Map of Gulf of Mexico showing shipping lanes and Wind Energy Areas.

We’ve recently added several staff to bolster the offshore wind team at NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. With this full team of 13, our employee owners are able to provide more focused support in their areas of expertise, including mapping and spatial modeling, data collection, communications, project management, and partner engagement. Through this work, the team develops regional ecosystem-wide spatial models to inform siting of ocean use sectors, environmental review, and permitting, which provides guidance to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on suitable locations for offshore wind siting.

Sustainable coastal planning and development increases resiliency, creates jobs, reduces reliance on unsustainable imports, supports renewable energy, and grows the domestic Blue Economy. Check out the NCCOS Coastal & Marine Planning and Offshore Wind Energy spatial planning webpages to learn more.

This team is now providing spatial planning support in all U.S. ocean regions and was recently instrumental in BOEM designating two Wind Energy Areas in the Gulf of Mexico. As offshore wind continues to expand throughout U.S. waters, this team will continue to collaborate with BOEM to support the identification of suitable locations for renewable energy. Future work is slated for the U.S. Central Atlantic, Gulf of Maine, Oregon, and more to come!

See More CSS Insights

person places an instrument in a body of water

Tracking Fish Through Restored Habitat

Poplar Island, a severely eroded remote island in the Chesapeake Bay, has been the site of a major restoration effort supported by CSS client, NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), and their partners, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Maryland Department of Transportation, Maryland Port Administration. This massive effort utilizes dredge sediment from…

1000 Samples of Lake Water Collected and Processed 

Congrats to our team supporting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development for completing the processing and initial chemical analyses of 1000 lake water samples!  They received lake water samples from across the continental U.S. this past summer and have completed the initial chemical analyses as part of the U.S. EPA 2022 National…

New Contract. Same Great Work.

We’re pleased to announce a new small business joint venture with Paul Bechtel & Associates (PB&A), which was awarded a 5-year contract to continue supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs.  For 40 years our staff have supported EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs in the review and evaluation of pesticide data.…