and South Carolina border.

BOEM is holding a mock auction for potential bidders at 9 a.m. May 6. The monetary auction will be online at 9 a.m. May 11. The list of qualified bidders for the auction and auction procedures are on BOEM’s Carolina Long Bay website.

In addition to the auction announcement, the Department of the Interior announced Friday that BOEM had completed the environmental review, which states that issuing the commercial wind energy leases would not cause any significant impacts.

“The Biden-Harris administration is committed to supporting a robust clean energy economy, and the upcoming Carolina Long Bay offshore wind energy auction provides yet another excellent opportunity to strengthen the clean energy industry while creating good-paying union jobs,” said Secretary Deb Haaland in a statement. “This is an historic time for domestic offshore wind energy development. We will continue using every tool in our toolbox to tackle the climate crisis, reduce our emissions to reach the President’s bold goals, and advance environmental justice.”

The May 11 auction is to allow offshore wind developers to bid on one or both of the lease areas, the Wilmington West and East wind energy areas, or WEAs, which are part of a larger Carolina Long Bay area. The two lease areas totaling about 110,091 acres in the Carolina Long Bay area have similar acreage, distances to shore and wind resource potential.

Any lease from the sale does not mean that the project-specific plans are approved. Plans submitted by the lessee will need to go through environmental, technical and public reviews before the proposed development would be authorized, according to the final sale notice to be published Monday in the Federal Register.

BOEM officials said that if developed, at least 1.3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes, could result.

“BOEM is focused on ensuring that any development offshore North Carolina is done responsibly, in a way that avoids or minimizes potential impacts to the ocean and ocean users in the region,” said BOEM Director Amanda Lefton in a statement Friday. “The milestones announced today mark significant progress in achieving this Administration’s goal for deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, while creating jobs and strengthening a sustainable domestic supply chain.”

Southeastern Wind Coalition President Katharine Kollins said in a statement that the organization applauds BOEM’s decision to divide the Wilmington East Wind Energy Area into two leases.

“Having two lease areas means more economic benefit for the state through additional competition, development flexibility, and multiple players in the space,” she said. “Additional lease provisions will drive incentive for localized supply chain and workforce development, allowing North Carolina the ability to take advantage of the $100B at our doorstep.” 

President Joe Biden announced the first national offshore wind energy goal in March 2021. In fall 2021, the Biden administration announced a new leasing path forward identifying seven potential lease sales by 2025, including the upcoming Carolina Long Bay lease sale and last month’s New York Bight lease sale. Lease sales offshore California and Oregon, as well as in the Central Atlantic, Gulf of Maine, and the Gulf of Mexico are expected to follow.

Oceana campaign director Diane Hoskins said in a statement that Friday’s announcement is an important step forward for job creation and securing a clean energy future.

“Oceana applauds President Biden for working to make offshore wind a reality in the United States,” she said.

Offshore wind is a critical piece of the puzzle when confronting the climate crisis and replacing the fossil fuels driving climate change. Friday’s lease sale announcement will help the country meet clean energy goals that will lead to energy independence.

“Advancing clean, domestic offshore wind energy can create jobs, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and help fight climate change,” she said. 

National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito said in a statement Friday that the Carolina Long Bay announcement “is fantastic news for the Carolinas and for the nation. We are going to go from one project in the area to three, which will strengthen the supply chain and attract additional investment and jobs.”

Milito explained that the window is narrow window between holding the lease sale and the prohibition that will prevent additional lease sales beyond this one.

“Starting July 1, there will be a 10-year moratorium on offshore wind leasing in the area stretching from North Carolina down through the Eastern Gulf of Mexico,” he said, adding that National Ocean Industries Association strongly advocating for legislation revoking the ban. “Overturning the moratorium has been non-controversial. Language is already included in the America Competes Act and was previously included in the Build Back Better Act. Congressional leaders should continue their bipartisan work in passing legislation that overturns the moratorium and allows for additional future lease sales.”

North Carolina officials are asking for public comment on whether the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s proposal to issue commercial offshore wind energy leases off the Wilmington coast is within the parameters of North Carolina’s Coastal Management Program. 

The deadline to submit comments is Feb. 23.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management said Monday it is evaluating BOEM’s Consistency Determination. The evaluation is to consider if issuing as many as three commercial wind energy leases and approving site assessment activities, which include the installation, operation and decommissioning of up to six meteorological buoys within the Wilmington East wind energy area, is consistent with the enforceable policies of the state’s Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, and rules of the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission.

The consistency determination does state that ‘the lease, by itself, would not authorize the lessee to construct or operate any wind energy project” on the outer continental shelf.

