 Hi everyone. I think we're going to get started. I want to welcome everyone to the standing committee on offshore wind energy and fisheries. This is our sponsor meeting briefing with BOMB. Caroline, can you move slides? So my name is Jim St. Kierko and faculty at the University of California Davis and I am chair of the committee and I'm just going to start us off sort of outlining some of the meeting goals we have today. In terms of meeting logistics, given everybody's interest in this, it's great. I see on my screen I can see almost 300 participants. That's amazing. We don't typically get that much interest at some of national academy meetings. Those of you who are panelists, please make sure that you are muted. Those of you who are in the audience and not a panelist, you can be unmuted by us if you raise your question, if you raise your hand, if you have a question. Given how many people we have and the limited time in our agenda, we might not get to everyone. I'm pretty sure in terms of the question and answer, so feel free to use that to put your questions there. Even if we can't answer it, you get an opportunity to put it into the record and we can go back both as a committee and as BOMB to look at them at a later date. Those of us who are part of the committee, your camera, please have them on when you're talking. Next slide, please. So the goals for today is to introduce the public to the committee. So this is our second meeting. Our first committee was a closed meeting just amongst ourselves, just to get to know each other, understand a little bit of our impressions of our statement of task. Today is really to hear from BOMB about what their expectations are with regards to our committee. And so that's really what the goal is. And they are our committee sponsor. Next slide, please. So what we're going to do is a committee will come on each of us and introduce ourselves very quickly. And then Caroline will go off and discuss some of the additional details. So I've already introduced myself, Daniel. Yes. Hello, everyone. Daniel Doolittle. I'm a principal environmental scientist at Fugro. And I also lead Fugro's environmental services business in the Americas. We're responsible for doing a lot of the benthic habitat mapping and essential fish habitat mapping. And I also have a background in commercial fisheries management with NEMPS and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. So that's me. And I'll pass it over to Janet Duffy-Anderson. I think she's on a phone. Janet, are you there? I think we're going to skip over Janet for now. And we'll go to Tricia. Hi, everyone. My name is Tricia Yadley. I am the Atlantic Coast Offshore Wind Policy Manager for the Nature Conservancy. And I will pass this to Stephen Jonar. Hello, everyone. My name is Steve Jonar. I'm a fishery management biologist and consultant with the McCoy Indian tribe in Washington state. And they're a tribe that has large commercial fisheries. I also work with the other treaty and coastal tribes in Washington and tribes in Oregon and California. Eric? Yeah. Hi, everyone. Eric Kingva, I'm the executive director of the Hawaii Loan Line Association. Thanks. And then we have two committee members, Sarah Maxwell and Daniel Kipnes, who are unable to join us today. We'll go to Steve Skyfers. Hi, everybody. I'm Stephen Skyfers. I'm an associate professor at the University of South Alabama in the Dolphin Island Sea Lab. And I can pass to Ron. Hello, everybody. My name is Ronald Smolowitz. I'm a technical advisor to the sea scallop industry in New England and along the Atlantic coast. I have my experiences in surveys, exploratory fishing, and gear development. On to you, David. David, can you unmute and introduce yourself? So that is our committee. If David jumps on, we'll give him a chance to introduce himself, but to keep this moving. So we have more time for the presentations and questions. I will jump in and take us to the next slide, please. My name is Caroline Bell. I'm the staff officer responsible for this project. I'm at the National Academy's Ocean Studies Board. So as you can see on the screen here, this is the Standing Committee's statement of task. This is what sort of binds the Standing Committee and really what the staff at the National Academy's and Bowen work together as we were reforming this committee. The Standing Committee is slightly different than some of our other National Academy's activities. It is designed as the first paragraph talks about to be a collaborative meeting or collaborative group to work with Bowen to hear from different stakeholders and sponsors around offshore wind and fisheries and we'll meet regularly to discuss kind of topics here in these three bullets. The meeting today, as our Chair Jim mentioned, is designed for the committee to hear from Bowen for the first time and get their perspective on really what Bowen wants to see this committee reach what it is going to do in the future. So it's a chance for the committee to ask their questions and make sure we have clear guidance as we move forward, understanding what the role of the committee should be going forward and making sure that we're meeting all of Bowen's goals. Next slide, please. So many of you have been to our webpage to register for this event, but I also wanted to point out here on the National Academy's Ocean Studies Board main page, there is a chance to connect with us. It's where the red arrow is pointing on the screen. If you enter your email address, you'll automatically get notifications when we have future meetings of this standing committee and then also over under the our work side, there's a link directly to the standing committee webpage where all of our future meetings will be posted. So it's something to keep in mind. Next slide. And then just to reiterate, we are in a Zoom webinar for committee members and members of the Bowen team. If you're not speaking, please keep your line muted and video off. Panelists can use the raise hand feature to ask questions. There's also a Q&A feature that we would ask the attendees to put your questions in. And attendees also have the opportunity to upvote questions. We don't have a whole lot of time for questions, and the focus will be for the committee to make sure we understand the needs of the sponsor. So most of the questions will be prioritized for committee members. But if there's additional time in the public viewing, we will reach out to members of the public either through the questions that you've submitted in the Q&A or if you have your hand raised, that's something that staff we can call on people to unmute and ask a question. We will be keeping track of questions that are put in the Q&A. And if there are things that we don't get to today and can answer the future time, we will get back to registrants that have questions. And with that, Caroline, before we just move forward to an introduction, I will say there are some questions in the Q&A right now with regards to the participant list. Will the national academies be putting out the list of participants on the website or a link to that? Is that standard to do? That is not standard practice to put out a link of registrants for meetings. Okay. Thank you. Great. And Safa, if you wouldn't mind stopping screen sharing. And I will go ahead and turn the floor over. Our first speaker today for the committee and the public is the director of Bohm, Elizabeth Klein. Welcome and thank you for taking the time out today to speak with us. Well, thanks so much, Caroline. And thank you to everybody for taking the time to join this meeting today. I am Liz Klein, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or Bohm. And really, again, on behalf of the Department of Interior, on behalf of the entire Bohm team, thank you for being here and committing some time to these important issues. This is the first meeting, as was described, the first public meeting on the National Academy Standing Committee for Offshore Wind Energy and Fisheries. And before I launch into my remarks here, just by way of introduction, I think I'm rounding out my third month as director of Bohm. We have a really fantastic team working every day on offshore wind and on all of these important issues. Although I am new to Bohm, I'm actually not new to the Department of Interior. I joined the Biden-Harris administration at its beginning in January of 2021. And I also served at the Interior Department during the Clinton and Obama administrations. And during the Obama administration, actually, while I was in the office of the Deputy Secretary, worked very closely with Bohm on a range of issues, including at that time, the start of the renewable energy program. So I'm excited to be back with the Bohm team and certainly excited about this new committee and its work and the promise it holds to provide us with some really excellent feedback