BOEM undertook a comprehensive review of the permitting timetable for this project with the cooperating agencies and project sponsor. The review encompassed all NEPA and associated agency actions and milestone dates for the project, including this action. The review culminated in a request from BOEM on May 22, 2023 for an Executive Director Determination to update interim and final completion dates for multiple actions, including this action. On May 31, 2023, the Executive Director made a determination to adjust the permitting timetable as requested, with the exception of this action. Because the Executive Director did not have enough time to make a decision more than 30 days in advance of the completion date of this action, as required under the FAST-Act (42 U.S.C. § 4370m-2(c)(2)(D)(ii)), this action was not modified through the ED Determination and instead followed the non-conformance protocol. The alternative completion date for this action, as set forth in the BOEM request to the Executive Director, was published on the dashboard.

NOAA confirmed on 4/3/23 that this milestone is now complete.

New Project information was presented by the project sponsor on October 13, 2022 to BOEM, NMFS, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).  BOEM submitted a Biological Assessment to NMFS on November 1, 2022 (the date of the second ESA milestone) that did not include the new Project information.  A response letter from NMFS dated November 17, 2022 identified the additional information that was necessary to initiate consultation.  BOEM is now coordinating with the project sponsor to receive a detailed description of the new Project information to incorporate into BOEM’s biological assessment.  BOEM will submit a Biological Assessment addendum or revised Biological Assessment responsive to the information needs to NMFS by January 31, 2023. In order to provide sufficient time for NMFS to review the additional information and determine if all the information necessary for consultation has been provided (and to ensure there is time for BOEM to provide such information), prior to being locked out from future date changes on the dashboard, ESA milestone 2 is being set 60 days after BOEM’s planned information submission.  Therefore, BOEM and NOAA are requesting that ESA milestone 2 be updated from November 1, 2022 to April 3, 2023 and that ESA milestone 3 be updated to August 31, 2023.  If NMFS determines they have all of the information necessary to initiate the consultation sooner than April 3, consultation would be initiated on that earlier date; in that case, the target for completion of the ESA consultation would be 150 days after the initiation date.

New Project information was presented by the project sponsor on October 13, 2022 to BOEM, NMFS, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).  BOEM submitted a Biological Assessment to NMFS on November 1, 2022 (the date of the second ESA milestone) that did not include the new Project information.  A response letter from NMFS dated November 17, 2022 identified the additional information that was necessary to initiate consultation.  BOEM is now coordinating with the project sponsor to receive a detailed description of the new Project information to incorporate into BOEM’s biological assessment.  BOEM will submit a Biological Assessment addendum or revised Biological Assessment responsive to the information needs to NMFS by January 31, 2023. In order to provide sufficient time for NMFS to review the additional information and determine if all the information necessary for consultation has been provided (and to ensure there is time for BOEM to provide such information), prior to being locked out from future date changes on the dashboard, ESA milestone 2 is being set 60 days after BOEM’s planned information submission.  Therefore, BOEM and NOAA are requesting that ESA milestone 2 be updated from November 1, 2022 to April 3, 2023 and that ESA milestone 3 be updated to August 31, 2023.  If NMFS determines they have all of the information necessary to initiate the consultation sooner than April 3, consultation would be initiated on that earlier date; in that case, the target for completion of the ESA consultation would be 150 days after the initiation date.

New Project information was presented by the project sponsor on October 13, 2022 to BOEM, NMFS, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).  BOEM submitted a Biological Assessment to NMFS on November 1, 2022 (the date of the second ESA milestone) that did not include the new Project information.  A response letter from NMFS dated November 17, 2022 identified the additional information that was necessary to initiate consultation.  BOEM is now coordinating with the project sponsor to receive a detailed description of the new Project information to incorporate into BOEM’s biological assessment.  BOEM will submit a Biological Assessment addendum or revised Biological Assessment responsive to the information needs to NMFS by January 31, 2023. In order to provide sufficient time for NMFS to review the additional information and determine if all the information necessary for consultation has been provided (and to ensure there is time for BOEM to provide such information), prior to being locked out from future date changes on the dashboard, ESA milestone 2 is being set 60 days after BOEM’s planned information submission.  Therefore, BOEM and NOAA are requesting that ESA milestone 2 be updated from November 1, 2022 to April 3, 2023 and that ESA milestone 3 be updated to August 31, 2023.  If NMFS determines they have all of the information necessary to initiate the consultation sooner than April 3, consultation would be initiated on that earlier date; in that case, the target for completion of the ESA consultation would be 150 days after the initiation date.

NMFS anticipates meeting the July 21, 2023 milestone to conclude ESA consultation. 

BOEM undertook a comprehensive review of the permitting timetable for this project with the cooperating agencies and project sponsor. The review encompassed all NEPA and associated agency actions and milestone dates for the project, including this action. The review culminated in a request from BOEM on May 22, 2023 for an Executive Director Determination to update interim and final completion dates for multiple actions, including this action. On May 31, 2023, the Executive Director made a determination to adjust the permitting timetable as requested, with the exception of this action. Because the Executive Director did not have enough time to make a decision more than 30 days in advance of the completion date of this action, as required under the FAST-Act (42 U.S.C. § 4370m-2(c)(2)(D)(ii)), this action was not modified through the ED Determination and instead followed the non-conformance protocol. The alternative completion date for this action, as set forth in the BOEM request to the Executive Director, was published on the dashboard.

NMFS determined the consultation request package was complete and initiated the ESA consultation on March 31, 2023.

New Project information was presented by the project sponsor on October 13, 2022 to BOEM, NMFS, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).  BOEM submitted a Biological Assessment to NMFS on November 1, 2022 (the date of the second ESA milestone) that did not include the new Project information.  A response letter from NMFS dated November 17, 2022 identified the additional information that was necessary to initiate consultation.  BOEM coordinated with the project sponsor to receive a detailed description of the new Project information to incorporate into BOEM’s biological assessment.  BOEM submitted a revised Biological Assessment responsive to the information needs to NMFS on January 31, 2023. NMFS responded on February 16, 2023, identifying information that was missing from the January 31 Biological Assessment and is necessary to initiate consultation.  BOEM is coordinating with the project sponsor to respond and provide the requested information in an Addendum to the BA.  NMFS will review the Addendum once it is submitted; consultation will be initiated once all the necessary information has been received.  In order to provide sufficient time for NMFS to review the additional information and determine if all the information necessary for consultation has been provided (and to ensure there is time for BOEM to provide such information), prior to being locked out from future date changes on the dashboard, ESA milestone 2 was set 60 days after BOEM’s planned information submission.  Therefore, BOEM and NOAA requested that ESA milestone 2 be updated from November 1, 2022 to April 3, 2023 and that ESA milestone 3 be updated to August 31, 2023.  If NMFS determines they have all of the information necessary to initiate the consultation sooner than April 3, consultation would be initiated on that earlier date; in that case, the target for completion of the ESA consultation would be 150 days after the initiation date.