H.R. 825 — what changed

Covered land— The term covered land means land that is—

public land administered by the Secretary; and

not excluded from the development of geothermal, solar, or wind energy under—

a land use plan established under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or

other Federal law.

Exclusion area— The term exclusion area means covered land that is identified by the Bureau of Land Management as not suitable for development of renewable energy projects.

Federal land— The term Federal land means—

land of the National Forest System (as defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a))); or

public land.

Fund— The term Fund means the Renewable Energy Resource Conservation Fund established by section 7(c)(1).

Priority area— The term priority area means covered land identified by the land use planning process of the Bureau of Land Management as being a preferred location for a renewable energy project.

Public land— The term public land has the meaning given the term public lands in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702).

Renewable energy project— The term renewable energy project means a project carried out on covered land that uses wind, solar, or geothermal energy to generate energy.

Secretary— The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.

Variance area— The term variance area means covered land that is—

In general— Section 234(a) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15873(a)) is amended by striking “in the first 5 fiscal years beginning after the date of enactment of this Act” and inserting “through fiscal year 2022”.

Authorization— Section 234(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15873(b)) is amended—

by striking “Amounts” and inserting the following:

by adding at the end the following:

In general— The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall establish priority areas on covered land for geothermal, solar, and wind energy projects.

Geothermal energy— For geothermal energy, the Secretary shall establish priority areas as soon as practicable, but not later than 5 years, after the date of enactment of this Act.

Solar energy— For solar energy, the solar energy zones established by the 2012 western solar plan of the Bureau of Land Management and any subsequent land use plan amendments shall be considered to be priority areas for solar energy projects.

Wind energy— For wind energy, the Secretary shall establish priority areas as soon as practicable, but not later than 3 years, after the date of enactment of this Act.

Variance areas— To the maximum extent practicable, variance areas shall be considered for renewable energy project development, consistent with the principles of multiple use (as defined in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)).

Review and modification— Not less frequently than once every 10 years, the Secretary shall—

review the adequacy of land allocations for geothermal, solar, and wind energy priority and variance areas for the purpose of encouraging new renewable energy development opportunities; and

based on the review carried out under paragraph (1), add, modify, or eliminate priority, variance, and exclusion areas.

Compliance with the national environmental policy act— For purposes of this section, compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall be accomplished—

No effect on processing applications— A requirement to prepare a supplement to a programmatic environmental impact statement under this section shall not result in any delay in processing an application for a renewable energy project.

Coordination— In developing a supplement required by this section, the Secretary shall coordinate, on an ongoing basis, with appropriate State, tribal, and local governments, transmission infrastructure owners and operators, developers, and other appropriate entities to ensure that priority areas identified by the Secretary are—

economically viable (including having access to transmission);

likely to avoid or minimize conflict with habitat for animals and plants, recreation, and other uses of covered land; and

consistent with section 202 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712), including subsection (c)(9) of that section (43 U.S.C. 1712(c)(9)).

Removal from classification— In carrying out subsections (a) through (e), if the Secretary determines an area previously suited for development should be removed from priority or variance classification, not later than 90 days after the date of the determination, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the determination.

25 percent shall be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury to the State within the boundaries of which the revenue is derived;

25 percent shall be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury to the one or more counties within the boundaries of which the revenue is derived, to be allocated among the counties based on the percentage of land from which the revenue is derived;

to be deposited in the Treasury and be made available to the Secretary to carry out the program established by section 6, including the transfer of the funds by the Bureau of Land Management to other Federal agencies and State agencies to facilitate the processing of renewable energy permits on Federal land, with priority given to using the amounts, to the maximum extent practicable, to expediting the issuance of permits required for the development of renewable energy projects in the States from which the revenues are derived—

to be deposited in the Renewable Energy Resource Conservation Fund established by subsection (c)—

In general— Amounts paid to States and counties under subsection (a) shall be used consistent with section 35 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191).

Payments in lieu of taxes— A payment to a county under paragraph (1) shall be in addition to a payment in lieu of taxes received by the county under chapter 69 of title 31, United States Code.

In general— There is established in the Treasury a fund, to be known as the “Renewable Energy Resource Conservation Fund”, to be administered by the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture.

Use of funds— The Secretary may make funds in the Fund available to Federal, State, and tribal agencies to be distributed in regions in which renewable energy projects are located on Federal land, for the purposes of—

restoring and protecting—

fish and wildlife habitat for affected species;

fish and wildlife corridors for affected species; and

water resources in areas affected by wind, geothermal, or solar energy development; and