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ARTICLE · 09 MAY 2022

US BOEM Issues Final Environmental Review For Offshore Wind Area Off Northern California

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The Humboldt WEA, if developed, could bring up to 1.6 GW of clean energy to the grid, enough to power approximately 560,000 homes.

United StatesEnvironment
J. Paul Forrester
J. Paul Forrester
Lauren A. Bachtel
Lauren A. Bachtel
Eric Pogue
Eric Pogue
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On May 5, 2022, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that it had completed an environmental assessment (EA) and issued a finding of no significant impacts (FONSI) for offshore wind energy activities in the Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA) located 20 miles offshore northern California. BOEM initiated the environmental review on July 28, 2021, and published a draft EA on January 11, 2022, for public review and comment. 

BOEM's EA considers potential impacts from the issuance of leases within the Humboldt WEA, which comprises nearly 132,369 acres (206.8 square miles) off the coast of Humboldt County, California, as depicted on the map below. The Humboldt WEA, if developed, could bring up to 1.6 GW of clean energy to the grid, enough to power approximately 560,000 homes. The EA also considers potential environmental consequences of site characterization activities (e.g., biological, archeological, geological and geophysical surveys), site assessment

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