Send comments to Daniel Govoni, Federal Consistency Coordinator, 400 Commerce Ave., Morehead City, NC 28557, or by email to DCMcomments@ncdenr.gov.  Write “Wilmington East WEA” in the subject line.

Officials said all comments would be considered in developing the state’s consistency response and that notice of the decision would be provided upon request.

Related documents

• Wilmington East WEA CZMA table
• Wilmington East Consistency Determination document
• Wilmington East Consistency Determination letter signed

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has granted Dare County access to up to 6.6 million cubic yards of sand from the Outer Continental Shelf to restore 11.6 miles of beachfront in Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills.

Set to begin next year, the project is part of Dare County’s long-term shoreline-management program to sustain and protect beachfront, is designed to protect local infrastructure and property, restore the beaches and prepare for more rapid recovery from storms, BOEM officials announced Friday.

“BOEM is proud to work with Dare County to provide valuable sand resources to improve coastal resilience, protect coastal infrastructure, and provide recreational opportunities for surrounding communities,” BOEM Director Amanda Lefton said in a statement.

Beaches on the Outer Banks help drive the economy in Dare County, where the year-round population of 37,000 swells to 225,000 to 300,000 at times during summer months. Tourism and outdoor recreation account for $1.4 billion in direct spending in Dare County.

More frequent and powerful storms along the U.S. coast coupled with sea level rise have led to greater demand for offshore sand resources that can be used to restore and protect coastal communities and habitats.

BOEM is partnering with coastal communities like Dare County to address serious threats from erosion along the Nation’s coastal beaches, dunes, barrier islands and wetlands, the agency said.

BOEM has sole authority to convey outer continental shelf sand resources for shoreline resilience and beach or wetland restoration projects undertaken by federal, state or local governments.

The final environmental assessment and related documents are available on BOEM’s Marine Minerals Program’s North Carolina project page. 

For more information about the program, visit  http://www.boem.gov/Marine-Minerals-Program/.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is considering a lease sale for the Wilmington East Wind Energy Area, or WEA, offshore of the North Carolina-South Carolina border.

BOEM is preparing a supplemental environmental assessment to consider the additional wind leasing options for the area. The agency said Friday it will accept comment for the next 30 days ending at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 12.

To comment and for a copy of the 2015 environmental assessment, visit https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/north-carolina-activities.

“Environmental reviews are essential to a strong resource management program,” said BOEM Director Amanda Lefton in a statement. “At BOEM, scientific based decision-making remains a top priority and will inform the path forward offshore the Carolinas. We welcome and appreciate your input into this process.”

The supplemental assessment is to consider new information relevant to environmental considerations that were not available when BOEM published the Commercial Wind Lease Issuance and Site Assessment Activities on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Offshore North Carolina – Revised Environmental Assessment in 2015.

As part of this public process, BOEM said it is seeking input on additional information, issues and alternatives to be considered in the supplemental assessment. 

BOEM’s 2015 assessment considered the lease sale of the Kitty Hawk Wind Energy Area, as well as the Wilmington East and West WEAs. Officials said that BOEM found at the time that no reasonably foreseeable significant impacts were expected as a result of the proposed lease sales or any of the alternatives in the environmental assessment.

BOEM held in 2017 an auction for the Kitty Hawk WEA and is now considering a lease sale for the Wilmington East WEA. The supplemental environmental review evaluates new circumstances and information relevant to reasonably foreseeable environmental impacts that would occur from site characterization activities such as shallow hazards, surveys of the lease area and potential cable routes as well as site assessment activities including installation and operation of meteorological buoys associated with issuing wind energy leases in the Wilmington East WEA.

Some of the new information includes a recent marine cultural resources survey, changes in the status of some Endangered Species Act-listed species, the listing of new species, and the designation of critical habitat for the North Atlantic right whale.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Carolina Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force will meet later this month to discuss wind energy off the coast of the Carolinas.

The task force meeting is from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 21, on Zoom. Register for the meeting online. After registering, participants will receive a confirmation email. There will be an opportunity for the public to comment and ask questions at the meeting.  

Task force members, which include tribal, federal, state and local government representatives, will discuss the next steps in the BOEM leasing process for establishing wind energy areas, or WEAs, off the coast of both North and South Carolina, called the Carolina Long Bay area.

During the meeting, BOEM will update task force members on recent planning activities, provide a briefing on past and present Carolina Long Bay offshore wind development, and consider an approach for possible lease sale and discussion with federal, tribal, state and local government officials.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Army Corps of Engineers announced Monday a joint effort to help increase renewable energy production in U.S. offshore waters.

