Homework Assignment Due February 4

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER AND POST NO LATER THAN NOON ON TUESDAY, FEBURARY 4 (you will work in teams – put all names on the submittal)* DO NOT do any research of secondary sources. The purpose of this exercise is to practice reading and interpreting the statutes yourselves. You do not need to check any law that is not on the list I am providing you. The list of statutes is posted below. As to each question, support your answer with an explanation (no more than a few sentences) and relevant statutory or regulatory citation(s): 1. What is an environmental impact statement (EIS)? Who will prepare the EIS for a wind farm that is proposed by a private development company? 2. What is the chief difference between an EIS and an EIR (environmental impact report)? 3. If the proposed wind farm project would have adverse environmental impacts, as confirmed in an EIS, may the Department of the Interior (DOI) through its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) still approve the project? How is BOEM’s approval memorialized (i.e., what type of legal document will BOEM use to express its approval)? 4. Assuming the wind farm will be situated in water that is at least 25 meters deep, is the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) triggered? What is the “Outer Continental Shelf”? 5. Which federal agencies will likely be “consulted” pursuant to OCSLA with regard to an offshore wind farm proposal? May any of the “consulted” agencies block the project? 6. If construction of the proposed wind farm would disturb the migration, reproduction, and/or feeding patterns of dolphins or seals, may the project proceed? 7. Does the anchoring of the turbine to the seabed or the laying of cables beneath the seabed trigger the Endangered Species Act (ESA)? Does your answer change if you are told that no endangered species will be present in the area during the months when construction will occur? Explain. 8. Assuming a private development company seeks to build a wind farm five (5) miles off the coast of Massachusetts, to which agency will the developer (a/k/a the project proponent) apply for permission first: • the Army Corps of Engineers under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act; • the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) under the Outer Continental Land Shelf Act; • the National Marine Fisheries Service under the Marine Mammal Protection Act or the Endangered Species Act; • the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act; • the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Office, under the Coastal Zone Management Act? *Submit all homework assignments by the specified deadline date and time on the course iSite [http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k98394&login=yes] under “Assignment Dropbox.” Each homework assignment will have a designated folder where you can upload your submission. If for some reason you cannot access the Assignment Dropbox, please email your homework submission in word format (NOT pdf) to wjacobs@law.harvard.edu and jcalahong@law.harvard.edu.