Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3330 To promote the development of renewable energy on public lands, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 19, 2021 Mr. GOSAR (for himself, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. WESTERMAN, and Mr. LAMBORN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To promote the development of renewable energy on public lands, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Land Renew- 4 able Energy Development Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 6 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. Sec. 3. Definitions. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3330 IH Sec. 4. Land use planning; updates to programmatic environmental impact statements. Sec. 5. Limited grandfathering. Sec. 6. Disposition of revenues. Sec. 7. Savings. SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 3 means land that is— 4 (A) Federal lands administered by the Sec- 5 retary; and 6 (B) not excluded from the development of 7 geothermal, solar, or wind energy under— 8 (i) a land use plan; or 9 (ii) other Federal law. 10 (2) EXCLUSION AREA.—The term ‘‘exclusion 11 area’’ means covered land that is identified by the 12 Bureau of Land Management as not suitable for de- 13 velopment of renewable energy projects. 14 (3) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 15 means— 16 (A) public lands; and 17 (B) lands of the National Forest System 18 as described in section 11(a) of the Forest and 19 Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 20 of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3330 IH (4) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the Re- 1 newable Energy Resource Conservation Fund estab- 2 lished by section 6(c)(1). 3 (5) LAND USE PLAN.—The term ‘‘land use 4 plan’’ means— 5 (A) in regard to Federal land, a land use 6 plan established under the Federal Land Policy 7 and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 8 et seq.); and 9 (B) in regard to National Forest System 10 lands, a land management plan approved, 11 amended, or revised under section 6 of the For- 12 est and Rangeland Renewable Resources Plan- 13 ning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604). 14 (6) PRIORITY AREA.—The term ‘‘priority area’’ 15 means covered land identified by the land use plan- 16 ning process of the Bureau of Land Management as 17 being a preferred location for a renewable energy 18 project, including a designated leasing area (as de- 19 fined in section 2801.5(b) of title 43, Code of Fed- 20 eral Regulations (or a successor regulation)) that is 21 identified under the rule of the Bureau of Land 22 Management entitled ‘‘Competitive Processes, 23 Terms, and Conditions for Leasing Public Lands for 24 Solar and Wind Energy Development and Technical 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3330 IH Changes and Corrections’’ (81 Fed. Reg. 92122 1 (December 19, 2016)) (or a successor regulation). 2 (7) PUBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 3 has the meaning given that term in section 103 of 4 the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 5 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702). 6 (8) RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT.—The term 7 ‘‘renewable energy project’’ means a project carried 8 out on covered land that uses wind, solar, or geo- 9 thermal energy to generate energy. 10 (9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 11 the Secretary of the Interior. 12 (10) VARIANCE AREA.—The term ‘‘variance 13 area’’ means covered land that is— 14 (A) not an exclusion area; 15 (B) not a priority area; and 16 (C) identified by the Secretary as poten- 17 tially available for renewable energy develop- 18 ment and could be approved without a plan 19 amendment, consistent with the principles of 20 multiple use (as defined in the Federal Land 21 Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 22 1701 et seq.)). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3330 IH SEC. 4. LAND USE PLANNING; UPDATES TO PRO- 1 GRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 2 STATEMENTS. 3 (a) PRIORITY AREAS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta- 5 tion with the Secretary of Energy, shall establish 6 priority areas on covered land for geothermal, solar, 7 and wind energy projects, consistent with the prin- 8 ciples of multiple use (as defined in the Federal 9 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 10 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)) and the renewable energy per- 11 mitting goal enacted by the Consolidated Appropria- 12 tions Act of 2021 (Public Law 116–260). Among 13 applications for a given renewable energy source, 14 proposed projects located in priority areas for that 15 renewable energy source shall— 16 (A) be given the highest priority for 17 incentivizing deployment thereon; and 18 (B) be offered the opportunity to partici- 19 pate in any regional mitigation plan developed 20 for the relevant priority areas. 21 (2) ESTABLISHING PRIORITY AREAS.— 22 (A) GEOTHERMAL ENERGY.—For geo- 23 thermal energy, the Secretary shall establish 24 priority areas as soon as practicable, but not 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3330 IH later than 5 years, after the date of the enact- 1 ment of this Act. 2 (B) SOLAR ENERGY.—For solar energy— 3 (i) solar designated leasing areas (in- 4 cluding the solar energy zones established 5 by Bureau of Land Management Solar En- 6 ergy Program, established in October 7 2012), and any subsequent land use plan 8 amendments, shall be considered to be pri- 9 ority areas for solar energy projects; and 10 (ii) the Secretary shall complete a 11 process to consider establishing additional 12 solar priority areas as soon as practicable, 13 but not later than 3 years, after the date 14 of the enactment of this Act. 15 (C) WIND ENERGY.—For wind energy, the 16 Secretary shall complete a process to consider 17 establishing additional wind priority areas as 18 soon as practicable, but not later than 3 years, 19 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 20 (b) VARIANCE AREAS.—Variance areas shall be con- 21 sidered for renewable energy project development, con- 22 sistent with the principles of multiple use (as defined in 23 the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 24 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)) and the renewable energy per- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3330 IH mitting goal enacted by the Consolidated Appropriations 1 Act of 2021 (Public Law 116–260), and applications for 2 a given renewable energy source located in those variance 3 areas shall be timely processed in order to assist in meet- 4 ing that goal. 5 (c) REVIEW AND MODIFICATION.