and counsel. So, you know, the Biden-Harris administration from its very first day has been working hard on a number of fronts and made tremendous progress since that time on its goals to confront climate change, create good-paying jobs, and begin the nation's transition to a cleaner energy future. And offshore wind energy is playing a major role in that transition and in the goals of the Obama administration. At the same time, fishing is a crucial part of many of our nation's coastal communities. It contributes to our food security, jobs, and economic opportunity. And beyond that, we know that for many, it's something much more. It's a way of life and it's a valued part of our individual and national heritage. So while Bohm is working to achieve the administration's renewable energy goals, we are trying to do so in a way that ensures fishing in all its forms and associated ecological, social, economic, and cultural implications will not just coexist with offshore energy but can thrive. We are also working very diligently to avoid and minimize impacts to the ocean environment and marine species. We're committed to working with and expanding and improving our communication with the diverse fishing community throughout our process. So that's why we asked the National Academies to establish this new standing committee on offshore wind energy and fisheries. We expect this committee to be an independent and credible forum to discuss pressing stakeholder concerns and relevant science and knowledge associated with offshore wind and fisheries. Caroline gave a little bit of a snapshot in that slide about the statement of tasks. But to reiterate and highlight those, some of the things that we are asking this committee to do include, discuss key topics around Bohm's activities related to offshore wind and fisheries. Provide broad stakeholder insight on a variety of offshore wind and fishing issues. That kind of input is really crucial to provide context and understanding to the bureau's leadership to all of our team working on these issues to support our decision making and to support discussions around all of these issues. We're also looking for the committee to provide expertise, including scientific and other areas of knowledge on offshore wind and fisheries issues through discussions like this, presentations, and other means of communication. So again, we're just really very excited about the committee getting started in its work. You were introduced here to many of the folks on the committee, not all of them, but the majority of the folks on the committee, they do represent a diverse group of representatives from tribal nations, commercial and recreational fisheries, scientists, non-governmental organizations, communities, and the offshore wind industry. Of course, we know that no one committee can represent every single interest, but we are heartened by the diverse group of representatives on this committee that you see here today. So we know that fishing communities and other fisheries stakeholders are really critical to informing our offshore energy development process. We've been working hard throughout the beginning of the program and through to today to make sure that we are engaged with fishing communities and fisheries stakeholders. And we know that as the committee members that you see represented here, you all bring together a high level of diverse and independent minds to provide bomb with really important perspectives. So we appreciate your expertise and the role that you play in our environmental science and assessment activities. And I certainly look forward to working with all of you and learning more as we move forward. I think as as was noted, there are a number of folks from the bomb team here today who will be with you during this meeting and available to answer questions. And so I'm just so grateful for your willingness to serve. And I'm grateful for all of the participants who have joined this meeting today to listen in and learn. Shall I kick it back to Caroline? Yes. Yes. Thank you, Liz, for your comments. Now let me invite Jim as well to turn on your video. And if there's any questions from the committee, we can address those. I guess I can start. And Caroline, you please help me monitor the raised hands for the committee if I don't see them. So thank you very much. We are as a committee excited to embark on this. I can already see from the question and answer session. This is a topic that a lot of people are very interested in. And I appreciate you highlighting the diversity of the committee because some of the people have already mentioned what is our background and how we're going to engage with you. And I will just say that all of our bios are available at the National Academy website. You can go to the committee page and all that's available for everybody. But more specifically, when you're envisioning this committee, I guess for our understanding moving forward and with the understanding that our relationship will evolve through time, how do you see us interacting with your decision making and your thought process on these issues associated with offshore wind and fisheries? Again, knowing that that relationship will evolve. Well, thank you very much for the question. I think as many of our decisions are made, there are a variety of inputs, perspectives, requirements on any given decision that BOM makes, but certainly with offshore wind and its relation to impacts to fisheries and that set of issues. There are a whole suite of things to consider. Certainly the expertise and experience that committee members have and providing that to BOM to understand if you are about to take this action, here are the potential implications, here are the things you might think of, here are the understanding of the state of the science and where additional science and assessment activities might be needed or warranted. I think that's a very important piece of this process is if there are questions and unknowns, which there will always be, how can we make sure that we are continuing to evaluate and adapt and understand the range of those impacts and what types of measures we might take to address those impacts. That's a really important part of what BOM does. We have an Office of Environmental Programs that undertakes a lot of assessment work. We have Bill Brown, who's on today with us, who works very closely with Karen Baker, who's the head of our Office of Renewable Energy Programs, who is also on today and available to answer questions. And certainly I'd invite Bill to chime in in any way if I've missed a key point, but I think that's, as you say, we want to make sure that we have open lines of communication and have it back and forth so that you understand the questions that we may have. What are the things that the pieces of information that we might find most useful as we're undertaking our decision-making processes? Am I still on mute or am I off mute? Yeah, no, I actually, Liz, I think you said I covered everything one needs to cover. And I would just add though to make it clear that this committee, we very much want this committee to be independent. And 10 years ago, BOM was getting scientific advice, principally in addition to the public at large through a FACA committee that we had, but we have since then seen the value of the national academies as a regular source of advice. And we have a standing committee, another one, which provides advice on sort of matters generally. But so, Jim, I mean, just a point to make. On top of everything Liz just said, we value your status as as genuinely independent of a BOM and the members of the committee being picked by the academy itself. So, and I hope the audience at large notes that as well. Great, thank you. Does any of the other committee members have a question for Liz? And I know, Liz, you have to step away in a little bit. So. Hey, Jim, this is Eric. I have a question. Great. Can you put your camera on? Or if you did, I didn't see. I don't see. Thanks. The question for for Elizabeth and others at BOM, are you going to be requesting the committee's advice on sort of a case by case project by project basis or just more in general, I guess? Thanks. Well, so thank you very much for the question, Eric. And I think if by project by project, you mean individual offshore wind projects? I don't know that that was anticipated as more, you know, what are the the items we can work on together that would have relevance across projects? And that might and obviously, and I see actually that there are already some questions sort of the difference between floating versus fixed and sort of, you know, that there are geographic perspectives here. So, you know, for instance, the types of broad issues that might have relevance for projects in a particular region, I think that's the kind of input that would be really valuable so that