The agreement between the bureau and the corps is to help plan and review renewable energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf. Additionally, the partnership is intended to help the Biden administration meet its commitment to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, according to the bureau.

The partnership between the two organizations is a result of President Biden’s Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, which directed interagency consultation between the Department of the Interior and Department of Defense, or DOD, in order to increase renewable energy production on public lands and in offshore waters, while ensuring robust protection for our lands, waters, and biodiversity and creating good-paying jobs.

“This agreement shows the value of a whole-of-government approach to clean energy development,” said Bureau Director Amanda Lefton, in a statement. “BOEM has a long history of successful collaboration with the DOD and USACE on energy and marine mineral projects. Additionally, our state partnerships are vital to the advancement of BOEM’s renewable energy program.”

The agreement will allow the Corps to provide the bureau more scientific and technical resources needed to evaluate offshore wind projects on the Outer Continental Shelf.

“This partnership is a great example of federal agencies coming together for a common goal: to advance renewable energy solutions for the nation,” said Corps North Atlantic Division Programs Director Karen Baker. “We look forward to applying USACE scientific and technical support to enable the BOEM-led team.”

While the scope of the agreement covers all renewable energy activities in the Atlantic, the initial focus will be on the Corps supporting the review of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial project and the Kitty Hawk project.

“I applaud the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to advancing clean energy jobs and tackling climate change through additional support for offshore wind development,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. “North Carolina is a national leader in clean energy and manufacturing, and partnerships like this one support both our environment and economy.”

Officials said the agreement gives BOEM access to the Corps’ technical expertise while planning new leasing in the Atlantic and reviewing National Environmental Policy Act documents, construction and operations plans or project proposals, facility design reports and fabrication and installation reports.

Officials noted that recent technological advances have enhanced the cost-effectiveness of renewable energy projects. The economic potential provides a path that to diversifying the national energy portfolio while combatting climate change, creating jobs and encouraging investment in communities, the bureau said.

Gov. Roy Cooper last week urged the new director of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to head off former President Trump’s wind energy leasing moratorium set to take effect next year and “swiftly advance” leasing of existing wind energy areas off North Carolina’s coast.

Cooper, in his March 3 letter to BOEM Director Amanda Lefton, says that North Carolina needs more offshore wind energy projects and wind energy leasing areas to meet clean energy goals and spur the economy.

Citing a recent paper from the North Carolina Department of Commerce touting the state’s position to capitalize on the growing offshore wind energy industry, Cooper urges Lefton to take “all available actions” to remove former President Trump’s 10-year moratorium on new offshore wind leases off the North Carolina coast set to take effect July 1, 2022.

“Given the threat that the moratorium will prohibit additional offshore wind projects along our coast for a decade, I respectfully request that BOEM promptly proceed with activities needed to lease the Wilmington East and Wilmington West WEAs by July 1, 2022,” Cooper wrote, adding that activities include reconvening the renewable energy task force to review new research and proceed with lease sales.

Cooper also reiterated the appeal made by Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan in a 2018 letter requesting that BOEM designate additional WEAs off the state coast. Regan awaits Senate confirmation as President Biden’s nominee as Environmental Protection Agency secretary. A vote on Regan’s confirmation is possible before Friday.

Shipwreck enthusiasts can now get an up-close look at the Blake Ridge wreck, which rests more than 130 miles off the North Carolina coast in over 7,000 feet of water, along with a handful of other shipwrecks in waters surrounding the United States from the comfort of their own home.

With the opening of the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, Virtual Archaeology Museum, visitors to the website can view video, detailed three-dimensional models and mosaic maps of shipwrecks from the 19th and 20th centuries discovered by BOEM in the course of underwater research and oil and gas exploration.

“With the opening of BOEM’s Virtual Archaeology Museum, users are able to easily access these models on their own computers and see shipwrecks lying on the bottom of the ocean, some for hundreds of years,” the agency said in a news release. “Professional and amateur scientists will have the ability to monitor these shipwrecks over time, gauging changes to the shipwrecks and their artifacts, as well observing the various aquatic species that inhabit their hulls, making the bottom of the sea accessible like never before.”

For the last few years, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research and BOEM have worked together to gather data at shipwreck sites in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic.

The surveys were made using remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, and underwater videography. Computer technology was used to create photo-real and hyper-accurate 3D models from two-dimensional imagery.

