Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act of 2019

IB Union Calendar No. 561 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 3794 [Report No. 116–677, Part I] To promote the development of renewable energy on public lands, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 17, 2019 Mr. GOSAR (for himself, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. AMODEI, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. DELBENE, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. GAETZ, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. STEWART, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. COOK, Mr. MARSHALL, and Mr. GIANFORTE) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be sub- sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned DECEMBER 18, 2020 Additional sponsors: Mr. CASE, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. VAN DREW, Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. TITUS, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. RUIZ, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. WATKINS, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. NEAL, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. BACON, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. KIL- MER, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. PETERS, Mr. LAMBORN, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. KEN- NEDY, Mr. KIND, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KIM, Mr. COX of California, Mr. KEATING, Mr. CROW, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. COOPER, Mr. MCADAMS, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. COSTA, Mr. SIRES, Mr. POSEY, Mr. KATKO, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, and Mrs. BEATTY DECEMBER 18, 2020 Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3794.RH H3794 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3794 RH [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] DECEMBER 18, 2020 Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 17, 2019] A BILL To promote the development of renewable energy on public lands, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3794.RH H3794 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3794 RH 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 Renewable 4 Energy Development Act of 2019’’. 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. Sec. 4. Land use planning; supplements to programmatic environmental impact statements. Sec. 5. Environmental review on covered land. Sec. 6. Program to improve renewable energy project permit coordination. Sec. 7. Increasing economic certainty. Sec. 8. Limited grandfathering. Sec. 9. Renewable energy goal. Sec. 10. Disposition of revenues. Sec. 11. Promoting and enhancing development of geothermal energy. Sec. 12. Facilitation of coproduction of geothermal energy on oil and gas leases. Sec. 13. Noncompetitive leasing of adjoining areas for development of geothermal resources. Sec. 14. Savings clause. SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 8 In this Act: 9 (1) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 10 means land that is— 11 (A) public lands administered by the Sec- 12 retary; and 13 (B) not excluded from the development of 14 geothermal, solar, or wind energy under— 15 (i) a land use plan established under 16 the Federal Land Policy and Management 17 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or 18 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3794.RH H3794 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3794 RH (ii) other Federal law. 1 (2) EXCLUSION AREA.—The term ‘‘exclusion 2 area’’ means covered land that is identified by the 3 Bureau of Land Management as not suitable for de- 4 velopment of renewable energy projects. 5 (3) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 6 means— 7 (A) land of the National Forest System (as 8 defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range- 9 land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 10 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a))); or 11 (B) public lands. 12 (4) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the Renew- 13 able Energy Resource Conservation Fund established 14 by section 10(c)(1). 15 (5) PRIORITY AREA.—The term ‘‘priority area’’ 16 means covered land identified by the land use plan- 17 ning process of the Bureau of Land Management as 18 being a preferred location for a renewable energy 19 project, including a designated leasing area (as de- 20 fined in section 2801.5(b) of title 43, Code of Federal 21 Regulations (or a successor regulation)) that is identi- 22 fied under the rule of the Bureau of Land Manage- 23 ment entitled ‘‘Competitive Processes, Terms, and 24 Conditions for Leasing Public Lands for Solar and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3794.RH H3794 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3794 RH Wind Energy Development and Technical Changes 1 and Corrections’’ (81 Fed. Reg. 92122 (December 19, 2 2016)) (or a successor regulation). 3 (6) PUBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 4 has the meaning given that term in section 103 of the 5 Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 6 (43 U.S.C. 1702). 7 (7) RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT.—The term 8 ‘‘renewable energy project’’ means a project carried 9 out on covered land that uses wind, solar, or geo- 10 thermal energy to generate energy. 11 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12 the Secretary of the Interior. 13 (9) VARIANCE AREA.—The term ‘‘variance area’’ 14 means covered land that is— 15 (A) not an exclusion area; 16 (B) not a priority area; and 17 (C) identified by the Secretary as poten- 18 tially available for renewable energy development 19 and could be approved without a plan amend- 20 ment, consistent with the principles of multiple 21 use (as that term is defined in the Federal Land 22 Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 23 1701 et seq.)). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3794.RH H3794 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3794 RH SEC. 4. LAND USE PLANNING; SUPPLEMENTS TO PRO- 1 GRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 2 STATEMENTS. 3 (a) PRIORITY AREAS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 5 with the Secretary of Energy, shall establish priority 6 areas on covered land for geothermal, solar, and wind 7 energy projects. Projects located in those priority 8 areas shall be given the highest priority for review, 9 and shall be offered the opportunity to participate in 10 any regional mitigation plan developed for the rel- 11 evant priority areas. 12 (2) DEADLINE.— 13 (A) GEOTHERMAL ENERGY.—For geo- 14 thermal energy, the Secretary shall establish pri- 15 ority areas as soon as practicable, but not later 16 than 5 years, after the date of the enactment of 17 this Act. 18 (B) SOLAR ENERGY.—For solar energy, 19 solar Designated Leasing Areas, including the 20 solar energy zones established by the 2012 west- 21 ern solar plan of the Bureau of Land Manage- 22 ment and any subsequent land use plan amend- 23 ments, shall be considered to be priority areas for 24 solar energy projects. The Secretary shall estab- 25 lish additional solar priority areas as soon as 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3794.RH H3794 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3794 RH practicable, but not later than 3 years, after the 1 date of the enactment of this Act. 2 (C) WIND ENERGY.