Sec. 84402. Land use planning; supplements to programmatic environmental impact statements
558 words·~3 min read·
/bill/116/hr/2/eh/section-84402A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall establish priority areas on covered land for geothermal, solar, and wind energy projects. Projects located in those priority areas shall be given the highest priority for review, and shall be offered the opportunity to participate in any regional mitigation plan developed for the relevant priority areas. For geothermal energy, the Secretary shall establish priority areas as soon as practicable, but not later than 5 years, after the date of the enactment of this Act.
For solar energy, solar Designated Leasing Areas, including 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. The Secretary shall establish additional solar priority areas as soon as practicable, but not later than 3 years, after the date of the enactment of this Act. For wind energy, the Secretary shall establish additional wind priority areas as soon as practicable, but not later than 3 years, after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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.)). Not less than once every 5 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.
For purposes of this section, compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall be accomplished— for geothermal energy, by supplementing the October 2008 final programmatic environmental impact statement for geothermal leasing in the Western United States and incorporating any additional regional analyses that have been completed by Federal agencies since the programmatic environmental impact statement was finalized; for solar energy, by supplementing the July 2012 final programmatic environmental impact statement for solar energy development and incorporating any additional regional analyses that have been completed by Federal agencies since the programmatic environmental impact statement was finalized; and for wind energy, by supplementing the July 2005 final programmatic environmental impact statement for wind energy development and incorporating any additional regional analyses that have been completed by Federal agencies since the programmatic environmental impact statement was finalized.
Any requirements to prepare a supplement to a programmatic environmental impact statement under this section shall not result in any delay in processing a pending application for a renewable energy project. 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 existing and/or planned transmission lines); likely to avoid or minimize impacts to habitat for animals and plants, recreation, cultural resources, 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) ).
Connectionstraces to 3
Traces to 3 documents
Citation graph
cites case law
Sec. 84402
Land use planning; supplements to programmatic environmental impact statements
Cites 3Cited by 0 across 0 sources