we are the goal is always to get to some level of consistency in how you're treating projects. And so what are the types of things we should be thinking about across the board? And again, invite invite any of my teammates to correct the record or to add additional. Yeah, the one thing I just would add on that is that is that that I expect our relationship with this committee will be very interactive with the committee members. And it's certainly been the case with our with our other standing committee, the more general one where, you know, some of the meetings have been focused on particular issues. And the the academies help bring in a range of experts that are the leaders on, you know, a whole range of things. For example, we had a really good meeting a few years ago on on on devices to sense different things in the ocean sound, environmental DNA, you name it. And so we can focus on a topic, but we can also focus on on projects. And a lot of that depends on the committee itself. So I guess in a way, I would throw it back to the committee that it, you know, we, you know, bomb the committee as well as bomb, you know, I hope will, I will think about the issues that they think are important and and they'll come together as a mix. Hi, this is Karen Baker. I am the the chief of the Office of Renewable Energy Programs and I'll be talking a little bit of overview on the offshore wind in a little bit. So I some of this I was going to bring up but since we're speaking of it right now, I want to just echo Liz and Bill's comments is when I was there approached and we were talking about this and asked you what what do you hope to hear from me from this committee. And I immediately said, I really want to know what they believe we should be focusing on where should where with this diverse group of stakeholders in representing on these interests, are there areas or their gaps or the things or their trends that we could focus on or where we could continue to improve our processes. So maybe not a dive on each individual project. However, certainly, as Bill said, willing to be very interactive and share some lessons learned from the projects and look where we may have opportunities to continue to improve our processes to continue to ensure that we bring the best data of science to mind but also that we capture that from wherever it may reside within the communities that are represented here. Jim, could I follow up on that? Yeah, sure. Go ahead. Okay, so I'm with the McIndean tribe in Northwest Washington and there are a number of tribes that have treaty rights to fish in the ocean and tribes that have treaty rights to fish on salmon runs that are dependent on the ocean. So one question that we really haven't had answered from Bohem yet is the cumulative impact of all the potential wind area sites on the West Coast. There are two lease areas in California and then there are two call areas in Oregon. But what happens in California can and likely will impact fisheries all the way up into Northern Washington even into Canada because of the stocks that are produced and reside in the California current ecosystem. So that's of very great importance to all the fisheries on the West Coast and there's been a lot of emphasis on the impacts to existing fishing operations but not so much on the ecosystem. So I'm hopeful that Bohem will be open to our recommendations on that and we'll address this very critical question. Yes, thank you very much for raising that. I think it's certainly something that is top of mind for us when we think about the potential leasing that might take place on the West Coast and certainly as we as we move forward there we want to make sure that we are evaluating the state of the science and understanding where gaps might be and again considering what type of measures might be appropriate. So I think that if that's something that the committee decides they want to look into that would be certainly something would welcome. So I just want to follow up because Steve I think that's a great example of how we can interact with Bohem for example. We could have a meeting designed around thinking about the science behind cumulative impacts and what do we know what we don't know whether that's and that might be very different for cumulative impacts on the East Coast versus the West Coast even given the structures differences etc. So I think that's a nice example for the for people trying to get some more traction on how this is going to work and and how we might interact with Bohem and what we might be able to contribute to this conversation. So thanks that's a really good example for us sort of for everyone I think. Okay I think with that as we are at 330 I want to thank Liz Klein the director of Bohem for speaking with us today really appreciate your comments and your time and we will jump to Bill Brown's presentation if that sounds okay with everyone. Great take it away Bill thanks everybody. Thank you. Thank you Liz. Yeah all right so I'm not sure who's showing the slides is it the academy? Yes we can pull up your slides just a second. And let me say I promise to be brief I think I'm hoping I can save this time and my role is actually to do a very brief PowerPoint on on Bohem but Bohem really is and then a little bit of emphasis on the environment because a lot of that you know the environment is a defining area for a lot of the concerns that I know will be discussed here. So in Caroline I mean I can do it myself if there's a problem or Jessica Bravo can but here we go okay good so here's the title page and and that's me at the bottom I'm the chief environmental officer of Bohem. Next slide. So this slide number one it shows you the jurisdiction of Bohem the the orange areas that's the outer continental shelf of the United States it's defined by a statute the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and basically there are state waters that go out either three miles or in the case of Texas or the west coast of Florida to nine miles nautical miles. Beyond that up until 200 nautical miles the edge of the EZ is is the outer continental shelf and the outer continental shelf can include some areas somewhat further out to 200 nautical miles if they qualify as as a continental shelf under the law of the sea convention. And Bohem's basic mandate which is that the first paragraph is the OCS is a vital national resource should be made available for orderly and expeditious development subject to environmental safeguards. And I would note that the territorial area which you can see sort of in the lower left side of the slide was just recently added by Congress to the to the Bohem's jurisdiction as part of the outer continental shelf and we're moving forward with feasibility studies for offshore wind that are mandated by that same statute for the five territories that have civilian populations on them. The Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Next slide. Again I know some of you know this well but some probably don't so we thought it'd be helpful just to kind of show you the organization chart at the in the broadest way. At the top the Secretary of the Interior who reports to the President of the United States there's an Assistant Secretary for land and minerals who oversees not just Bohem but Bessie and the Bureau of Land Management and and another office. Then there's the Bohem Director and Deputy Director with the corporate office. Liz Klein is the Bohem Director and and and we have three programs at the office of the Renewable Energy Program Strategic Resources, the Environmental Program, which is my program, and then we have three official regions the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and the Pacific. We don't actually have a defined region for the Atlantic but that's where a great deal of the offshore wind activity that Karen Baker will talk about later is going on obviously. Next slide. And this just shows you we're very small as agencies go within the federal government about 600 employees roughly and a budget of about 220 million and I've already showed you the I showed you the regions and and this puts a little flavor on it. We have a good a good group of staff. They're really national staff in Stirling, Virginia near Delos Airport. The largest office by far is in the Gulf of Mexico in an area near part of New Orleans and then in California we have a Pacific office, Camarillo, and then we have a Alaska office in Anchorage and we have these these what I'm calling development programs because that the program I have the environmental program is is it's the environmental safeguards. It's so it's safeguards that we need to carefully observe as we develop resources. And the the three development programs are renewable energy, oil and gas, and marine minerals other than energy. Renewable energy is is exploding in activity right now as I said Karen