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Similar to Oceans 2010 Havens Morgan Mac Donald 20100921
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Oceans 2010 Havens Morgan Mac Donald 20100921
- 1. Environmental Planning and Management for OTEC Pilot Projects Peter W. Havens Charles Morgan Donald A. MacDonald 23 September 2010 Oceans 2010 1
- 2. Background • 1980 OTEC Act – Commercial OTEC technology is encouraged – Commercial OTEC must be licensed • NOAA administers licensing – Demonstration OTEC is excluded from licensing • DOE designates project as a demonstration • 1981 NOAA regulations promulgated • 1996 NOAA regulations canceled • Recently there has been a renewed interest in OTEC – Federal funding availability – NOAA rulemaking in progress – NOAA OTEC workshops conducted Renewable Energy is Ripe for Preparation Oceans 2010 2
- 3. Environmental Issues Project Activity/ Component That is the Source of Impact Platform Water Discharges Resource Water Intakes Construction & Presence (secondary (entrainment & Decommissioning (e.g. shade, entrainment & impingement) noise, lighting) contamination Plankton & Micronekton Nekton Marine mammals Sea turtles Birds Benthos = probably important = less important The degree of impact is uncertain Oceans 2010 3
- 4. Environmental Planning Project Objectives Initial Project PRO-ACTIVE Design • Understand Cause & Effect REQUIRED Additional Permits & Information • Refine Initial Regulatory Approvals Design • Resolve Compliance Baseline Conditions Environmental Conflict Environmental Objectives time To Manage Uncertainty -Oceans 2010 Facilitate the Critical Path 4
- 5. Environmental Integration Concepts • Integrate environmental experts as equal partners • Embrace the objective of sustainable development • Encourage progressive environmental impact management – Build environmental impact management into the technology development process instead of treating the need to comply with environmental regulatory standards as something separate and apart – Incorporate relevant environmental goals into the design process at a time when environmental issues can be balanced against financial and technological realities Integrating Environmental Improves Value Oceans 2010 5
- 6. OTEC Pilot EMS Structure Environmental Management System Permitting & Operations & Planning Monitoring EMS Preliminary Requirements & Impact Setup Adaptive Management Conflict Assessment Resolution Mitigation & Consultation & Stakeholder Monitoring Plan Permits Support Coordination Stakeholder Coordination Structure Maintains Continuity Oceans 2010 6
- 7. EMS System Requirements • Determinate and pre-set: – Standards and thresholds (absolute and quantitative) – Criteria (advisory) • Indeterminate and project-specific: – Environmental impact significance – Project needs and purposes Identify and Define Requirements Early Oceans 2010 7
- 8. Execute Address All Impacts & Maintain an Administrative Record Oceans 2010 8
- 9. OTEC Pilot Success Progressive Environmental Impact Management Integrated Deliberative Uninterrupted and connected Relevant and applicable Effective and efficient “It’s all about information management.” Oceans 2010 9
- 10. Contacts Peter W. Havens, CEP Sound & Sea Technology, Inc. 3507 Shelby Road Lynwood, WA 98087 Charles Morgan, PhD Planning Solutions, Inc. 210 Ward Avenue, Suite 330 Honolulu, HI 96814 Donald A. MacDonald National Ocean Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Bldg 3, Rm 1003 Seattle, WA 98115 This document represents the views of the authors and does not represent the official position of NOAA or of the Government of the United States. 10 Oceans 2010 10
Editor's Notes
- In the 1970s, renewable energy had a spurt of attention.In 1980 Congress passed the OTEC Act to create a level regulatory playing fieldThe following year, NOAA issued licensing regulationsHowever, momentum stopped and in 1996, NOAA rescinded its licensing reglnsRecently there’s been a resurgence of interest in OTECFederal technology money has become availableNOAA is dusting off the old rulesAnd they’ve had a couple of workshops with experts to help develop new rulesNow is a good time to start
- What do we know about the potential environmental impacts of OTEC?Here is a rough table showing that we do have informationWe know that certain OTEC systems are likely to affect certain environmental resourcesThe two most important areas are thePresence of the platform andMovement of water (volume and velocity of a small river)With the information at hand, we can assess what, but we don’t know how much
- What will we do with this information?1. We have informationWe have a goal – get the permitsWe have time – usually limited and we’re probably on the critical path2. To get the permits we must comply with various laws and policies (over simple)But that is not all. How do we collect this information into a form that is useable by regulators and stakeholders?This is a process development exerciseif we have an enterprise and we know the goal we can develop a procedure to reach the goal.If the procedure is critical, then we facilitate the process to move it ahead3. We integrate a proactive environmental planning effort- Understand the environmental impact cause and effect relationships- Refine initial design to avoid and minimize impactsWe seek to resolve all environmental conflicts
- What is important about integrating environmental planning?Enviro experts as equal partners in technology developmentEmbrace the technology development objectiveEncourage progressive environmental impact managementBuild enviro into the design processIncorporate enviro goals when things can changeIntegrated environmental will help build value
- We’ve begun planning for an OTEC Pilot ProjectIntegrated enviornmental planning looks like thisA system within systems engineeringTwo segmentsPlanning and permitting-Operations and monitoringToday, I’m focusig on the first part of planning, requirementsThe success of operations is dependent on your involvement in planning and permitting
- EMS System RequirementsAre different from the typical structural system requirementsTwo typesDeterminate standards and thresholds that have been set by regulatory agencies or other stakeholders.Indeterminate requirements that are developed by the owner in response to anticipated environmental impacts.- balancing act between impact significance and project objectivesImportant for the developer to take the first swipe at this
- During SE, we want to deliberatively address all other system environmental impactsTest them against enviornmental requirementsAttempt to mitigate impacts where appropriateBuild an administrative record – to manage the informationAt some point, technological objectves can be compromised and enviornmental requirements cannot be met. At that point, conflict resolution with stakeholders is necessary to apply further design modifications or To revise environmental requirements and/or To apply compensatory mitigationIn the end, we will have built an administrative record to memorialize our efforts
- Today, I’ve touched on the important aspects of progressive enviornmental impact managementEach project is different, with its own set of issues and balancesIntegratedDeliberative…to a faultUninterruptedRelevantEffective and efficient