I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2358 

To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to enhance 

the reliability of the electricity grid and reduce the threat of wildfires 

to and from electric transmission and distribution facilities on Federal 

lands by facilitating vegetation management on such lands. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 15, 2015 

Mr. ZINKE (for himself and Mr. SCHRADER) 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 amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 

of 1976 to enhance the reliability of the electricity grid 

and reduce the threat of wildfires to and from electric 

transmission and distribution facilities on Federal lands 

by facilitating vegetation management on such lands. 

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 ‘‘Electricity Reliability 

5 and Forest Protection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, FACILITY INSPECTION, 

2 AND OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE ON 

3 FEDERAL LANDS CONTAINING ELECTRIC 

4 TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION FACILI5 TIES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Federal Land Pol7 icy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1761 et seq.) 

8 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 512. VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, FACILITY INSPEC10 TION AND OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE 

11 RELATING TO ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION AND 

12 DISTRIBUTION FACILITY RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 

13 ‘‘(a) GENERAL DIRECTION.—In order to enhance the 

14 reliability of the electricity grid and reduce the threat of 

15 wildfires to and from electric transmission and distribu16 tion rights-of-way and related facilities and adjacent prop17 erty, the Secretary, with respect to public lands and other 

18 lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary, and the Sec19 retary of Agriculture, with respect to National Forest Sys20 tem lands, shall provide direction to ensure that all exist21 ing and future rights-of-way, however established (includ22 ing by grant, special use authorization, and easement), for 

23 electrical transmission and distribution facilities on such 

24 lands include provisions for utility vegetation manage25 ment, facility inspection, and operation and maintenance 

26 activities that, while consistent with applicable law— 


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1 ‘‘(1) are developed in consultation with the 

2 holder of the right-of-way; 

3 ‘‘(2) enable the owner or operator of a facility 

4 to operate and maintain the facility in good working 

5 order and to comply with Federal, State and local 

6 electric system reliability and fire safety require7 ments, including reliability standards established by 

8 the North American Electric Reliability Corporation 

9 and plans to meet such reliability standards; 

10 ‘‘(3) minimize the need for case-by-case or an11 nual approvals for— 

12 ‘‘(A) routine vegetation management, facil13 ity inspection, and operation and maintenance 

14 activities within existing electrical transmission 

15 and distribution rights-of-way; and 

16 ‘‘(B) utility vegetation management activi17 ties that are necessary to control danger trees 

18 within or adjacent to electrical transmission and 

19 distribution rights-of-way; and 

20 ‘‘(4) when review is required, provide for expe21 dited review and approval of utility vegetation man22 agement, facility inspection, and operation and 

23 maintenance activities, especially activities requiring 

24 prompt action to avoid an adverse impact on human 

25 safety or electric reliability to avoid fire hazards. 


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1 ‘‘(b) VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, FACILITY INSPEC2 TION AND OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE PLANS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT AND SUBMISSION.—Con4 sistent with subsection (a), the Secretary and the 

5 Secretary of Agriculture shall provide owners and 

6 operators of electric transmission and distribution 

7 facilities located on lands described in such sub8 section with the option to develop and submit a 

9 vegetation management, facility inspection, and op10 eration and maintenance plan, that at each owner or 

11 operator’s transmission discretion may cover some or 

12 all of the owner or operator’s transmission and dis13 tribution rights-of-way on Federal lands, for ap14 proval to the Secretary with jurisdiction over the 

15 lands. A plan under this paragraph shall enable the 

16 owner or operator of a facility, at a minimum, to 

17 comply with applicable Federal, State, and local elec18 tric system reliability and fire safety requirements, 

19 as provided in subsection (a)(2). The Secretaries 

20 shall not have the authority to modify those require21 ments. 

22 ‘‘(2) REVIEW AND APPROVAL PROCESS.—The 

23 Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture shall 

24 jointly develop a consolidated and coordinated proc25 ess for review and approval of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) vegetation management, facility in2 spection, and operation and maintenance plans 

3 submitted under paragraph (1) that— 

4 ‘‘(i) assures prompt review and ap5 proval not to exceed 30 days; 

6 ‘‘(ii) includes timelines and bench7 marks for approval of such plans; 

8 ‘‘(iii) is consistent with applicable law; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(iv) minimizes the costs of the proc11 ess to the reviewing agency and the entity 

12 submitting the plans; and 

13 ‘‘(B) amendments to the plans in a prompt 

14 manner if changed conditions necessitate a 

15 modification to a plan. 

16 ‘‘(3) NOTIFICATION.—The review and approval 

17 process under paragraph (2) shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) include notification by the agency of 

19 any changed conditions that warrant a modi20 fication to a plan; 

21 ‘‘(B) provide an opportunity for the owner 

22 or operator to submit a proposed plan amend23 ment to address directly the changed condition; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(C) allow the owner or operator to con2 tinue to implement those elements of the ap3 proved plan that do not directly and adversely 

4 affect the condition precipitating the need for 

5 modification. 

