Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2666 To promote the development of renewable energy on public land, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 22, 2019 Ms. MCSALLY (for herself, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. UDALL, Mr. DAINES, Mr. TESTER, Mr. RISCH, and Mr. BENNET) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Natural Resources A BILL To promote the development of renewable energy on public land, 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 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 8 means land that is— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2666 IS (A) public land; and 1 (B) not excluded from the development of 2 geothermal, solar, or wind energy under— 3 (i) a land use plan established under 4 the Federal Land Policy and Management 5 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or 6 (ii) other Federal law. 7 (2) EXCLUSION AREA.—The term ‘‘exclusion 8 area’’ means covered land that is identified by the 9 Bureau of Land Management as not suitable for de- 10 velopment of renewable energy projects. 11 (3) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 12 means— 13 (A) National Forest System land; and 14 (B) public land. 15 (4) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the Re- 16 newable Energy Resource Conservation Fund estab- 17 lished by section 9(c)(1). 18 (5) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM.—The term 19 ‘‘National Forest System’’ has the meaning given 20 the term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range- 21 land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 22 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 23 (6) PRIORITY AREA.—The term ‘‘priority area’’ 24 means covered land identified by the land use plan- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2666 IS ning process of the Bureau of Land Management as 1 being a preferred location for a renewable energy 2 project, including a designated leasing area (as de- 3 fined in section 2801.5(b) of title 43, Code of Fed- 4 eral Regulations (or a successor regulation)) that is 5 identified under the rule of the Bureau of Land 6 Management entitled ‘‘Competitive Processes, 7 Terms, and Conditions for Leasing Public Lands for 8 Solar and Wind Energy Development and Technical 9 Changes and Corrections’’ (81 Fed. Reg. 92122 10 (December 19, 2016)) (or a successor regulation). 11 (7) PUBLIC LAND.—The term ‘‘public land’’ 12 has the meaning given the term ‘‘public lands’’ in 13 section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Manage- 14 ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702). 15 (8) RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT.—The term 16 ‘‘renewable energy project’’ means a project carried 17 out on covered land that uses wind, solar, or geo- 18 thermal energy to generate energy. 19 (9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20 the Secretary of the Interior. 21 (10) VARIANCE AREA.—The term ‘‘variance 22 area’’ means covered land that— 23 (A) is not an exclusion area; and 24 (B) is not a priority area. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2666 IS SEC. 3. LAND USE PLANNING; SUPPLEMENTS 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. 8 (2) DEADLINE.— 9 (A) GEOTHERMAL ENERGY.—For geo- 10 thermal energy, the Secretary shall establish 11 priority areas as soon as practicable, but not 12 later than 5 years, after the date of enactment 13 of this Act. 14 (B) SOLAR ENERGY.—For solar energy, 15 the Secretary shall establish additional priority 16 areas as soon as practicable, but not later than 17 3 years, after the date of enactment of this Act. 18 (C) WIND ENERGY.—For wind energy, the 19 Secretary shall establish priority areas as soon 20 as practicable, but not later than 3 years, after 21 the date of enactment of this Act. 22 (b) VARIANCE AREAS.—To the maximum extent 23 practicable, variance areas shall be considered for renew- 24 able energy project development, consistent with the prin- 25 ciples of multiple use (as defined in section 103 of the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2666 IS Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 1 U.S.C. 1702)). 2 (c) REVIEW AND MODIFICATION.—Not less fre- 3 quently than once every 5 years, the Secretary shall— 4 (1) review the adequacy of land allocations for 5 geothermal, solar, and wind energy priority and vari- 6 ance areas for the purpose of encouraging new re- 7 newable energy development opportunities; and 8 (2) based on the review carried out under para- 9 graph (1), add, modify, or eliminate priority, vari- 10 ance, and exclusion areas. 11 (d) COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL ENVIRON- 12 MENTAL POLICY ACT.—For purposes of this section, com- 13 pliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 14 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall be accomplished— 15 (1) for geothermal energy, by supplementing 16 the October 2008 final programmatic environmental 17 impact statement for geothermal leasing in the 18 Western United States, including by incorporating 19 any additional regional analyses that were completed 20 by Federal agencies after the date on which the pro- 21 grammatic environmental impact statement was fi- 22 nalized; 23 (2) for solar energy, by supplementing the July 24 2012 final programmatic environmental impact 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2666 IS statement for the Solar Energy Program of the Bu- 1 reau of Land Management, including by incor- 2 porating any additional regional analyses that were 3 completed by Federal agencies after the date on 4 which the programmatic environmental impact state- 5 ment was finalized; and 6 (3) for wind energy, by supplementing the July 7 2005 final programmatic environmental impact 8 statement for wind energy development, including by 9 incorporating any additional regional analyses that 10 were completed by Federal agencies after the date 11 on which the programmatic environmental impact 12 statement was finalized. 13 (e) NO EFFECT ON PROCESSING APPLICATIONS.—A 14 requirement to prepare a supplement to a programmatic 15 environmental impact statement under this section shall 16 not result in any delay in processing an application for 17 a renewable energy project. 18 (f) COORDINATION.—In developing a supplement re- 19 quired by this section, the Secretary shall coordinate, on 20 an ongoing basis, with appropriate State, Tribal, and local 21 governments, transmission infrastructure owners and op- 22 erators, developers, and other appropriate entities to en- 23 sure that priority areas identified by the Secretary are— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2666 IS (1) economically viable (including having access 1 to existing or planned transmission capacity); 2 (2) likely to avoid or minimize conflict with 3 habitat for animals and plants, recreation, cultural 4 resources, and other uses of covered land; and 5 (3) consistent with section 202 of the Federal 6 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 7 U.S.C. 1712), including subsection (c)(9) of that 8 section (43 U.S.C. 1712(c)(9)). 