Epsilon’s team of offshore wind permitting experts have released a report, “Assessment of Federal Offshore Wind Permitting and Environmental Review Processes,” which provides a detailed summary of the rigorous leasing and federal permitting processes associated with US offshore wind projects.
The US offshore wind industry has grown rapidly over the last decade. As of January 2025, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) had approved 11 commercial-scale offshore wind projects totaling more than 19 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, with several more projects in various stages of BOEM’s review.1 These important clean energy projects are poised to generate enough electricity to power millions of homes, support America’s energy independence, and provide tens of thousands of American jobs, all while reducing air emissions from the electric grid.2 As demonstrated in Epsilon’s report, “Assessment of Federal Offshore Wind Permitting and Environmental Review Processes,” US offshore wind projects have undergone rigorous leasing and federal permitting processes that balance responsible development with strong environmental stewardship.
Before issuing offshore wind leases, BOEM conducts a multi-year, multi-step process to identify areas that are suitable for offshore wind development while avoiding and minimizing potential impacts to the environment and other ocean users. This process occurs in collaboration with other agencies, Tribes, and stakeholders and includes numerous opportunities for public comment. Through this process, BOEM often considerably reduces the area ultimately offered for leasing to avoid and minimize impacts to national security, navigation, marine species, and fisheries, among other resources. For example, the lease areas auctioned offshore New England comprised only 11% of the area initially proposed by BOEM for offshore wind development.
Following lease issuance, the federal permitting process for commercial-scale offshore wind projects can span over 7 years, with roughly 3–5 years for site characterization (surveys), site assessments, and Construction and Operations Plan (COP) preparation, and another approximately 2.5 years or more to navigate through the federal permitting process. In addition to BOEM’s review of a developer’s COP under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), several permits, authorizations, and consultations with other federal agencies (e.g., National Marine Fisheries Service [NMFS], US Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency) are required. Through these processes: 1) the potential impacts of offshore wind projects are well documented and analyzed; 2) agencies, Tribes, and stakeholders are afforded numerous opportunities to review and provide comments; and 3) extensive measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate potential impacts on physical, biological, and socioeconomic resources are imposed through permits and approvals. For example, the Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) of COP Approval for SouthCoast Wind (one of the most recent COP Approvals) contained 79 pages of robust and protective conditions.3
Among the key issues thoroughly assessed during the leasing and federal permitting processes are impacts to navigational safety, fisheries, marine mammals, birds, and national security. Our report summarizes the required assessments associated with these key issues. Highlights of our summary report related to these topics include:
- Navigation and fisheries: The potential impacts of offshore wind projects on navigation and fisheries are assessed through numerous COPs, Environmental Impact Statements, Port Access Route Studies, and/or other independent studies. These potential impacts are avoided through the lease area identification process, minimized through the design of wind turbine layouts and offshore cables, and mitigated through the numerous T&Cs contained within COP Approvals, including fisheries compensatory mitigation.
- Marine mammals: Abundant protective measures are incorporated into COP Approvals and NMFS’s Letters of Authorization or Incidental Harassment Authorizations to reduce potential impacts to marine mammals during offshore wind-related activities. For example, offshore wind-related vessels are required to follow more restrictive vessel strike avoidance measures than other vessels. Importantly, researchers and natural resources managers have found no substantial evidence that offshore wind development has contributed to increased strandings or marine mammal mortalities.4 The primary threats to marine mammals—entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes—are longstanding problems that pre-date the beginning of offshore wind work.
- Birds: Many bird species consistently fly outside the rotor swept zone or exhibit avoidance behavior and are therefore at low risk of collision with offshore wind turbines. To further reduce the risk of collision, several lease areas were sited to avoid areas of high bird presence and effective measures to reduce collision risk are incorporated in the T&Cs of COP Approval.
- National security: To ensure that offshore wind projects are compatible with military activities, the Department of Defense (DoD) coordinates with BOEM at every stage of the offshore wind planning, permitting, and development process, and robust mitigation measures are adopted in mitigation agreements with DoD and/or as T&Cs of COP Approval to effectively address national security concerns.
Our full report can be downloaded here:
For more information or inquiries, please contact Marc Bergeron at 978.461.6253 or mbergeron@epsilonassociates.com
About the Experts
Maria Hartnett, Principal of Epsilon’s Offshore Wind Group, specializes in environmental permitting and scientific analyses for offshore wind energy development, coastal and marine projects, dredging and disposal activities, and waterfront developments. For 25 years, Ms. Hartnett has been providing environmental consulting services in support of permit applications at the federal, state, and local levels. Ms. Hartnett has been at the forefront of US offshore wind permitting since filing the Vineyard Wind 1 COP with BOEM in December 2017, which is the first COP filed for the current generation of offshore wind energy projects. Since that time, Ms. Hartnett has led or co-led four additional COPs for developers throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Ms. Hartnett’s extensive experience with federal permitting for offshore wind energy projects includes Incidental Take Authorizations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), US Army Corps of Engineers Section 10/404 permitting, and Title 41 of Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41). Ms. Hartnett’s areas of expertise also include preparation of impact assessments for coastal and marine projects, coastal studies, geochemical evaluations, and water quality and shoreline monitoring and mitigation programs. Ms. Hartnett advocates effectively for clients with her strong grasp of scientific principles and clear, well-organized, and persuasive technical reports and presentations. Ms. Hartnett is also skilled at guiding clients through the regulatory process, including international firms entering the US market and companies or homeowners obtaining their first permit.
Abbegail Reynolds, PE, Senior Engineer in the Offshore Wind Group, has over 7 years of experience permitting offshore renewable wind energy projects in the US. Ms. Reynolds was a key member of the federal permitting team for the Vineyard Wind 1 project. Through that precedent-setting offshore wind project and several others, she has acquired expertise in a broad range of environmental rules, regulations, programs, and filings including Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Air Regulations, COPs, Incidental Take Authorizations under the MMPA, NEPA, Section 106 of the NHPA, FAST-41, Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD), and New Source Review (NSR), among others.
Alicia Morandi, Lead Analyst in the Offshore Wind Group, has over 12 years of experience in consulting and 18 years in ecology and biological research. At Epsilon, Ms. Morandi supports all aspects of environmental permitting for offshore wind and other coastal projects including submission of COPs to BOEM. She has spent recent years focusing on understanding impacts of offshore wind development on benthic habitats, fisheries, marine mammals, sea turtles, and other resources through technical studies and preparation of permits, benthic habitat and fisheries monitoring plans, and NEPA documentation.