“To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to co-locate renewable energy projects on certain existing Federal leased areas, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to permit evaluation of existing federal oil, gas, coal, and geothermal leases (i.e., those issued or renewed before enactment under the Mineral Leasing Act or Geothermal Steam Act of 1970) for solar or wind energy development and to issue permits for constructing or operating related solar or wind facilities on such lease areas, in addition to existing authorities under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, provided the leaseholder consents. It further directs the Secretary, not later than 180 days after enactment, to determine whether such permitted actions—or similar solar or wind actions on non-leased federal lands—qualify as categorical exclusions under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (i.e., categories of actions that normally do not significantly affect the quality of the human environment and thus do not require environmental impact statements). (Thus, qualifying actions would bypass full NEPA review.) The Secretary must issue a rulemaking to implement these provisions.