we'll talk about that. Oil and gas historically until recently was was the principal program that Bohm was regulating and continues to regulate with much activity in the Gulf of Mexico and and limited but significant activity in the Pacific and then the marine minerals program is long-standing as well largely focused on sand and for restoration after hurricanes and and also used to make islands for wildlife nesting and then we're quite interested in critical minerals you know with a priority right now to do environmental science to understand the ecological context in which they sit and then at the bottom there to note we were we were mandated by the bipartisan infrastructure law to issue regulations for carbon sequestration or carbon injection into the OCS and we're working on those regulations and an associated program right now. Next slide so for the environmental program you can describe it with four bullets as here first of all that its focus is environmental protection to avoid harm or to minimize harm where it might occur we integrate science and analysis we do a fair amount of science ourselves but we use science from other sources as well we are the home the principal home within the bureau for a tribal program work and environmental justice work but that is both those responsibilities are bone-wide responsibility so we're the environmental program to support is really a support service for those broader functions and then maybe the academy will like to hear this but it's we see the national academies of science engineering medicine and our relationship with those academy with those with the academies a number of ways is being critical to the credibility and good information for what we do. Next slide so on the on the research side we do have for 50 years now the environmental studies program it serves all of bone we have people employees throughout bone in the programs and the regions who participate in the environmental studies program our our environmental program is actually in way to describe it as properly it's been distributed across the bureau uh this environmental studies program uh is it was authorized and mandated by section 20 of of oxla the outer continental shelf lands act but we have we have we have spent over 125 billion dollars since it was established in 1973 on on on what I would call critical research understand the environmental impacts of what we authorized about 30 million a year is spent and you can look at the results of the studies online as noticed here next slide and coupled with that is our environmental assessment function which we should just like for for the studies program we have staff who are experts in environmental analysis who are in all the programs and all the regions as well as in the headquarters office and and what that staff does is it takes science from our studies program to address everything on this circle uh you know when an activity is proposed for authorization like offshore wind or oil and gas leasing marine minerals you name it you know we go through the environmental analysis process describing the environment assessing impacts engaging stakeholders coming up with mitigation measures to avoid or minimize impacts and then that feeds into decisions on projects and and from the results of that we we we often identify additional research needs that we have so it keeps rolling that circle next slide and uh just to say a little more about the tribal program and I won't I won't read this slide but it's a top priority of this department and the administration uh it it it begins with uh uh an effective consultation program but it goes beyond that because we have trust responsibility for our relationship with tribal nations that's more than involves more than consultation and and uh we're very involved in that our and our effort is is led by Hilary Renwick who's our tribal liaison officer and next slide I think that may be it yeah there we go so I could say a lot more but I'll stop there and if there are any questions happy to try to answer them and of course I would invite any of my colleagues that are participating to speak up if if they want to for questions thanks bill that was very valuable I'll open it up if any of the committee members have a question Trisha hi I think thanks for your for your presentation bill I'm wondering if you can just clarify a little bit more about the or talk a little bit more about the relationship between the different programs so you had a slide that showed the renewable energy program the environmental program I think there was a strategic resources program I don't remember everything on that slide but just you know there there are a lot obviously in a lot of overlap and intersection between I imagine between the work you're doing in your program and and the renewable energy program and I'm just I just would like to understand I guess a little bit more about how you work how you work within BOEM to align and to coordinate on your efforts so that you're kind of feeding information to each other yeah that's a good question and it's one way we we talk about among ourselves a lot to try to make sure we're as efficient and as effective as we think about it it was is really a local decision local transaction then the regions typically would have the lead on that and and and my office is is on the assessment side at least I'll start with that uh tries to focus as much as we can principally on on on on the sit on environmental issues of national level and across regions for the studies program that I mentioned the studies program it's probably actually a very good way to describe what is very effective I think coordination where it's headed by Rodney Clark who's in in my immediate office he said and directs the division he has that program but there's a whole team of researchers there are people that manage research funds who are in in the regions and all the programs who who every year propose studies and they develop study for profiles and there's a there's a fairly um well established mechanism now where where you know the uh the staff that are doing that get together and they you know that there's a limiting factor which is how much money we actually have and so they you know kind of negotiate figure out what are the most important priorities and actually use a a strategy that we developed in consultation with the academies with the the committee and offshore science and assessment so we evaluate priorities we usually by the end of the day we have a consensus uh you know and it includes all the programs and all the regions including offshore wind and all and historically offshore wind was a small part of the of that pie and it's now it's the principal part of the pie in terms of money so it's reflecting these uh uh you know changing priorities and then and then the uh every year the basic decision on budget for research then after it's usually worked out goes to the bump director to list climb now to for approval um and then with with uh I'd like you know I'm interested in seeing what Karen Baker will say exactly about you know the the way in which the you know the environmental program staff that report to me and and her environmental staff interact but it's they work closely together um the uh you know we I I try to help that program by making sure that we're addressing the issues that you know where we have sort of deep expertise like on the North Atlantic right whale issue for example Jill Onodowski and and then we also have in the national program uh environmental program this center for marine acoustics which is we stepped up just the last two or three years and has deep expertise in acoustics issues that are relevant to offshore wind uh if you know as well as oil and gas but offshore winds much in much in and uh much in the wind right now uh so it's you know it it a lot uh I hope that helps on it helps you understand and it's there are some bright lines but they're not that bright and so we try to work together I was just going to say it's a benefit of a small organization I would you know literally just steps down the hallway from bill and and our teams work together almost so closely that sometimes you know when we start to to look in and ask who's engaged on this we'll find that they have already come together and and and collaborated and and I think we definitely rely on each other's support and as mentioned the studies our team is very involved in helping to shape that and requesting and and and they're and and bill has a very collaborative process by which we do that so we do try to coordinate and collaborate across all of our our program areas to the extent that we can again given the fact that we are so small there's some benefits to that and then we can can do that a pretty flat organization too but I think also just the the tremendous need and again the interest and