9 SEC. 4. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW ON COVERED LAND. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary determines that 11 a proposed renewable energy project has been sufficiently 12 analyzed by a programmatic environmental impact state- 13 ment conducted under section 3(d), the Secretary shall not 14 require any additional review under the National Environ- 15 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 16 (b) ADDITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW.—If the 17 Secretary determines that additional environmental review 18 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 19 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) is necessary for a proposed renewable 20 energy project, the Secretary shall rely on the analysis in 21 the programmatic environmental impact statement con- 22 ducted under section 3(d) to the maximum extent prac- 23 ticable when analyzing the potential impacts of the 24 project. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2666 IS (c) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW.—Nothing in this 1 section modifies or supersedes any requirement under ap- 2 plicable law. 3 SEC. 5. PROGRAM TO IMPROVE RENEWABLE ENERGY 4 PROJECT PERMIT COORDINATION. 5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 7 and implement, through the offices established under 8 paragraph (2), a program to improve Federal permit 9 coordination with respect to renewable energy 10 projects on covered land. 11 (2) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICES.—To estab- 12 lish and implement the program described in para- 13 graph (1), and to carry out other necessary activi- 14 ties, as determined by the Secretary, the Secretary 15 shall establish— 16 (A) an office to serve as the National Re- 17 newable Energy Coordination Office; and 18 (B) State, district, or field Renewable En- 19 ergy Coordination Offices, for such time as the 20 Secretary determines to be appropriate. 21 (b) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 23 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 24 retary shall enter into a memorandum of under- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2666 IS standing for purposes of this section, including to 1 specifically expedite the environmental analysis of 2 applications for projects proposed in a variance area 3 or a priority area, with— 4 (A) the Secretary of Defense; and 5 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture. 6 (2) STATE PARTICIPATION.—The Secretary 7 may request the Governor of any interested State to 8 be a signatory to the memorandum of understanding 9 under paragraph (1). 10 (c) DESIGNATION OF QUALIFIED STAFF.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 12 the date on which the memorandum of under- 13 standing under subsection (b) is executed, all Fed- 14 eral signatories, as appropriate, shall identify for the 15 National Renewable Energy Coordination Office es- 16 tablished under subsection (a)(2)(A) and each Re- 17 newable Energy Coordination Office established 18 under subsection (a)(2)(B) 1 or more employees who 19 have expertise in the regulatory issues relating to 20 the office in which the employee is employed, includ- 21 ing, as applicable, particular expertise in— 22 (A) consultation regarding, and prepara- 23 tion of, biological opinions under section 7 of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2666 IS the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1 1536); 2 (B) permits under section 404 of the Fed- 3 eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 4 1344); 5 (C) regulatory matters under the Clean Air 6 Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); 7 (D) the Federal Land Policy and Manage- 8 ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); 9 (E) the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 10 U.S.C. 703 et seq.); 11 (F) the preparation of analyses under the 12 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 13 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); 14 (G) implementation of the requirements of 15 section 306108 of title 54, United States Code 16 (formerly known as section 106 of the National 17 Historic Preservation Act); 18 (H) planning under section 14 of the Na- 19 tional Forest Management Act of 1976 (16 20 U.S.C. 472a); and 21 (I) the Act of June 8, 1940 (54 Stat. 250, 22 chapter 278; 16 U.S.C. 668 et seq.) (commonly 23 known as the ‘‘Bald Eagle Protection Act’’). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2666 IS (2) DUTIES.—Each employee assigned under 1 paragraph (1) shall— 2 (A) be responsible for addressing all issues 3 relating to the jurisdiction of the home office or 4 agency of the employee; and 5 (B) participate as part of the team of per- 6 sonnel working on proposed energy projects, 7 planning, monitoring, inspection, enforcement, 8 and environmental analyses. 9 (d) CLARIFICATION OF EXISTING AUTHORITY.—Sec- 10 tion 307 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 11 of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1737) is amended by adding at the 12 end the following: 13 ‘‘(h) DONATIONS.—The Secretary, in accordance 14 with subsection (c), may accept donations from renewable 15 energy companies working on public lands, including dona- 16 tions to help cover the costs of environmental reviews.’’. 17 (e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than February 1 19 of the first fiscal year beginning after the date of en- 20 actment of this Act, and each February 1 thereafter, 21 the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on En- 22 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the 23 Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 24 Representatives a report describing the progress 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2666.IS S2666 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 2666 IS made under the program established under sub- 1 section (a)(1) during the preceding year. 2 (2) INCLUSIONS.—Each report under para- 3 graph (1) shall include— 4 (A) projections for renewable energy pro- 5 duction and capacity installations; and 6 (B) a description of any problems relating 7 to leasing, permitting, siting, or production. 8 SEC. 6. INCREASING ECONOMIC CERTAINTY. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall consider the 10 total amount paid in acreage rental rates, capacity fees, 11 and other recurring annual fees in evaluating existing 12 rates paid by renewable energy projects for the use of Fed- 13 eral land. 14 (b) INCREASES IN BASE RENTAL RATES.—After a 15 base [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]