Comment from Eileen Levandoski, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter

On behalf of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, let me voice support for the proposal to extend the timing requirements for offshore wind developers to submit Site Assessment and/or General Activities Plans from 6 months to 12 months. Such a time extension is environmentally responsible and further supports a leasing process that brings this clean, job-generating energy online as efficiently as possible. But let us also again remind BOEM that nothing breeds prompt and timely development of offshore wind better than competition. We urge you to institute a leasing process that doesn't "put all of its eggs in one basket" by auctioning off Virginia's entire wind energy area in one sale to one developer, especially if that developer is Dominion Virginia Power. We need multiple auction winners each permitting and developing Virginia's potential 2200 megawatts in parallel, bringing more capacity online faster than a single winner who would develop in prolonged stages, as Dominion has already indicated it plans to do. Given Dominion's long track record of being an obstacle to Virginia-made clean energy generation, allowing it to monopolize Virginia's offshore wind power risks its prompt and full development, which in turn risks Virginia's attractiveness for the kind of big $ money investment that yields thousands of jobs. Thank you.