expertise of our teams we we tend to to try to to share and and and and leverage each other as much as we possibly can great thanks I think Steve has a question thank you um hi bill this is Steven Seifers I was I have a similar contact follow-up question I was curious if you could talk a little bit about how Bohm collaborates outside of the agency specifically for fisheries you know related to NOAA fisheries and some of the state resource management agencies and kind of a related follow-up would be if that differs for ecosystem type impacts or social impacts if you were looking at social impacts on on stakeholders what those types of collaborations are like and how Bohm just typically approaches collaboration outside of the agency yeah well I get a great question that I mean I think the quick answer is we collaborate all the time all over the place with with other agencies and others the on I mean to mention for example our studies program uh we uh we try to leverage our funding so you know if we're not getting twice as much money spent on something that we need to work on by everybody else in the just ourselves we're we're ashamed of ourselves and NOAA is often a a a partner we operate through the National Oceanographic partnership with some so the Navy is often there there are you know many different agencies that that that will kick kick in to studies and help define them one of the big areas that that my office is really interested in now is a comprehensive ocean monitoring system we try to really strengthen that and put pastic passive acoustic monitoring devices out and so forth and uh so uh so we push that um uh Karen's office and mine are both staff and both offices are sort of deeply into sort of fishery you know marine mammal impacts issues and and working with NOAA and Dampson. I see Brian Hooker for example is on the line he's he's an expert who's who's uh hugely involved in fishery issues for OREP Karen's office but on uh the right whale issues we're both involved in Jill Lewandowski who has our marine acoustics offices you know talking to NOAA uh you know every day basically and not sure if I'm answering that perfectly but there they the uh there's really no there's really no significant issue that we work on where we're not engaged with discussions with another agency and other players. Hey Bill this is Rodney you mind if I yeah go ahead Rodney this is Rodney Clark who I used his name in vain a minute ago yeah thanks Bill yeah I'm in charge of the environmental studies program one point I wanted to make in addition to what Bill said is that you know by design we're able to reach out to to the universities to other federal agencies to interagency agreements through contracts we essentially you can think of our science program as managing science across the board we're we're very small so we're not an organization that has does all the research in house like the United like USGS for example so if we need work done you know uh in the Atlantic and we have a proposal competition and Woods Hole's the best to do the work Woods Hole will do the work with our collaboration and working with us they might be in collaboration with NOAA NEMPS or other entities as as well so we are able to actually be nimble uh go to the best out there uh the university or other federal agency or private sector entity to uh you know do that work so we don't take it upon ourselves to do it we have our scientists in house we just don't have enough to do everything and the entire OCS so this is so our work is extremely collaborative in that sense I hope that helps I don't see any other hands from the committee members so uh if it's okay with Bill I think we'll move forward in the agenda and Caroline I based on the Q&A I think at the end we might spend a little bit time for those to explain a little bit more about what this standing committee's role is and uh what our task is again just to help clarify some expectations it seems like people are asking what we're going to do and and maybe not have a good idea of how our standing committee will function so if we have a little bit of time at the end let's let's come back to that uh yes Jim that was definitely something I was thinking of and and also um saying a few more words about the national academy's um role in this process as well so thank you so Karen if you are ready we will pull up your slides sure I feel like we've covered some of this already and I know much of this is uh again uh very much introductory and as just to make sure we're all on the same uh page in terms of just the level of understanding I know that that many of you I am even as always looking at uh names and committees and members and such that we may have engaged at certain times I know that I mean if you're familiar with Bohm maybe familiar or have seen uh at least a part of our information about our program but I wanted to again this is this is kind of a very kind of basic overview happy to have some additional conversations and and again also very excited for the standing up of this committee I am looking forward to a very interactive process with you uh totally acknowledge that conversation already about cumulative I think that's something we'd love to have some larger conversations but there's so many things that as I mentioned we're interested in what's of interest to the the communities that are represented by this committee as much as we are looking to share with what we are doing but we're really hoping to learn and have some some shared learning experiences as well as some just an ongoing interactive experience and so very very excited to this I am again Karen Baker chief of the office of renewable energy programs I am fairly new in the role a little bit less than a year now and and then more than I I learned about uh offshore wind and the the various uh communities that are impacted by that it engaged in this process the more I learn I have to learn and with the fisheries especially with fisheries and the communities are represented here we've put a huge emphasis on on trying to get out and and engage uh so I have had the the pleasure and honor of talking with tribes of talking with fishery management councils of getting out and engaging with specific industry representatives and learning a tremendous amount about what is of interest to you and how we can engage with you but this is just another wonderful extension of how we can continue to have that engagement as I'm continuing to drive the program and and and work on incorporating all that input into all we do and we can go to the next slide uh again this is a mission I won't read that to you but we bill already talked a little bit about all that we do in our each of our program areas but go to the next slide this is really where the renewable energy comes into play of course our authorities come under the offshore excuse me the outer continental shelf lands act um the energy policy act of 2005 uh it added energy from sources other than oil and gas and those renewables and primarily offshore wind although we do look at other renewable energies as well um in a very uh small small just a narrow portion of what we do at this point in time we could go the next slide and I think Liz already mentioned um the administration goals uh and this is something that my team is very aware of we we talk about this nearly daily and how we achieve uh and advance the the administration goals of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 15 gigawatts of that uh being floating offshore wind by 2035 and uh very much uh a uh ambitious goal but one that we're seeing progress towards and I can speak to that in in in detail at any point we can go to the next slide just a little bit about our process and and Boa's role within offshore wind so we are responsible for the economic and environmentally responsible development of energy resources in the outer continental shelf so we are have uh engaged uh communities throughout our process uh and we have it's a pretty extensive process uh one that's complex this very very simplified in this slide and we can talk about um a variety you know areas but primarily we start with planning and analysis this is something that is uh we do in terms of how we identify ideal wind energy areas a lot of science a lot of modeling a lot of collaboration with our partners at NOAA and others we do our best to engage tribes states coastal communities fisheries all all the all everybody who's impacted early on as we look at these wind energy areas there's a there's a there's a these are this very much a public process and it's an iterative process so as we start to look at areas and we start to look at where can we avoid and mitigate uh impacts uh those areas become much more narrow uh and then we get to them a point where we publish lease notices and then uh Boa oversees the holding of an auction and the