In support of the Biden administration's goal of
permitting 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) announced that it has
been begun preparing its draft environmental assessment to evaluate
the potential impacts of offshore wind development in federal
waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
The area to be assessed spans almost 30 million acres from west
of the Mississippi River to the border with Mexico and is the same
area for which BOEM issued a call for information from the public
on November 1, 2021. The areas selected for development will be
narrowed based on stakeholder and ocean user input and the
suitability of discreet areas for wind development. BOEM's
preparation of a draft environmental assessment for the entire call
area now lays the foundation for future development in areas that
may not be presently viable based on current technology.
