Environmental permitting for wildlife in the development of construction and operations plans: Shifting expectations

Since the first Construction and Operations Plans (COPs) were approved in 2021 for utility-scale offshore wind energy projects in US waters, the environmental permitting process has rapidly advanced. Stakeholder groups such as the Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative have been established to identify priorities for scientific research and monitoring, emerging technologies have progressed, and draft Fisheries Mitigation Guidance was released by BOEM. As a result, we need to prepare for major shifts in research questions and approaches to post-construction monitoring, emerging technologies, data acquisition, quantitative modeling, managing cumulative effects, mitigation, and lessons learned. Anticipating these shifting expectations is important to streamline permitting for wildlife (e.g., fisheries, marine mammals, birds, bats, and benthos) in the COP process. This poster presentation identifies some of the shifting questions and suggestions that will help guide future approaches for COP development.