“With the ROVs we can clearly examine the artifacts in these shipwrecks up close, in thousands of feet of water. Through the use of the 3D models, we can see each shipwreck site as a whole and monitor changes to it over time,” said BOEM Gulf of Mexico Regional Director Mike Celata in a statement. “The Virtual Archaeology Museum will serve as a valuable teaching asset in both school and university classrooms, and the data collected will be a focal point for underwater researchers, its online presence allowing collaboration worldwide.”

Reprinted from the Outer Banks Sentinel

KILL DEVIL HILLS — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, is expected to hold an open house meeting regarding the proposed 2019-24 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program on May 14 at the Ramada Plaza.

That information was shared at the Dare Board of Commissioners meeting Feb. 19 by Commissioner Rob Ross, who said he had learned of the scheduled meeting from Michael Flynn, a coastal advocate at the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

That news comes in the wake of a preliminary injunction filing last week by communities and environmental groups that have brought a suit seeking to block Atlantic seismic testing, a precursor to offshore drilling. Environmental advocates and many public officials have rallied against the Trump Administration plans for drilling in the waters off the Atlantic coast.

Flynn said he has learned that the Department of Interior had reserved the ballroom at the Ramada Plaza 3-7 p.m. May 14  to host the open house to provide information on the proposed energy plan, similar to one that was held in Raleigh last February.

Asked for a confirmation and additional details on this meeting, BOEM Deputy Chief of Public Affairs and Media Relations Manager Tracey Blythe Moriarty said, “A final decision has not been made on the Proposed Program … so I do not have much to share yet.”

Moriarty added that BOEM expects to publish the Proposed Program and Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement “in the coming weeks.” During the 90-day public comment period that follows, she said, “public meetings will be held in coastal cities adjacent to program areas still under consideration for oil and gas leasing.”

She also stated that, “It is easier to reserve venues way in advance and cancel later, rather than competing for space during high tourist season, especially for venues located in smaller towns.”

Back in May 2015, BOEM also held an open house at the Ramada Plaza, drawing nearly 700 participants who visited six information stations featuring a video presentation, maps and a description of the proposed actions for the 2017-2022 Oil and Gas Leasing Program.

At the same time, an estimated crowd of 300 people jammed into the ballroom of the Comfort Inn next door as protesters passionately declared their opposition to drilling off the North Carolina coast. They later gathered on the beach for a rally and group photo.

The BOEM meeting in Raleigh February 2018 followed the same format. The Coastal Federation and 13 other members of the Don’t Drill NC Coalition chartered four buses to shuttle people from the coast who wanted to make their voices heard. At one point during that event, drilling opponents staged a boisterous rally, cheering speakers that included Outer Banks Visitors Bureau Executive Director Lee Nettles, Kill Devil Hills Mayor Sheila Davies and Dare Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard.

Acknowledging that May 14 “does seem to be a ways off,” Flynn said the Don’t Drill NC Coalition has already started “to plan a response” to a May BOEM meeting. He said that, as part of that response, the coalition “plans to gather in the ballroom of the Comfort Inn North located next to the Ramada Plaza for a public rally/press event.”

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Sentinel, a weekly Dare County newspaper that is published in print every Wednesday and headquartered at 2910 South Croatan Highway, Nags Head. Aside from the print paper, the Sentinel also produces a continually updated digital version at www.obsentinel.com.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, is inviting the public to comment on its recently published draft environmental assessment for surveys to identify, map, monitor and research sand resources in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico outer continental shelf regions.

The deadline to comment on the draft assessment is midnight, Sept. 10.

BOEM’s Marine Minerals Program is responsible for managing non-energy minerals, mainly sand and gravel, for use in coastal resiliency and storm damage reduction projects, including beach nourishment and coastal restoration. The agency says it must carefully manage sand and gravel resources used to replenish eroded beaches, conserve sensitive wildlife areas and restore barrier islands and wetlands that provide natural protection from storms, including protection for inland areas.

“This project is in response to the critical coastal and dune erosion that occurred due to effects from Hurricane Sandy,” according to the document released Friday. In the wake of the 2012 storm, BOEM received millions in disaster relief and coastal resiliency funding to conduct the proposed research.

The proposed offshore sand surveys would be part of a plan to provide compatible resources to multiple federal and state agencies and localities to help protect infrastructure, respond to emergencies and rebuild parkland, wildlife refuges and habitat.

The potential study area is from the state or federal boundary to about 164-foot depths offshore from Maine to Texas. Certain areas would be excluded, such as Cape Cod Bay and marine protected areas.

The sand surveys would generally examine the top 20 feet of the sea floor and do not involve the use of air guns. The technology includes sub-bottom profilers; multi-beam or interferometric swath bathymetry; side scan sonar or acoustic backscatter from multi-beam or interferometric bathymetry; magnetometers; and vibracore or grab sampling to collect sediment samples.