—For wind energy, the 3 Secretary shall establish additional wind pri- 4 ority areas as soon as practicable, but not later 5 than 3 years, after the date of the enactment of 6 this Act. 7 (b) VARIANCE AREAS.—To the maximum extent prac- 8 ticable, variance areas shall be considered for renewable en- 9 ergy project development, consistent with the principles of 10 multiple use (as defined in the Federal Land Policy and 11 Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)). 12 (c) REVIEW AND MODIFICATION.—Not less than once 13 every 5 years, the Secretary shall— 14 (1) review the adequacy of land allocations for 15 geothermal, solar, and wind energy priority and vari- 16 ance areas for the purpose of encouraging new renew- 17 able energy development opportunities; and 18 (2) based on the review carried out under para- 19 graph (1), add, modify, or eliminate priority, vari- 20 ance, and exclusion areas. 21 (d) COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL ENVIRON- 22 MENTAL POLICY ACT.—For purposes of this section, compli- 23 ance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 24 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall be accomplished— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3794.RH H3794 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3794 RH (1) for geothermal energy, by supplementing the 1 October 2008 final programmatic environmental im- 2 pact statement for geothermal leasing in the Western 3 United States and incorporating any additional re- 4 gional analyses that have been completed by Federal 5 agencies since the programmatic environmental im- 6 pact statement was finalized; 7 (2) for solar energy, by supplementing the July 8 2012 final programmatic environmental impact state- 9 ment for solar energy development and incorporating 10 any additional regional analyses that have been com- 11 pleted by Federal agencies since the programmatic en- 12 vironmental impact statement was finalized; and 13 (3) for wind energy, by supplementing the July 14 2005 final programmatic environmental impact state- 15 ment for wind energy development and incorporating 16 any additional regional analyses that have been com- 17 pleted by Federal agencies since the programmatic en- 18 vironmental impact statement was finalized. 19 (e) NO EFFECT ON PROCESSING APPLICATIONS.—Any 20 requirements to prepare a supplement to a programmatic 21 environmental impact statement under this section shall 22 not result in any delay in processing a pending application 23 for a renewable energy project. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3794.RH H3794 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3794 RH (f) COORDINATION.—In developing a supplement re- 1 quired by this section, the Secretary shall coordinate, on 2 an ongoing basis, with appropriate State, Tribal, and local 3 governments, transmission infrastructure owners and oper- 4 ators, developers, and other appropriate entities to ensure 5 that priority areas identified by the Secretary are— 6 (1) economically viable (including having access 7 to existing and/or planned transmission lines); 8 (2) likely to avoid or minimize impacts to habi- 9 tat for animals and plants, recreation, cultural re- 10 sources, and other uses of covered land; and 11 (3) consistent with section 202 of the Federal 12 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 13 1712), including subsection (c)(9) of that section (43 14 U.S.C. 1712(c)(9)). 15 SEC. 5. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW ON COVERED LAND. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary determines that a 17 proposed renewable energy project has been sufficiently ana- 18 lyzed by a programmatic environmental impact statement 19 conducted under section 4(d), the Secretary shall not re- 20 quire any additional review under the National Environ- 21 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). The 22 Secretary shall publish any such project determinations on 23 a publicly available website. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3794.RH H3794 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3794 RH (b) ADDITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW.—If the 1 Secretary determines that additional environmental review 2 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 3 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) is necessary for a proposed renewable 4 energy project, the Secretary shall rely on the analysis in 5 the programmatic environmental impact statement con- 6 ducted under section 4(d), to the maximum extent prac- 7 ticable when analyzing the potential impacts of the project. 8 (c) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW.—Nothing in this 9 section modifies or supersedes any requirement under appli- 10 cable law. 11 SEC. 6. PROGRAM TO IMPROVE RENEWABLE ENERGY 12 PROJECT PERMIT COORDINATION. 13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish a 14 national Renewable Energy Coordination Office and State, 15 district, or field offices with responsibility to establish and 16 implement a program to improve Federal permit coordina- 17 tion with respect to renewable energy projects on covered 18 land and other activities deemed necessary by the Secretary. 19 In carrying out the program, the Secretary may tempo- 20 rarily assign qualified staff to Renewable Energy Coordina- 21 tion Offices to expedite the permitting of renewable energy 22 projects. 23 (b) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3794.RH H3794 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3794 RH (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 1 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 2 shall enter into a memorandum of understanding for 3 purposes of this section, including to specifically expe- 4 dite the environmental analysis of applications for 5 projects proposed in a variance area or a priority 6 area, with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary 7 of Agriculture. 8 (2) STATE AND TRIBAL PARTICIPATION.—The 9 Secretary may request the Governor of any interested 10 State or any Tribal leader of any interested Indian 11 Tribe (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-De- 12 termination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 13 5304)) to be a signatory to the memorandum of un- 14 derstanding under paragraph (1). 15 (c) DESIGNATION OF QUALIFIED STAFF.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 17 the date on which the memorandum of understanding 18 under subsection (b) is executed, all Federal signato- 19 ries, as appropriate, shall identify for each of the Bu- 20 reau of Land Management Renewable Energy Coordi- 21 nation Offices one or more employees who have exper- 22 tise in the regulatory issues relating to the office in 23 which the employee is employed, including, as appli- 24 cable, particular expertise in— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21 [Text truncated for display. 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