I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8954 

To promote the development of renewable energy on public lands, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2024 

Mr. GOSAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To promote the development of renewable energy on public 

lands, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Land Renew5 able Energy Development Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

7 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 


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Sec. 4. Limited grandfathering. 

Sec. 5. Disposition of revenues. 

1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 

4 means land that is— 

5 (A) Federal land administered by the Sec6 retary; and 

7 (B) not excluded from the development of 

8 geothermal, solar, or wind energy under— 

9 (i) a land use plan; or 

10 (ii) other Federal law. 

11 (2) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 

12 means— 

13 (A) public lands; and 

14 (B) lands of the National Forest System 

15 as described in section 11(a) of the Forest and 

16 Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 

17 of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 

18 (3) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the Re19 newable Energy Resource Conservation Fund estab20 lished by section 5(c)(1). 

21 (4) RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT.—The term 

22 ‘‘renewable energy project’’ means a project carried 

23 out on covered land that uses wind, solar, or geo24 thermal energy to generate energy. 


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1 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of the Interior. 

3 SEC. 4. LIMITED GRANDFATHERING. 

4 (a) DEFINITION OF PROJECT.—In this section, the 

5 term ‘‘project’’ means a system described in section 

6 2801.9(a)(4) of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations (as 

7 in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act). 

8 (b) REQUIREMENT TO PAY RENTS AND FEES.—Un9 less otherwise agreed to by the owner of a project, the 

10 owner of a project that applied for a right-of-way under 

11 section 501 of the Federal Land Policy and Management 

12 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1761) on or before December 19, 

13 2016, shall be obligated to pay with respect to the right14 of-way all rents and fees in effect before the effective date 

15 of the rule of the Bureau of Land Management entitled 

16 ‘‘Competitive Processes, Terms, and Conditions for Leas17 ing Public Lands for Solar and Wind Energy Development 

18 and Technical Changes and Corrections’’ (81 Fed. Reg. 

19 92122 (December 19, 2016)). 

20 SEC. 5. DISPOSITION OF REVENUES. 

21 (a) DISPOSITION OF REVENUES.— 

22 (1) AVAILABILITY.—Except as provided in 

23 paragraph (2), beginning on January 1, 2025, of 

24 amounts collected from a wind or solar project as 

25 bonus bids, rentals, fees, or other payments under a 


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1 right-of-way, permit, lease, or other authorization 

2 the following shall be made available, without fur3 ther appropriation or fiscal year limitation, as fol4 lows: 

5 (A) Twenty-five percent shall be paid by 

6 the Secretary of the Treasury to the State with7 in the boundaries of which the revenue is de8 rived. 

9 (B) Twenty-five percent shall be paid by 

10 the Secretary of the Treasury to the one or 

11 more counties within the boundaries of which 

12 the revenue is derived, to be allocated among 

13 the counties based on the percentage of land 

14 from which the revenue is derived. 

15 (C) Twenty-five percent shall be deposited 

16 in the Treasury and be made available to the 

17 Secretary to carry out the program established 

18 under this Act, including the transfer of the 

19 funds by the Bureau of Land Management to 

20 other Federal agencies and State agencies to fa21 cilitate the processing of renewable energy per22 mits on Federal land, with priority given to 

23 using the amounts, to the maximum extent 

24 practicable without detrimental impacts to 

25 emerging markets, to expediting the issuance of 


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1 permits required for the development of renew2 able energy projects in the States from which 

3 the revenues are derived. 

4 (D) Twenty-five percent shall be deposited 

5 in the Renewable Energy Resource Conserva6 tion Fund established by subsection (c). 

7 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

8 apply to the following: 

9 (A) Amounts collected under section 

10 504(g) of the Federal Land Policy and Manage11 ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1764(g)). 

12 (B) Amounts deposited into the National 

13 Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration 

14 Fund under section 200402(b) of title 54, 

15 United States Code. 

16 (b) PAYMENTS TO STATES AND COUNTIES.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts paid to States and 

18 counties under subsection (a)(1) shall be used con19 sistent with section 35 of the Mineral Leasing Act 

20 (30 U.S.C. 191). 

21 (2) PAYMENTS IN LIEU OF TAXES.—A payment 

22 to a county under paragraph (1) shall be in addition 

23 to a payment in lieu of taxes received by the county 

24 under chapter 69 of title 31, United States Code. 


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1 (c) RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCE CONSERVATION

2 FUND.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

4 Treasury a fund to be known as the Renewable En5 ergy Resource Conservation Fund, which shall be 

6 administered by the Secretary, in consultation with 

7 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

8 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—The Secretary may make 

9 amounts in the Fund available to Federal, State, 

10 local, and Tribal agencies to be distributed in re11 gions in which renewable energy projects are located 

12 on Federal land. Such amounts may be used to— 

13 (A) restore and protect— 

14 (i) fish and wildlife habitat for af15 fected species; 

16 (ii) fish and wildlife corridors for af17 fected species; and 

18 (iii) wetlands, streams, rivers, and 

19 other natural water bodies in areas af20 fected by wind, geothermal, or solar energy 

21 development; and 

22 (B) preserve and improve recreational ac23 cess to Federal land and water in an affected 

24 region through an easement, right-of-way, or 

25 other instrument from willing landowners for 


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1 the purpose of enhancing public access to exist2 ing Federal land and water that is inaccessible 

3 or restricted. 

4 (3) PARTNERSHIPS.—The Secretary may enter 

5 into cooperative agreements with State and Tribal 

6 agencies, nonprofit organizations, and other appro7 priate entities to carry out the activities described in 

8 paragraph (2). 

9 (4) INVESTMENT OF FUND.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Amounts deposited in 

11 the Fund shall earn interest in an amount de12 termined by the Secretary of the Treasury on 

13 the basis of the current average market yield on 

14 outstanding marketable obligations of the 

15 United States of comparable maturities. 

16 (B) USE.—Interest earned under subpara17 graph (A) may be expended in accordance with 

18 this subsection. 

19 (5) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—At the end of each 

20 fiscal year, the Secretary shall submit a report to 

21 the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 

22 of Representatives and the Committee on Energy 

23 and Natural Resources of the Senate that includes 

24 a description of— 


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1 (A) the amount collected as described in 

2 subsection (a), by source, during that fiscal 

3 year; 

4 (B) the amount and purpose of payments 

5 during that fiscal year to each Federal, State, 

6 local, and Tribal agency under paragraph (2); 

7 and 

8 (C) the amount remaining in the Fund at 

9 the end of the fiscal year. 

10 (6) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—It is the intent of 

11 Congress that the revenues deposited and used in 

12 the Fund shall supplement (and not supplant) an13 nual appropriations for activities described in para14 graph (2). 

Æ 


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