Sec. 103. 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 carry out a conservation finance project 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 supply sufficient to support a conservation finance agreement of— small-diameter material; or other hazardous fuels, the removal of which would reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire. The use of the conservation finance agreement will assist in achieving the purpose described in section 102. The project involves a conservation finance project developer. 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 not be used to enter into more than 20 conservation finance agreements; may be used for the obligation under conservation finance agreements of— during the 10-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, not more than $250,000,000 in the aggregate; and not more than $50,000,000 for any 1 conservation finance agreement; and may not be used to reimburse for interest paid to any other entity providing funds for the applicable conservation finance project. In entering into conservation finance agreements under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to projects described in that subsection that are based on restoration strategies addressing larger landscapes, particularly landscapes of 100,000 acres or more. 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 or termination provision as 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 payment of the costs of cancellation or termination. The Secretary may include cancellation or termination 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 or termination provisions described in subparagraph
(A)may include consideration of the recurring and nonrecurring costs of the conservation finance project developer 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 related to the Federal share of the costs under 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 cancellation or termination costs in excess of $25,000,000, but does not include proposed funding for the costs of cancelling or terminating the agreement up to the maximum cancellation or termination costs in the agreement, 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 or termination cost amounts proposed for each program year in the agreement; the reasons why the cancellation or termination cost amounts described under clause
(i)were selected; a description of the extent to which the costs of agreement cancellation or termination 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 or termination. 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 conservation finance project developer 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 conservation finance project developer the Federal share of the cancellation or termination costs under the agreement pursuant to paragraph (1)(B) up to the limitation on cancellation or termination costs applicable to the agreement if funding for the completion of the agreement is not appropriated. The non-Federal share of the costs of implementing a conservation finance agreement carried out using amounts made available under this title shall be not less than 40 percent of the costs of implementing the conservation finance agreement, of which, subject to paragraph (2)— up to 50 percent may be reimbursed by the Forest Service, subject to the availability of appropriations and subsections (c)(3) and (e); and not less than 50 percent shall be covered by non-Federal funding, which may include in-kind contributions. In the case of a conservation finance project that the Secretary determines would primarily benefit 1 or more low-income communities and for which the non-Federal entities involved cannot meet the cost share requirement under paragraph (1)— subparagraph
(A)of that paragraph shall be applied by substituting 75 percent for 50 percent ; and subparagraph
(B)of that paragraph shall be applied by substituting 25 percent for 50 percent . Nothing in this subsection limits additional non-Federal financing or funding for a conservation finance project above the 40 percent minimum non-Federal cost share described in paragraph (1). A conservation finance agreement developed under this section may incorporate the authorities provided to the Secretary and the Chief of the Forest Service to enter into stewardship contracting projects under section 604 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 ( 16 U.S.C. 6591c ).
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Sec. 103
Conservation finance agreements
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