To establish a new solar energy future for America through public-private partnership and energy leasing for reliable and affordable energy for the American people, and for other purposes.

Summary: Zeroing In American Energy Act of 2008 - Requires the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a program for the leasing of federal lands for the advancement, development, assessment, installation, and operation of commercial photovoltaic and concentrating solar power energy systems.

Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, to: (1) identify lease sites comprising 6.4 million acres of federal lands under BLM jurisdiction in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah that are suitable and feasible for the installation and operation of such energy systems; and (2) incorporate solar energy development into the relevant agency land use and resource management plans or equivalent plans for such identified sites.

Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) the size of such sites; (2) annual milestones for the number of acres of sites to be leased by each of the years 2010-2019; and (3) the collection and payment of royalties from projects under such program.

Prohibits the following federal lands from being included within such program: (1) Components of the National Landscape Conservation System; (2) Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas; (3) Wild and Scenic Rivers; (4) National Scenic and Historic Trails; (5) Monuments; and (6) Resource Natural Areas.

Requires the Secretary to complete: (1) a programmatic environmental impact statement for such program prior to implementing it; and (2) a study of federal lands available for a compressed air energy storage system, barriers to access to federal lands for transmission of energy produced under the program, and the need for energy transmission corridors on public lands.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Zeroing In American Energy Act of 
2008''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Establishing a clean energy future requires new 
        innovative technologies.
            (2) Solar energy offers the United States tremendous 
        domestic energy opportunities.
            (3) The Southwestern United States is the Saudi Arabia of 
        solar energy.
            (4) The publication Scientific American, in its January of 
        2008 issue, theorized a ``Grand Plan for Solar'' that suggests 
        theoretically solar power could provide 69 percent of America's 
        electricity by 2050.
            (5) Establishing a new solar energy future will require a 
        strong public-private partnership.

SEC. 3. DEVELOPING SOLAR ENERGY ON FEDERAL LANDS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior shall carry out in 
accordance with this section a program for the leasing of Federal lands 
for the the advancement, development, assessment, installation, and 
operation of commercial photovoltaic and concentrating solar power 
energy systems.
    (b) Identification of Lands for Leasing.--
            (1) Lands selection.--The Secretary of the Interior, acting 
        through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management and in 
        consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall--
                    (A) identify lease sites comprising a total of 
                6,400,000 acres of Federal lands under the jurisdiction 
                of the Bureau of Land Management in the States of 
                Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah, that 
                are suitable and feasible for the installation and 
                operation of photovoltaic and concentrating solar power 
                energy systems, subject to valid existing rights; and
                    (B) incorporate solar energy development into the 
                relevant agency land use and resource management plans 
                or equivalent plans for the lands identified under 
                subparagraph (A).
            (2) Minimum and maximum acreage of sites.--Each individual 
        lease site identified under paragraph (1)(A) shall be a minimum 
        of 1280 acres and shall not exceed 12,800 acres.
            (3) Lands released for leasing.--The Secretary shall 
        release for leasing under this section lease sites identified 
        under paragraph (1), in acreages that meet the following annual 
        milestones:
                    (A) By 2010, 79,012 acres.
                    (B) By 2011, 316,049 acres.
                    (C) By 2012, 711,111 acres.
                    (D) By 2013, 1,300,000 acres.
                    (E) By 2014, 2,000,000 acres.
                    (F) By 2015, 2,800,000 acres.
                    (G) By 2016, 3,700,000 acres.
                    (H) By 2017, 4,650,000 acres.
                    (I) By 2018, 5,800,000 acres.
                    (J) By 2019, 6,400,000 acres.
            (4) Lands not included.--The following Federal lands shall 
        not be included within a solar lands leasing program:
                    (A) Components of the National Landscape 
                Conservation System.
                    (B) Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas.
                    (C) Wild and Scenic Rivers.
                    (D) National Scenic and Historic Trails.
                    (E) Monuments.
                    (F) Resource Natural Areas.
    (c) Competitive Lease Sale Requirements Leasing Procedures.--
            (1) Nominations.--The Secretary shall accept at any time 
        nominations of land identified under subsection (b) for leasing 
        under this Act, from any qualified person.
            (2) Competitive lease sale required.--
                    (A) In general.--Except as otherwise specifically 
                provided by this Act, all land to be leased under this 
                Act that is not subject to leasing under subsection (3) 
                shall be leased to the highest responsible qualified 
                bidder, as determined by the Secretary.
                    (B) Annual sales required.--The Secretary shall 
                hold a competitive lease sale under this Act at least 
                once every year for land in a State with respect to 
                which there is a nomination pending under paragraph (1) 
                of land otherwise available for leasing.
            (3) Noncompetitive leasing.--The Secretary shall make 
        available for a period of 2 years for noncompetitive leasing 
        any tract for which a competitive lease sale is held under 
        paragraph (2), but for which the Secretary does not receive any 
        bids in such sale.
            (4) Pending lease applications.--It shall be a priority for 
        the Secretary to ensure timely completion of administrative 
        actions and process applications for leasing of Federal lands 
        described in subsection (b)(1)(A) for installation and 
        operation of photovoltaic and concentrating solar power energy 
        systems, that are pending on the date of enactment of this 
        subsection.
    (d) Leasing Time Period.--Any lease of lands under this section 
shall be effective for a period of 30 years, with an option to renew 
once for an additional period of 30 years.

SEC. 4. ROYALTY.