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not less than once every 10 7 years, the Secretary shall— 8 (A) review the adequacy of land allocations 9 for geothermal, solar, and wind energy priority, 10 exclusion, and variance areas for the purpose of 11 encouraging and facilitating new renewable en- 12 ergy development opportunities; and 13 (B) based on the review carried out under 14 subparagraph (A), add, modify, or eliminate 15 priority, variance, and exclusion areas. 16 (2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 17 apply to the renewable energy land use planning 18 published in the Desert Renewable Energy Con- 19 servation Plan developed by the California Energy 20 Commission, the California Department of Fish and 21 Wildlife, the Bureau of Land Management, and the 22 United States Fish and Wildlife Service until Janu- 23 ary 1, 2030. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3330 IH (d) COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL ENVIRON- 1 MENTAL POLICY ACT.—For purposes of this section, com- 2 pliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 3 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall be accomplished— 4 (1) for geothermal energy, by updating the doc- 5 ument entitled ‘‘Final Programmatic Environmental 6 Impact Statement for Geothermal Leasing in the 7 Western United States’’, dated October 2008, and 8 incorporating any additional regional analyses that 9 have been completed by Federal agencies since that 10 programmatic environmental impact statement was 11 finalized; 12 (2) for solar energy, by updating the document 13 entitled ‘‘Final Programmatic Environmental Impact 14 Statement (PEIS) for Solar Energy Development in 15 Six Southwestern States’’, dated July 2012, and in- 16 corporating any additional regional analyses that 17 have been completed by Federal agencies since that 18 programmatic environmental impact statement was 19 finalized; and 20 (3) for wind energy, by updating the document 21 entitled ‘‘Final Programmatic Environmental Impact 22 Statement on Wind Energy Development on BLM– 23 Administered Lands in the Western United States’’, 24 dated July 2005, and incorporating any additional 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3330 IH regional analyses that have been completed by Fed- 1 eral agencies since the programmatic environmental 2 impact statement was finalized. 3 (e) NO EFFECT ON PROCESSING SITE SPECIFIC AP- 4 PLICATIONS.—Site specific environmental review and 5 processing of permits for proposed projects shall proceed 6 during preparation of an updated programmatic environ- 7 mental impact statement, resource management plan, or 8 resource management plan amendment. 9 (f) COORDINATION.—In developing updates required 10 by this section, the Secretary shall coordinate, on an ongo- 11 ing basis, with appropriate State, Tribal, and local govern- 12 ments, transmission infrastructure owners and operators, 13 developers, and other appropriate entities to ensure that 14 priority areas identified by the Secretary are— 15 (1) economically viable (including having access 16 to existing and planned transmission lines); 17 (2) likely to avoid or minimize impacts to habi- 18 tat for animals and plants, recreation, cultural re- 19 sources, and other uses of covered land; and 20 (3) consistent with section 202 of the Federal 21 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 22 U.S.C. 1712), including subsection (c)(9) of that 23 section (43 U.S.C. 1712(c)(9)). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3330 IH SEC. 5. LIMITED GRANDFATHERING. 1 (a) DEFINITION OF PROJECT.—In this section, the 2 term ‘‘project’’ means a system described in section 3 2801.9(a)(4) of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations (as 4 in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act). 5 (b) REQUIREMENT TO PAY RENTS AND FEES.—Un- 6 less otherwise agreed to by the owner of a project, the 7 owner of a project that applied for a right-of-way under 8 section 501 of the Federal Land Policy and Management 9 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1761) on or before December 19, 10 2016, shall be obligated to pay with respect to the right- 11 of-way all rents and fees in effect before the effective date 12 of the rule of the Bureau of Land Management entitled 13 ‘‘Competitive Processes, Terms, and Conditions for Leas- 14 ing Public Lands for Solar and Wind Energy Development 15 and Technical Changes and Corrections’’ (81 Fed. Reg. 16 92122 (December 19, 2016)). 17 SEC. 6. DISPOSITION OF REVENUES. 18 (a) DISPOSITION OF REVENUES.— 19 (1) AVAILABILITY.—Except as provided in 20 paragraph (2), beginning on January 1, 2022, of 21 amounts collected from a wind or solar project as 22 bonus bids, rentals, fees, or other payments under a 23 right-of-way, permit, lease, or other authorization 24 the following shall be made available, without fur- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3330 IH ther appropriation or fiscal year limitation, as fol- 1 lows: 2 (A) Twenty-five percent shall be paid by 3 the Secretary of the Treasury to the State with- 4 in the boundaries of which the revenue is de- 5 rived. 6 (B) Twenty-five percent shall be paid by 7 the Secretary of the Treasury to the one or 8 more counties within the boundaries of which 9 the revenue is derived, to be allocated among 10 the counties based on the percentage of land 11 from which the revenue is derived. 12 (C) Twenty-five percent shall be deposited 13 in the Treasury and be made available to the 14 Secretary to carry out the program established 15 under this Act, including the transfer of the 16 funds by the Bureau of Land Management to 17 other Federal agencies and State agencies to fa- 18 cilitate the processing of renewable energy per- 19 mits on Federal land, with priority given to 20 using the amounts, to the maximum extent 21 practicable without detrimental impacts to 22 emerging markets, to expediting the issuance of 23 permits required for the development of renew- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3330 IH able energy projects in the States from which 1 the revenues are derived. 2 (D) Twenty-five percent shall be deposited 3 in the Renewable Energy Resource Conserva- 4 tion Fund established by subsection (c). 5 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not 6 apply to the following: 7 (A) Amounts collected under section 8 504(g) of the Federal Land Policy and Manage- 9 ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1764(g)). 10 (B) Amounts deposited into the National 11 Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration 12 Fund under section 200402(b) of title 54, 13 United States Code. 14 (b) PAYMENTS TO STATES AND COUNTIES.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts paid to States [Text truncated for display. 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