Abstract
As directed by the Environmental Technical Working Group for New York, in April 2019 two volunteer Specialist Committees (hereafter ‘Committees’; Appendix A) were formed to provide stakeholder input on practices to measure, understand, and mitigate (avoid, minimize, reduce, or offset) the effects of offshore wind energy development on wildlife in the eastern United States. The two Committees are focused, respectively, on 1) birds and bats, and 2) marine mammals. Committee goals are to develop recommended practices for environmentally responsible development with the purpose of informing a range of offshore wind-related efforts by developers, regulators, and other stakeholders, and to promote regional collaboration around environmental mitigation and monitoring for wildlife at offshore wind projects. For additional information on the background, goals, and guiding principles of each Committee, please see their respective summary documents (www.nyetwg.com/specialist-committees).
An initial objective of Committee efforts is to inform the New York State Public Service Commission’s (PSC) decision about recommended wildlife mitigation and monitoring practices to include in offshore wind energy procurement orders. The PSC issues Orders establishing offshore wind standards and frameworks for offshore wind procurements, which authorize the New York state Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to carry out offshore wind solicitations and procure offshore wind renewable energy certificates (ORECs) from offshore wind projects. In the Phase 1 Procurement Order from 2018, the PSC identified several environmental requirements for developers selling ORECs to the state, which NYSERDA built into their procurement request for proposals (RFP). During the solicitation process, offshore wind energy developers that are hoping to sell ORECs to the state must identify the ways in which they will meet the solicitation requirements.
This summary document is intended, in part, to support public comments to the PSC about the types of environmental requirements to include in the Phase 2 Procurement Order. It reflects recommendations for understanding and minimizing effects to wildlife from offshore development, as well as summarizing Committee discussions. The two Specialist Committees both identified regional research and monitoring as an important topic for which to develop recommendations, and pursued it in tandem. The below recommendation around regional research and monitoring was thus developed through a combination of discussions within each Committee, joint discussions with members of both Committees in attendance, and opportunities to provide written feedback.
The aim of Committee discussions was to reach consensus on recommendations; however, this summary document also captures the diversity of views expressed within the Committee, as well as key details and considerations for implementation, regardless of whether consensus was reached. This summary includes:
- Background: relevant information on focal topic areas
- Recommendation: recommended mitigation and monitoring practices on topics that have been discussed by the Committee.
- Status: indicates the level to which the recommendation topic has been discussed (status options are "initial brainstorming", "in progress", "fully drafted").
- Level of Committee Agreement: indicates the degree to which Committee members expressed that they agree with the recommendations as currently written. For recommendations on which there are a variety of Committee perspectives, these alternate opinions are also described.
- Key Takeaways from Group Discussion: key feedback from Committee discussions, including important points of disagreement or topics for additional discussion, as well as considerations for implementation.
As with the summary documents from each individual Committee, this document is intended to be a living document that may be updated to include new details and new topics as Committee discussions progress.