lease is granted what the lease allows um those developers to do is to survey their land I mean they're excuse me not their their their their lease area the the wind area and so they are uh and so and then we oversee their their plans and um and ensure that they are doing that safely and and and then we um then once that's approved they go into a site assessment survey and they develop their construction offer an operation plan which uh and all of this up to date um is about a five-year process they must submit a cop within five years of the lease execution and then um once that's deemed sufficient we move into the the national environmental policy review and environmental impact statement review so all in all that particular timeline can take up to five to seven years uh we have many projects that are in various phases at this process right now and uh we recognize that sometimes that's really confusing is we as we speak to this and how we help people understand where we are in our processes and the many many opportunities to engage with us and provide input so I will go to the next slide and this is just a an overview sort of by the numbers as uh Bill had mentioned a lot of activity on the Atlantic and I say by way of introduction to uh we do not have an Atlantic office so in some ways I'm I'm dual-hatted and that I am really building our policy for national program uh while I we are also engaged in the the permitting of and the active monitoring of 27 active commercial leases um it's all on the the um Atlantic seaboard at this point in time we have two projects that are under construction right now that we that are underway uh South Fork uh Long Island and the Vineyard Wind Project up above Martha's Vineyard and then we have uh about 10 that are currently under uh environmental and impact assessment review uh and and many others that are in some processes preparing for for getting ready for that review so large large portfolio a tremendous amount of work a tremendous amount of engagement and then as as you can see from the map and was already mentioned we have had lease auction in in California we are just announced potential for Gulf of Mexico the Inflation Reduction Act also charges us to look at where there's opportunities within the territories we are focusing um early on on Puerto Rico and and having those engagements so a tremendous amount of work again it it's my team um in terms of doing the again the Atlantic operations but also advising consulting sharing those lessons learned across the board but we um have renewable expertise within each of our regional offices that are working those regional uh uh projects also so talking a lot with our Pacific and Gulf of Mexico offices as they are starting to stand up and in this arena can go the next slide so how when does the boom engage with fisheries interests and I want to be very clear when we start to talk about fisheries interests we are incorporated just as Liz Klein said uh the the diverse uh community of fisheries interests so this includes tribal interests uh commercial recreational subsistence fishing uh is all of interest to us and and something that we want to ensure that we have incorporated in in our studies that we have considered those in our environmental impact statements and that we are getting that input so um there's again these are the sort of the three areas on that long chart that I showed you in terms of those pre-lease engagements as mentioned there's and we're working really closely at Gulf of Maine right now in in terms of looking really early on and in because we were just about to we were starting to identify those wind energy areas and so we have been having public engagements even prior to that announcement a call for information so we can ensure that we're looking at the right things and we've been talking with a tremendous amount of diverse fisheries interests in that arena but again there's a lot of engagement in that early process uh all the way to post-sale notice and then at the post least engagement state there are opportunities under the construction and operational plan environmental review and then as mentioned before the environmental studies so those are sort of more the formal uh processes or opportunities what we're very interested in hearing from uh from the the standing committee is how we better do this as well as how we get that that great local knowledge um I as I mentioned I've engaged with a number of fisheries fishing communities who will share that uh they have tremendous amount of data how do we get that incorporated into our models and to our considerations we're very very interested in how we do that and how we do it in a both constructive way as well in a way that is effective as as Liz said we want everybody to be able to thrive and we very much recognize with the volume of work that we are doing that we have the potential and I hear this from uh across the board to drown communities in a lot of data and then we and then they're they're they're they're looking to how we can incorporate and uh how they can give effective input and how we can incorporate that and so that is something that's that that's heavy on my mind always and we we are very very interested in in leveraging your input on that specifically but so many other areas too uh next slide that's the last uh one that we have uh there is just just wanted to make sure we pointed out um how you can reach out to us we have a notice of stakeholders list if you go to our website and click on the contact list you can indicate what you are interested in and we will send we will keep you on our uh regular distro list um I'm very easily found my karen dot baker at bone dot gov and uh we are very interested we we have been monitoring some of the the q and a and um interesting and and kind of coming back with specific questions uh as we can so I think that that's my last slide thank you so much I'm ready for questions great thank you Karen uh I'll open up for the committee if there's any questions or any of the oh yeah sure go ahead yeah hi this is Eric kengma um Kimmy Medimer from Hawaii in terms of the process and the the initial kind of locations for siting and the environmental review that's conducted it seems like the environmental review is nipa other analyses is conducted after some of the the siting areas have been identified um has there been a review of a bone's process to date in terms of maybe doing a little more environmental review prior to identifying siting locations or areas of potential leases um I think there are my understandings there's some criticism of bone's process that's a little bit out of step with maybe obtaining baseline information first or environmental review first so I just want to ask that question has there been a review of the process and if that review of the process is is public that we could kind of review for our purposes thanks well we can certainly get to some information to anything that we can in terms of reviews and how to happen and where you know and the effectiveness of process we're looking to improve it always so I will say that that's something that but I want to be really clear well well we look when we put those cops those construction operation plans that are going final and then at that point in time where we know where those developers plan to put where wind turbines how they're going to fit you know and all the all the ones that we were viewing right now are fixed bottom how that what you know what approach they're going to take that that is really going through a full environmental impact statement and the NEPA process but we're leveraging NEPA all the way through I mean there's an environmental analysis that happens at the very beginning uh and and so again just to kind of some of the questions we had about cumulative happy to talk about how we can continue to improve can happy to share how we do our modeling but but there is a there is an environmental review process all the way through what we do I think that it's challenging often to really get to specifics until you do have that you know those leases are in place we look very tremendous amount of time and especially right now as we are moving into a number of other you know wind and air energy areas we know it's a busy ocean we know that there's only the other that but right now we are we we know that many of these wind energy areas are being used not not just for fisheries but there there's there's a number of other uses across the board and we look very very closely at how do we avoid how do we minimize impacts and and we are leveraging our our team teammates at NOAA and some of their modeling and as I've mentioned we're trying to bring in as early possible as possible bring in tribes how to incorporate indigenous knowledge into that this modeling how do we take what the fisheries would share how do