    (a) Reservation of Royalty.--
            (1) In general.--Production of solar energy under a lease 
        under this Act shall be subject to a royalty described in 
        paragraph (2), which shall be assessed and collected by the 
        Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Minerals 
        Management Service. The leaseholder shall be liable for payment 
        of such royalty.
            (2) Royalty for projects under the federal solar lands 
        leasing program.--The royalty under paragraph (1) shall be--
                    (A) 0.25 percent per kw/h on energy produced undert 
                the lease in years 1 through 5 of the lease;
                    (B) 0.5 percent per kw/h on energy produced under 
                the lease in years 5 through 15 of the lease;
                    (C) 1 percent per kw/h on energy produced under the 
                lease in years 15 through 30 of the lease; and
                    (D) 1 percent per kw/h on energy produced under the 
                lease after year 30.
            (3) Revenue sharing.--Of the amount received by the United 
        States as royalty under this subsection for a leased tract--
                    (A) one-third shall be paid to the State in which 
                the lands are located; and
                    (B) one-third shall be paid to the county in which 
                the lands are located.
    (b) Duties of Leaseholders.--
            (1) Payment of royalty.--A person who is required to make 
        any royalty payment under this section shall make such payments 
        to the United States at such times and in such manner as the 
        Secretary may by rule prescribe.
            (2) Joint and severable liability.--Any person liable for 
        royalty payments under this section who assigns any payment 
        obligation shall remain jointly and severally liable for all 
        royalty payments due for the claim for the period.
            (3) Affirmation of payment responsibility.--Any person 
        paying royalties under this section shall file a written 
        instrument, together with the first royalty payment, affirming 
        that such person is responsible for making proper payments for 
        all amounts due for all time periods for which such person has 
        a payment responsibility. Such responsibility for the periods 
        referred to in the preceding sentence shall include any and all 
        additional amounts billed by the Secretary and determined to be 
        due by final agency or judicial action.
            (4) Recordkeeping.--Records required by the Secretary under 
        this section shall be maintained for 7 years after release of 
        financial assurance unless the Secretary notifies the 
        leaseholder that the Secretary has initiated an audit or 
        investigation involving such records and that such records must 
        be maintained for a longer period. In any case when an audit or 
        investigation is underway, records shall be maintained until 
        the Secretary releases the operator of the obligation to 
        maintain such records.
            (5) Audits.--The Secretary may conduct such audits of all 
        leaseholders directly or indirectly involved in the production 
        of solar energy on lands leased under this section as the 
        Secretary considers necessary for the purposes of ensuring 
        compliance with the requirements of this section. For purposes 
        of performing such audits, the Secretary shall, at reasonable 
        times and upon request, have access to, and may copy, all 
        books, papers, and other documents that relate to compliance 
        with any provision of this section by any person.
            (6) Provision of protected information.--Trade secrets, 
        proprietary, and other confidential information protected from 
        disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 
        popularly known as the Freedom of Information Act, shall be 
        made available by the Secretary to other Federal agencies as 
        necessary to assure compliance with this Act and other Federal 
        laws.
            (7) Underreporting.--
                    (A) Penalty.--If there is any underreporting of 
                royalty owed on energy produced under a lease for any 
                production month by any person liable for royalty 
                payments under this section, the Secretary shall assess 
                a penalty of not greater than 10 percent of the amount 
                of that underreporting.
                    (B) Waiver or reduction authorized.--The Secretary 
                may waive or reduce a penalty assessed under this 
                paragraph if the person liable for royalty payments 
                under this section corrects the underreporting before 
                the date such person receives notice from the Secretary 
                that an underreporting may have occurred, or before 90 
                days after the date of the enactment of this section, 
                whichever is later.
                    (C) Waiver required.--The Secretary shall waive any 
                portion of an assessment under this paragraph 
                attributable to that portion of the underreporting for 
                which the person responsible for paying the royalty 
                demonstrates that--
                            (i) such person had written authorization 
                        from the Secretary to report royalty on the 
                        value of the production on basis on which it 
                        was reported;
                            (ii) such person had substantial authority 
                        for reporting royalty on the value of the 
                        production on the basis on which it was 
                        reported;
                            (iii) such person previously had notified 
                        the Secretary, in such manner as the Secretary 
                        may by rule prescribe, of relevant reasons or 
                        facts affecting the royalty treatment of 
                        specific production which led to the 
                        underreporting; or
                            (iv) such person meets any other exception 
                        which the Secretary may, by rule, establish.
                    (D) Treatment as federal share.--Subsection (b)(4) 
                shall not apply to penalties received by the United 
                States under this paragraph.
                    (E) Underreporting defined.--For the purposes of 
                this subsection, the term ``underreporting'' means the 
                difference between the royalty on the value of the 
                production that should have been reported and the 
                royalty on the value of the production that was 
                reported, if the value that should have been reported 
                is greater than the value that was reported.

SEC. 5. PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, in accordance with section 102(2)(C) of the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)), the 
Secretary of the Interior shall complete a programmatic environmental 
impact statement for the solar leasing program under section 3.
    (b) Final Regulation.--Not later than 6 months after the completion 
of the programmatic environmental impact statement under this section, 
the Secretary shall publish a final regulation implementing this 
section.

SEC. 6. STUDY.

    Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of the Interior shall complete a study of--
            (1) Federal lands available for possible consideration of 
        leasing for a compressed air energy storage system;
            (2) barriers to additional access to Federal lands for 
        transimission of energy produced under leases awarded under the 
        solar energy leasing program under this Act; and
            (3) the need for energy transmission corridors on public 
        lands to address identified congestion or constraints.