After years of extensive regulatory review and public comment, Vineyard Wind LLC (Vineyard Wind) is now on the precipice of entering the operations term of (and beginning construction under) its offshore commercial-scale wind lease. Through the competitive leasing process, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued Vineyard Wind a commercial wind lease (Lease OCS-A0501) in March 2015. Extensive analysis — both by a wind lessee and by BOEM (and collaborating agencies) — is required after BOEM's issuance of a wind lease and before operations under that lease can actually begin. Thus, in December 2017, Vineyard Wind submitted its Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for BOEM's approval; the COP presents Vineyard Wind's detailed plans for constructing and operating the first commercial-scale wind energy project in the United States. Vineyard Wind's submission of the COP triggered BOEM's obligation to conduct an extensive environmental review of the proposed project (and various alternatives thereto) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Continue reading >