we and some of those engagements very interactive very intense as we look at this and we find it it's taking we have to invest more time and energy in that but I will I do want to be careful and state that we are following a NEPA and an environmental process all the way through everything that we're doing thanks I didn't know if Bill wanted to chime in or any of my teammates want to say anything more about that I might just say essentially what is something similar and that is we uh the focus of our NEPA analysis has been uh initial review like Karen said uh before leasing but the but uh but our policy has been and continues to be uh to take the deepest dive and in terms of environmental impacts once we have a lease and know and can know a good amount about what's going to happen there but I understand I guess I uh Eric I understand and I'm sure Karen does too you know your question which is you know do you do you think you're taking a good enough look up front and it's something we're thinking about yeah and I think we we'd love to talk more uh again we limited time here but but maybe it's a topic we take on and and we can provide a little bit more information about how we are identifying those and then what we really coordinate off and and aren't and isn't used for development based on what we all the different layering and modeling that we do but as Bill said the other the most extensive happens when we have that specific knowledge then we can then we can incorporate and then again we get feedback from NOAA that there are a reviewer on everything that we do in terms of impact for marine mammals for fisheries that those are all very much part of our consideration from beginning to end in this process. Jim maybe a maybe a follow-up point of information and a question buried in there for Karen and Bill would you say that the New York Byte lease process where we're talking about doing a programmatic review of of the area is is a is an example of how you're listening to uh comments and and and the stakeholders and and looking at evolving the rulemaking um is that is can you speak to that? Yeah um I could start Bill or do you want me to start? No no you start. Okay yeah actually definitely I think where we are we are uh New York Byte has been a pilot that we are moving forward with in terms of looking at that full lease area in I think it's six leases if I'm not speaking correctly uh off off the coast of New York and New Jersey and looking at it collectively first um we're not certain yet uh well they you know again we don't presume an outcome and we're we're conducting but we're not certain that we're not going to have to then move into specific uh EISs based on what we're learning however we do believe that's more the the wave of the future in terms of how we're going to be doing things going forward we're already talking um I don't want to get too far ahead in decision-making but we're already having those conversations about California we're already we've been having conversations with Carolina there there's a lot of areas where we are saying it's it's it's probably more productive in that regard to to look at that that broader region and and uh and we're trying to see what we can learn from that too it's it's a challenge it's it in terms of you can do everything you do say we can avoid here and here but then when you start to really get to the specifics of as we're talking daily with our with our NOAA counterparts where are those turbines going what's going to be the impact at that location um it it it is it's a challenge but it is something that we think is worth looking at in a much broader and and I think we're already learning lessons from New York Byte we're going to apply elsewhere was that a fair statement Bill no it was a good good question good answer I think to Karen but no you're right we've you know at this this whole program has evolved and you know at the beginning it wasn't clear where it was going to go and what at least really meant and so and we've been listening and and expanding our view and trying to ask really basic questions like the a recent study uh that we've asked the academy to do on the potential effect on on removal of wind energy on ocean circulation so we want to make sure that we do get the best science we can on the basic questions yes this is Dave Wallace and I have a question uh right when we're between southern New England and the middle line of quite we're going to have about 2,500 turbines depending on what size they are uh but they are all going to be much bigger than anything that has ever been built anywhere in the in the world or at least in in Europe and the United States and there are a whole series of assumptions that have been made which will be what the cumulative impacts are going to be of those 2,500 windmills on on the oceanography fisheries habitat and and the wind energy all of which you I keep reading new studies show that the wind wake is is not a couple of miles it's 100 miles and those things are going to have an enormous problem of enormous negative impact on the whole system and what are we going to do or what are you going to do when all of a sudden some of the assumptions that you have made end up not being true and they're going to have a much larger negative impact than uh originally planned thank you so hey Karen let me even be back and David I appreciate your question but I think we're very interested in the potential effect on ocean circulation but I but we don't know what these uh you know we don't have good information we the um are we the world really now on what those impacts are and that's that's that's why we're why we've asked the academy to help us answer that that question I think it's an important question but I think it's would be a big mistake to make to assume what the results are so uh so note that the other thing I guess I would say is uh I mean cumulative effects are really important and Jim I'm glad you brought that up it's really I feel like I live with cumulative effects discussions for most of my life it just never goes away but it's that's because it's always there and you know every NEPA environmental impact statement requires us to to do a cumulative effects analysis and we did a major one with a supplement for vineyard wind which I think many of you read so you know I'm not saying we solved all the answers to the cumulative effects question but we uh but we have but we've addressed them and in after each of these EISs that's moving forward I know it's important I appreciate that bill yeah first of all just echoing Bill's comments and that I I think we that want to this is a great topic for us to to have some much more extensive conversations with the committee about and I think that we would welcome input uh as as Bill mentioned we do address that in each of the EISs that we do we uh we are are viewing uh there is there are segments that look at the cumulative in fact I can also tell you as we're learning more and as we seek out new areas uh that's definitely the what what is already existing in terms of win leases definitely impacts a lot of decision making as well as the decision making of many of our cooperating agencies and federal partners and others too and and so without getting into really specifics then we have to continue to review that and lessons learned on what are we learning if we had an area that we were avoiding uh or we had not marked for avoidance sometimes we're hearing now well now that we know that there's so many turbines here that's going to be something that we're going to be thinking about so there's probably more discussion in that than but then then is realized however I just echo Bill's comments is that we would really welcome some assistance with the from the academy in in terms of addressing those questions and making sure we are answering that fully great thanks Bill I'm a little scared about the expectations you're setting when you say the academies are going to answer some of these I'm afraid that that's not the right expectation but I love the uh confidence well and I do and Jim you know I I I know I know the rubric with standing committees and and I know what you've been told and that is the standing committee makes no recommendations it's the it's the insights of of you as individuals and David I appreciate your your perspective but I am hoping that this that the study that we've launched consensus report on on uh sort of the potential effects on changes in wind energy on circulation it you know it you know it it's not that it would be that I that I think any of us expect that we'll you know give us a you know a crystal clear answer but what but what the academy does in my view I've worked with the academy a lot and uh was on the Dell's committee for a time and and uh you know it it's the best place to go for it's kind of like you know the closest