Lawmakers reintroduce bill to speed up renewables on federal land

Washington (Platts)--11Feb2013/452 pm EST/2152 GMT

A bipartisan group of western state lawmakers again have introduced bills in the US House of Representatives and Senate to speed up permitting for renewable energy projects on federal lands.

The bills, introduced in the Senate Monday and in the House Friday, would set up a new competitive leasing program for solar and wind projects on public lands and directs 25% of royalties, lease payments, bonus bids or other federal fee collections to the county government where those energy projects take place. The bill also calls on the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to conduct programmatic environmental impact statements, to be completed within two years, to assess the potential impact of a wind and solar leasing program on federal forest land.

"This is a win-win strategy to facilitate needed renewable energy development on suitable public lands," said Tom France, a senior director with the National Wildlife Federation, which is backing the legislation. "This bill works because it balances the need to expand our renewable energy base and still protect key fish and wildlife habitats."

Representative Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, introduced the House version of the bill (H.R. 596) Friday. That bill has 15 co-sponsors, including eight Democrats and seven Republicans from California, Nevada, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, New Mexico and Arizona.

"This bill is a part of a comprehensive energy policy that gets the government out of the way, grows our energy sector and spurs job creation," Gosar said in a statement.

Senators Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, Dean Heller, a Nevada Republican, and Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican, introduced the Senate version of the bill Monday. It has not yet been assigned a number.

The lawmakers introduced a nearly identical version of the bill in 2011.

--Brian Scheid, brian_scheid@platts.com
--Edited by Valarie Jackson, valarie_jackson@platts.com