Submit Comments

Comments may be submitted in the following ways:

• Electronically, to Deena Hanson at: deena.hansen@boem.gov.
• Hand or mail delivery, in an envelope addressed to: Deena Hansen, Office of Environmental Programs, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 760 Paseo Camarillo, Suite 102, Camarillo, CA 93010.

Learn More

• Read the environmental assessment
• BOEM’s Marine Minerals Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has extended through July 5 the time for public input on its proposed plan for future renewable leasing off the East Coast.

BOEM announced Friday that the extended deadline is the result of stakeholder requests for an extension of the comment period regarding BOEM’s assessment of all waters off the Atlantic Coast for potential future offshore wind lease locations.

BOEM issued a request for feedback in the Federal Register April 6 seeking public input. That notice originally had a comment period deadline of May 21.

Stakeholders should submit comments electronically or postmarked no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on July 5 via the following:

• Electronically through http://www.regulations.gov. In the entry titled ‘‘Enter Keyword or ID,’’ search for BOEM-2018-0018.  Follow the instructions to submit public comments in response to this document.
• Written Comments delivered by hand or by mail, enclosed in an envelope labeled ‘‘Comments on Request for Feedback’’ to: Office of Renewable Energy Programs, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 45600 Woodland Road, VAM-OREP, Sterling, VA 20166.

To help assess which geographic areas along the Atlantic are the most likely to have highest potential for successful offshore wind development, BOEM said it is considering areas more likely to be excluded that are prohibited by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act for leasing, Department of Defense conflict areas and charted marine vessel traffic routes.

Factors that make an area more attractive for future leasing include the following:

• Areas not previously removed.
• Areas greater than 10 nautical miles (nm) from shore.
• Areas shallower than 60 meters or about 200 feet in depth.
• Areas adjacent to states with offshore wind economic incentives.
• Areas adjacent to states with an interest in identifying additional lease areas.
• Areas where industry has expressed interest.

Learn More

• Request for Feedback Information

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite strong opposition from East Coast governors, several dozen lawmakers and the Defense Department, the Department of the Interior Thursday released its proposed five-year draft plan to open up most U.S. outer continental-shelf waters, including off the North Carolina coast and some protected areas, to oil and gas exploration and drilling.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced that the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management had identified 47 possible areas where industry companies can buy leases in the draft National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, or National OCS Program, for 2019-2024.

While oil and gas industry groups embraced the new five-year plan, a wide range of state officials and conservationists were quick to come out in opposition.

“Offshore drilling represents a critical threat to our coastal economy. Protecting North Carolina families and businesses is my top priority, and we will pursue every option to prevent oil drilling near North Carolina’s beaches, coastal communities, and fishing waters,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement.

Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan also released a statement on the plan. “Offshore drilling and the seismic testing that would precede it pose environmental and economic risks to North Carolina’s coastal communities that we cannot afford,” Regan said Thursday. “Protection of our beaches, sounds and marine life is vital to ensuring a robust coastal economy.”

The group Oceana said the administration’s proposal would put large multi-national corporations ahead of coastal residents and healthy ocean-dependent economies. “This plan opens the floodgates to dirty and dangerous offshore drilling, threatening coastal economies that rely on clean and healthy oceans,” Oceana campaign director Diane Hoskins said in a statement.

Zinke said in the announcement that 155 members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate sent letters to the secretary in support of a new five-year plan “that recognizes America’s potential for energy dominance.”

Zinke said during a news conference that there is nothing final with the draft program and that states, communities and congressional delegations will be able to provide input before the proposal is finalized in the coming months.

A series of 23 “open house” public meetings have been scheduled on the draft plan, including one set for 3-7 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown, 3415 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh.

Learn More

• Draft 2019-2024 National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program

Abigail Ross Hopper defended the 50-mile buffer included in the proposed Atlantic offshore leasing plan less than a week after Gov. Pat McCrory complained in congressional testimony that the buffer puts much of the state’s offshore oil and natural gas reserves off limits. McCrory has asked BOEM to allow drilling as close as 30 miles from the N.C. coast.

Hopper told the News & Observer of Raleigh after her speech that the proposed drilling buffer would be by far the widest off-limits exclusion zone in the country. With the exception of a 25-nautical mile drilling restriction in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, there are no buffers imposed in federal offshore drilling zones, Hopper said.

“One of the reasons we proposed a 50-mile buffer is to allow an area for renewable energy,” she told the newspaper. “It makes sense for each to have its own space to develop.”

Read the rest of the story here.