one has to a really balanced uh view of what scientific you know people that are you know uh schooled in science and experience in science think is the situation amounts to so I you know I don't think we're expecting you to solve the problem and I appreciate you keeping the way when I said the committee I I've meant the individual representatives here so it's definitely looking forward to that that conversation yeah so there you go all right there's a couple questions out there so Trish do you want to jump in sure thanks um okay I have I have so many questions actually but I know there's others in the queue and we'll have more time to talk but so I'll just do there's like kind of parts to a question so I know so much of our um decision-making about citing adaptive management the types of monitoring we're doing is really data dependent and so the first parts of the question I'm just curious about how how an IFBOM has talked about what its role is if any in driving innovation um in in the in the development and design space you know with respect to material selection design habitat creation delivering environmental benefits or improving ecological function you know what is the role I guess in incentivizing innovation for BOEM or is that something separate and then the second part to that question I think Karen you you kind of alluded to your working with ENCOS working with ENCOS on the modeling and assumptions for areas you know area wind energy area selection and so this just goes back to the former question about how are you coordinating you know bill how does your program kind of respond to those needs where ENCOS is saying that we have data limitations that could help help us better inform wind energy area selection how does that make it into the research budget and that type of thing um or into you know are they are they contributing to that research priority conversation um as you're thinking about the environmental program well the uh I I'll start it was okay Karen and actually Karen so Karen is she has she has the whole shebang when it comes to offshore wind and it's not all environmental and and there's innovation that's not environmental and and you know it's I that that's her beat and not mine but uh on on environmental innovation we're we're doing everything we can to to move that forward where in fact we've we're hiring a senior employee to sort of lead lead the putting together of what we think will be a new center we don't have formal approval yet about that so but for innovative monitoring and we and we have uh with a lot of work we've secured uh nearly seven million dollars to to begin to deploy a passive acoustic monitoring network um we've been very supportive of environmental DNA and supportive of using uncrewed devices and you know all part of that to stay and we're not you know we're not like uh we're not DOE we can't do we don't have the money or people to do a lot of research and new technology but we can't ask the academics and scientists and other agencies that want our money to do certain projects to give us their ideas on how to use things like edna and so forth in other words to be innovative so and and there are just many players on that um but you know it's kind of the heart and soul of what our studies program is trying to trying to do right right now so trisha you asked a question that i've just posted my team not too long ago i mean i i how do we incentivize that you know and how do we evaluate new technologies and and um well bill has the environmental you know aspect here with bow am i i do have an environmental science degree and i as a leader within um in my previous roles and in sustainability and and and leading innovation and and and and thought on that and so it's something i'm passionate about personally uh and how we can work through that and uh and again i mean everything from what can we be looking at in terms of as you stated you know how how we can benefit habitat with with these projects have and i've been hearing as we go to different forums about echo concrete about scour protection and and and things that that it can it can do and so there's a number of other things in terms of you know just in the in the yeah especially as we look at floating and a number of other things that where we're starting to say how how do we best you know as we're evaluating these encourage incentivize i don't think we have an answer on that yet but that is definitely something i think we're very interested in exploring in much more depth thank you well both of you thank you very much we um have about four minutes left and i feel like we should spend a little bit of time at the end here just going over the standing committee and national academies and providing some of the audience members with some background on the committee but i will just like to close that thank you for your time i think as we can see by how many people showed up to our little session here how important these topics are for everyone and i'm very happy to hear that you guys are so open to learning more and understanding that everything is evolving as you go and you're really interested in getting our input so i look forward to working with you guys moving forward all right carol i'm going to hand it over to you for three minutes or four minutes to sort of sum up some of this sure thank you i do want to echo jim's thanks you to our speakers today um it was very informative for our committee and um we will likely be reaching out with a few more questions that we couldn't get to um from the committee but just as an overview um the national academies we are a private a non-governmental entity um we were reached out to by boland to to establish this standing committee um as a forum for open dialogue um and really to um help them interact with stakeholders so really appreciate all of the public that um have been able to join today to listen in as the committee really was able to gain more information from roam about how we will continue to develop the standing committee moving forward this is just our first open meeting of the standing committee um and design more kind of informational gathering for the committee itself where future meetings will be um more information um that the committee and boland kind of go back and forth as dialogues of the committee um we we appreciate there were lots of lots of questions um that i was trying to answer some as we were going through the meeting others we will um take both comments and questions that were put in the q and a um there was a lot of comments as well about um potentials for future meeting topics and that's something that the committee will um digest as we plan um future meetings the the next um open meeting of this standing committee will be in a few short weeks um at the end of april um it is on the project website um and registration will open shortly um meeting topics for that are being finalized and an agenda will be posted um but really the goal of a standing committee from the national academies um is to provide advice um to the sponsor on specific topics um they are different than some of our other national academies pro uh national academies activities which are more designed as consensus um building reports um this is more open ended where our committees were committee members were selected through um an interview process we had a large number of members uh nominate personnel for nominees for being on this committee and a limited number of seats that we could fill uh that had to cover a diverse range of topics um and expertise and also regional areas around the united states i know that and another piece with the committee members um you might not see that these are the members that have expertise in something that you think is specific um to your region or um your specific commercial fishery might not be represented um but members were chosen for broad range of expertise and also for their their network and their um ability to bring in other speakers to the committee so it is not just this committee that will be providing advice to bone but the committee will help shape the future meetings and decide um topics and conjunction with the team from bone and bring uh additional speakers in um future meetings may also be in different areas of the country depending upon topic and um there will be open portions of meetings where public can attend in in person um depending upon space available i just wanted to say thank you again to everybody that participated our committee members um and final uh questions we will go through and look at them and try to get answers um to questions that were not addressed any final thoughts jim no thank you very much everyone and have a wonderful day and a recording will be put on the website um most likely next week so this this has been recorded um and thank you thank you all for participating