August 14, 2019 — With a critical permit for the Vineyard Wind project on hold so the federal government can launch a new study of the burgeoning offshore wind industry and its potential consequences, the agency conducting that study said Tuesday its review could stretch into 2020.
The US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Tuesday put more detail to a plan it first announced Friday, when it sent shockwaves through the industry with its plan to hold off on developing the final environmental impact statement for Vineyard Wind while it studies the wider impacts of an offshore wind industry that is hoping to quickly ramp up along the Northeast and mid-Atlantic coastline.
BOEM laid out its process on Tuesday for the additional review, which will take the form of a supplement to Vineyard Wind’s 2018 draft environmental impact statement, and indicated that the final environmental impact statement is unlikely to come until 2020 — well after project developers had hoped to begin construction.