Implementing the Ocean SAMP involved enhancing existing policies with the knowledge gleaned from new research, coordinating among regulatory agencies and stakeholders, testing marine spatial planning tools and techniques for improved ecosystem-based management, and sharing the SAMP lessons learned with other places.
Encouraging appropriate development
The Ocean SAMP recognizes offshore renewable energy as an option to mitigate climate change, create jobs, and diversify Rhode Island’s energy base.
Renewable Energy Zone
Based on the analysis of data including wind speeds, water depth, substrate types, existing uses, and protected areas, as well as considering the potential effects of offshore wind turbines on wildlife and existing uses from renewable energy, the Ocean SAMP has a designated Renewable Energy Zone (REZ). Approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) wide and 34 square kilometers (13 square feet) long, this area extends from the east to the south- west of Block Island, just landward of the state water boundary.
To assure that permitting decisions are well-informed and complementary to the regulatory requirements of relevant agencies, the Ocean SAMP established a Joint Agency Working Group composed of all federal and state agencies with a regulatory responsibility towards a proposed project, as well as the Narragansett Indian Tribe. The function of this group is to work collaboratively in determining project-specific requirements to be followed during construction, operations, and decommissioning of a project, including those pertaining to monitoring and mitigation of adverse impacts that the project may cause.
It also establishes a thorough and transparent offshore development permitting process oriented towards realizing the promise of offshore renewable energy while avoiding significant adverse impacts on ecological and long-standing human uses of the area.
To foster sound permitting decisions, improve knowledge of the Ocean SAMP area, and enable adaptive management that responds to impacts of development as they are detected, the Ocean SAMP requires developers to track ecological and human-use trends at a project site before, during, and after construction. Prior to the start of a project, a developer must submit two data-based documents: a pre-construction Site Assessment Plan detailing the studies that it intends to perform for characterization of the project site, and a Construction and Operations Plan outlining construction, operations, and decommissioning plans for a proposed facility. Pending approval of the site assessment and operations plans, a developer must fund an independent review of the design, fabrication, and installation of a proposed facility to certify that the project complies with sound engineering practices. Developers submitting proposals within the Renewable Energy Zone within two years of Ocean SAMP approval were able to use data from the SAMP to complete their permitting documents, expediting the process.
Once a project is underway, the Joint Agency Working Group determines a suite of monitoring requirements that a developer must follow. Going forward, state policies will continue to be refined as even more data is collected and more is learned about the potential impacts and benefits of development on ocean resources and uses.
A living document
The Ocean SAMP is more than a set of policies that respond to proposed projects, it is also a dynamic structure for continually studying, monitoring, and planning for the Ocean SAMP area in the face of changes and challenges that may arise in the future. Two years of research, interagency coordination, and participatory public planning generated a comprehensive set of Ocean SAMP policies that are fair, efficient, and grounded in sound science. As the Coastal Resources Management Council puts these policies into practice, it will continue to rely on input from the scientists, state and federal agencies, and stakeholders that made this achievement possible. These collaborations ensure that the CRMC’s decisions pertaining to the Ocean SAMP area reflect the broadest possible public interest and the best available science. The Ocean SAMP’s systematic evaluation and revision framework assure that it adapts to changing environmental conditions and evolving public assessments of the Ocean SAMP area.