As the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management was establishing their Alternative Energy project, RPI provided a timely synthesis of the following topics:
- Current offshore energy technologies and future trends
- How public acceptance of existing projects was or was not achieved
- Potential direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts of offshore energy technologies
- Previously used mitigation measures that could avoid, minimize, rectify, eliminate, or compensate for environmental impacts
- Current physical and numerical models designed to determine environmental impacts
- Information needs to address gaps in our current understanding of environmental impacts
The report synthesized the current knowledge of the impacts of wind, wave, and ocean current technologies on the following resource categories: physical processes, benthic resources, fishery resources, marine mammals, sea turtles, and flying animals. RPI was scored by BOEM as “Exceptional” for ALL categories: 1) Quality of Services; 2) Business Relations; 3) Management of Key Personnel; 4) Compliance with Labor, Environmental Safety, Health, and Security Requirements; and 5) Cost Management.