Comments are being accepted on an Environmental Assessment to lease blocks off MD to study wind power.  Unfortunately, the Fish and Wildlife Service has seen fit to only allow a 30-day comment period at the height of vacation season.  I will be drafting a short letter on behalf of MOS about this, but invite all who have some knowledge of our off-shore species to comment as well.  This IS a 200+ page document, and your comments should be substantive (comments like "This EA sucks!" are not substantive.  I expect to address the following issues:  The comment period is too short. Tower lighting (this calls for meteological towers), it attracts seabirds to their detriment.  And despite what you may have heard, the Roseate Tern DOES occur in MD.  If you perhaps have other points I can include, I welcome them.  See below for further details.

Kurt R. Schwarz
Conservation Chair
Maryland Ornithological Society
please direct you comments (please keep them civil and short) to my OTHER address: krschwa1 at verizon dot net.
I'm heading out for a stiff margarita!

Mid-Atlantic Offshore Wind Environmental Assessment – Comments due August 11
August 11 is the deadline for comments on the Environmental Assessment (EA) for wind lease blocks offshore of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, in federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf. More information and a link to the EA is available at 

http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Interior-Takes-Next-Step-toward-Holding-First-Ever-Lease-Sales-for-Commercial-Wind-in-the-Mid-Atlantic.cfm 
 

############################

To unsubscribe from the MDOSPREY list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MDOSPREY&A=1