The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will postpone public meetings on its Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project originally scheduled for 15-17 January.
The public meetings were scheduled to take place in Hyannis, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
The postponement is due to the government shutdown, BOEM said. The meetings initially planned for 8 and 9 January had also been postponed earlier this month.
Vineyard Wind is again encouraging the public to submit comments online for both the BOEM Draft Environmental Impact Statement as well as the Final Environmental Impact Report submitted to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office. BOEM continues to accept online comments during the shutdown.
The 800MW Vineyard Wind is North America’s first large-scale offshore wind farm, scheduled to enter the construction phase this year and expected to be operational in 2021.
The project is being developed by Vineyard Wind LLC, a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.