Offshore energy companies continue to diversify their interests beyond oil and natural gas by extending their expertise into renewable energy sources, like offshore wind, wave, tidal, and solar power. CSA is uniquely positioned to assist offshore energy developers by offering world-class marine environmental services that specialize in every step of this transition, from permitting through ongoing habitat monitoring to geophysical surveying.
CSA Ocean Sciences Inc. (CSA) specializes in providing marine environmental services associated with the permitting and development of alternative offshore energy resources. CSA’s energy industry projects typically involve identifying environmental risks and minimizing potential environmental impacts to assist corporations and government agencies in addressing environmental requirements and meeting engineering and logistical constraints of alternative energy development and distribution.
CSA provides highly regarded marine environmental consulting services that are directly applicable to domestic and international alternative energy industry projects. We provide a wide variety of coastal and environmental permitting services, including regulatory permitting; National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)-compliant document preparation; desktop study risk analysis for linear facility (cable) permitting and routing; environmental management; design, permitting, and construction of habitat restoration and enhancement projects; monitoring of biologically sensitive resources; grant application preparation; and resource habitat assessment for projects in marine, estuarine, wetland, freshwater, and coastal environments.
Offshore Renewable Energy Experience
CSA’s extensive experience related to the environmental and social impacts of man’s activities in the marine environment positions us to provide services for the development of offshore renewable energy technologies:
- Performance of impact assessments to identify environmental consequences early in the project planning and design process to facilitate preventing, minimizing, and mitigating adverse impacts, ensuring that project plans are environmentally sound and sustainable. In the U.S., NEPA provides a formal mechanism for public stakeholders and non-government organizations (NGOs) to participate in the decision-making processes involving environmental issues. Internationally, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, which includes review by government agencies, the public, and NGOs, serves a similar function. CSA has developed hundreds of NEPA documents, EIAs, and related permitting documents.
- Evaluation of baseline conditions of the existing environment to assess and monitor potential effects of renewable resource construction and development activities. CSA documents parameters and resources within ecosystems that may be sensitive to change to provide a reference point from which to evaluate future claims of impacts.
- Mitigation, management, and monitoring of identified impacts associated with renewable energy resource activities. CSA develops mitigation measures for corresponding potential impacts, including those required by laws or regulations, along with additional realistic, feasible, and cost-effective measures to prevent or reduce significant negative impacts to acceptable levels. Monitoring is utilized to determine the effects of activities on the environment and the efficacy of the mitigation measures.
