Sec. 104. Conservation finance agreements
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The Secretary shall establish a pilot program under which the Secretary may enter into a conservation finance agreement with a public or private person, including a for-profit or nonprofit organization, to plan, implement, and monitor a landscape-scale forest restoration project selected by the Secretary under section 103(a) if the Secretary finds each of the following: There is a reasonable expectation that, throughout the contemplated agreement period, the Secretary will request funding for the agreement at the level required to avoid agreement cancellation.
The environmental analysis for the project demonstrates that there is a sufficient supply of small-diameter material to support a long-term agreement consistent with the landscape assessment and all applicable environmental laws. The use of the conservation finance agreement will, in the area of the applicable landscape-scale forest restoration project, assist in achieving the purpose described in section 102. The project involves an entity that demonstrates experience in— developing and implementing conservation finance public-private partnerships; and raising capital commitments from concessional and market rate investors or other external financing.
The Secretary may not delegate the pilot program authority under subsection
(a)to a Federal official that serves under the Chief of the Forest Service. The pilot program authority under subsection (a)— may be used for the obligation under conservation finance agreements of not more than— $250,000,000 in the aggregate; and $50,000,000 for any 1 landscape-scale forest restoration project; and may not be used to pay interest to any other entity providing funds for the applicable landscape-scale forest restoration project. If funds are not made available for the continuation of a conservation finance agreement made under this section into a subsequent fiscal year, the agreement shall be canceled, terminated, or modified. If the Secretary determines that it is necessary to cancel or terminate a conservation finance agreement pursuant to subparagraph (A), and the conservation finance agreement includes a cancellation provision described in paragraph (2)(A), the Secretary may pay the costs of that cancellation or termination using any of the following amounts: Appropriations originally available for the performance of the applicable conservation finance agreement. Appropriations currently available for the type of services concerned under the applicable conservation finance agreement, and not otherwise obligated. Funds appropriated for payments for those costs of cancellation or termination. The Secretary may provide for cancellation provisions in conservation finance agreements under this section to the extent that those provisions are necessary and in the best interests of the United States. The cancellation provisions described in subparagraph
(A)may include consideration of the recurring and nonrecurring costs of the partner under the applicable conservation finance agreement. The Secretary may obligate funds in stages that are economically or programmatically viable to cover any potential cancellation or termination costs for a conservation finance agreement under paragraph (1)(B) and implement the agreement pursuant to this section. Not later than 30 days before entering into a conservation finance agreement under this section that includes a cancellation ceiling in excess of $25,000,000, but does not include proposed funding for the costs of cancelling the agreement up to that cancellation ceiling, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives a written notice that includes— a description of the cancellation ceiling amounts proposed for each program year in the agreement; the reasons why the cancellation ceiling amounts described under clause
(i)were selected; a description of the extent to which the costs of agreement cancellation are not included in the budget for the agreement; and an assessment of the financial risk of not including budgeting for the costs of agreement cancellation. Not later than 14 days after the date on which written notice is provided under subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall transmit a copy of the notice to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Secretary may enter into a conservation finance agreement pursuant to this section that includes partner services in return for payments by the Secretary in future years that are contingent on the appropriation of funds, subject to the requirement that the Secretary shall pay the partner cancellation costs pursuant to paragraph (1)(B) up to the cancellation ceiling applicable to the agreement if funding for the completion of the agreement is not appropriated.