August 20, 2021 — The construction and operation of the South Fork Wind farm is likely to have negligible to moderately adverse impacts on marine life and habitat, with some moderately beneficial impacts also likely. For commercial fisheries, however, moderate to major adverse effects, either temporarily or long term, are predicted, with minor to moderate disruptions on for-hire recreational fishing.
But climate change, other offshore development and vessel activity, and fishing itself will have “continuing temporary to long-term impacts” on commercial and recreational fishing. The wind farm’s impact on birds and bats, marine mammals, and air and water quality would be negligible to moderately adverse.
These are among the conclusions of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s final environmental impact statement on the proposed wind farm, issued on Monday and signaling BOEM’s completion of its environmental review.
The statement represents an exhaustive analysis of the potential environmental impacts of activities detailed in the wind farm developers’ Construction and Operations Plan. It follows BOEM’s January publishing of a draft environmental impact statement for the wind farm. In the ensuing 45-day comment period, the bureau received 1,300 public comments. It also held three virtual public meetings to solicit feedback on the draft environmental impact statement from individuals and groups including commercial fishermen and other stakeholders. Those comments are incorporated into the final statement.
The wind farm’s developers, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind and Eversource Energy, plan a 12-turbine, 130-megawatt installation to be situated in a federal lease area approximately 35 miles east of Montauk Point. It would deliver electricity to the South Fork via an export cable making landfall at the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott, a plan that has angered many residents of that hamlet and spurred a drive to incorporate a portion of it as a village.