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.

Email received stating NMFS initiated EFH consultation effective March 23, 2023.

The target date for “NOAA determines EFH Assessment is Complete” was December 1, 2022. NMFS will be unable to determine the EFH Assessment to be complete because new Project information was presented by the project sponsor on October 13, 2022 which required updates to the proposed action and analysis in the EFH assessment. Agency coordination regarding the new information and the need to revise the EFH Assessment to include new information from the project sponsor resulted in delays in transmission of a complete EFH assessment to NOAA. BOEM, NMFS, and USACE identified an alternate completion date of April 8, 2023 for the “NOAA determines EFH Assessment is Complete” milestone. BOEM is working to incorporate information from the project sponsor and plan to submit the updated and revised EFH Assessment by February 7, 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, EFH milestone 2 is being set 60 days after BOEM’s planned information submission.  If NOAA receives a complete assessment prior to April 8, 2023; NOAA will initiate consultation early, upon receipt of the complete assessment. The target date for the interim milestone is being updated from December 1, 2022 to April 8, 2023.

The target date for “NOAA determines EFH Assessment is Complete” was December 1, 2022. NMFS will be unable to determine the EFH Assessment to be complete because new Project information was presented by the project sponsor on October 13, 2022 which required updates to the proposed action and analysis in the EFH assessment. Agency coordination regarding the new information and the need to revise the EFH Assessment to include new information from the project sponsor resulted in delays in transmission of a complete EFH assessment to NOAA. BOEM, NMFS, and USACE identified an alternate completion date of April 8, 2023 for the “NOAA determines EFH Assessment is Complete” milestone. BOEM is working to incorporate information from the project sponsor and plan to submit the updated and revised EFH Assessment by February 7, 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, EFH milestone 2 is being set 60 days after BOEM’s planned information submission.  If NOAA receives a complete assessment prior to April 8, 2023; NOAA will initiate consultation early, upon receipt of the complete assessment. The target date for the interim milestone is being updated from December 1, 2022 to April 8, 2023.

The target date for “NOAA determines EFH Assessment is Complete” was December 1, 2022. NMFS will be unable to determine the EFH Assessment to be complete because new Project information was presented by the project sponsor on October 13, 2022 which required updates to the proposed action and analysis in the EFH assessment. Agency coordination regarding the new information and the need to revise the EFH Assessment to include new information from the project sponsor resulted in delays in transmission of a complete EFH assessment to NOAA. BOEM, NMFS, and USACE identified an alternate completion date of April 8, 2023 for the “NOAA determines EFH Assessment is Complete” milestone. BOEM is working to incorporate information from the project sponsor and plan to submit the updated and revised EFH Assessment by February 7, 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, EFH milestone 2 is being set 60 days after BOEM’s planned information submission.  If NOAA receives a complete assessment prior to April 8, 2023; NOAA will initiate consultation early, upon receipt of the complete assessment. The target date for the interim milestone is being updated from December 1, 2022 to April 8, 2023.

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 determined the EFH Assessment complete and initiated the consultation on March 23, 2023.

The target date for “NOAA determines EFH Assessment is Complete” was December 1, 2022. NMFS was unable to determine the EFH Assessment to be complete because new Project information was presented by the project sponsor on October 13, 2022 which required updates to the proposed action and analysis in the EFH assessment. Agency coordination regarding the new information and the need to revise the EFH Assessment to include new information from the project sponsor resulted in delays in transmission of a complete EFH assessment to NOAA. BOEM, NMFS, and USACE identified an alternate completion date of April 8, 2023 for the “NOAA determines EFH Assessment is Complete” milestone. BOEM worked to incorporate information from the project sponsor and submitted a revised EFH Assessment on February 3, 2023. NMFS responded on February 17, 2023, identifying information that was missing from the February 3 EFH 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 EFH Assessment.  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, EFH milestone 2 was set 60 days after BOEM’s planned information submission.  If NOAA receives a complete assessment prior to April 8, 2023; NOAA will initiate consultation early, upon receipt of the complete assessment. The target date for the interim milestone is being updated from December 1, 2022 to April 8, 2023. Therefore, BOEM and NOAA are requesting that the final milestone be updated from March 1, 2023, to July 7, 2023, to correspond to the updates made to the milestone.