6 ‘‘(4) CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION PROCESS.—The 

7 Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture shall 

8 apply his or her categorical exclusion process under 

9 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

10 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to plans developed under this 

11 subsection on existing transmission and distribution 

12 rights-of-way under this subsection. 

13 ‘‘(5) IMPLEMENTATION.—A plan approved 

14 under this subsection shall become part of the au15 thorization governing the covered right-of-way and 

16 danger trees adjacent to the right-of-way. If a vege17 tation management plan is proposed for an existing 

18 transmission and distribution facility concurrent 

19 with the siting of a new transmission or distribution 

20 facility, necessary reviews shall be completed as part 

21 of the siting process or sooner. Once the plan is ap22 proved, the owner or operator shall provide the agen23 cy with only a notification of activities anticipated to 

24 be undertaken in the coming year, a description of 


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1 those activities, and certification that the activities 

2 are in accordance with the plan. 

3 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

4 ‘‘(A) VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, FACIL5 ITY INSPECTION AND OPERATION AND MAINTE6 NANCE PLAN.—The term ‘vegetation manage7 ment, facility inspection and operation and 

8 maintenance plan’ means a plan that— 

9 ‘‘(i) is prepared by the owner or oper10 ator of one or more electrical transmission 

11 or distribution facilities to cover one or 

12 more electric transmission and distribution 

13 rights-of-way; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) provides for the long-term, cost15 effective, efficient and timely management 

16 of facilities and vegetation within the width 

17 of the right-of-way and adjacent Federal 

18 lands to enhance electricity reliability, pro19 mote public safety, and avoid fire hazards. 

20 ‘‘(B) OWNER OR OPERATOR.—The terms 

21 ‘owner’ and ‘operator’ include contractors or 

22 other agents engaged by the owner or operator 

23 of a facility. 

24 ‘‘(C) DANGER TREE.—The term ‘danger 

25 tree’ means any tree inside the right-of-way or 


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1 located outside the right-of-way that would 

2 come within 10 feet or less of an electric power 

3 line or related structure if it fell. 

4 ‘‘(c) RESPONSE TO EMERGENCY CONDITIONS.—If 

5 vegetation on Federal lands within, or danger trees adja6 cent to, an electrical transmission or distribution right7 of-way granted by the Secretary or the Secretary of Agri8 culture has contacted or is in imminent danger of con9 tacting one or more electric transmission or distribution 

10 lines, the owner or operator of the transmission or dis11 tribution lines— 

12 ‘‘(1) may prune or remove the vegetation to 

13 avoid the disruption of electric service and risk of 

14 fire; and 

15 ‘‘(2) shall notify the appropriate local agent of 

16 the relevant Secretary not later than 24 hours after 

17 such removal. 

18 ‘‘(d) COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE RELIABILITY

19 AND SAFETY STANDARDS.—If vegetation on Federal 

20 lands within or adjacent to an electrical transmission or 

21 distribution right-of-way under the jurisdiction of each 

22 Secretary does not meet clearance requirements under 

23 standards established by the North American Electric Re24 liability Corporation, or by State and local authorities, and 

25 the Secretary having jurisdiction over the lands has failed 


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1 to act to allow a transmission or distribution facility owner 

2 or operator to conduct vegetation management activities 

3 within 3 business days after receiving a request to allow 

4 such activities, the owner or operator may, after notifying 

5 the Secretary, conduct such vegetation management ac6 tivities to meet those clearance requirements. 

7 ‘‘(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary or 

8 Secretary of Agriculture shall report requests and actions 

9 made under subsections (c) and (d) annually on each Sec10 retary’s website. 

11 ‘‘(f) LIABILITY.—If the Secretary or the Secretary of 

12 Agriculture fails to authorize a transmission or distribu13 tion facility owner or operator to manage vegetation on 

14 Federal lands under the Secretary’s jurisdiction within or 

15 adjacent to a transmission or distribution right-of-way in 

16 order to comply with Federal, State, or local electric sys17 tem reliability and fire safety requirements, including reli18 ability standards established by the North American Elec19 tric Reliability Corporation and the vegetation causes or 

20 contributes to wildfire damage, loss, or injury, the owner 

21 or operator of the facility involved shall not be liable to 

22 the United States or other parties directly, through indem23 nification, or otherwise for such damage, loss, or injury, 

24 including for the cost of fire suppression. 


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1 ‘‘(g) TRAINING AND GUIDANCE.—In consultation 

2 with the electric utility industry, the Secretary and the 

3 Secretary of Agriculture are encouraged to develop a pro4 gram to train personnel of the Department of the Interior 

5 and the Forest Service involved in vegetation management 

6 decisions relating to transmission and distribution facili7 ties to ensure that such personnel— 

8 ‘‘(1) understand electric system reliability and 

9 fire safety requirements, including reliability stand10 ards established by the North American Electric Re11 liability Corporation; and 

12 ‘‘(2) assist owners and operators of trans13 mission and distribution facilities to comply with ap14 plicable electric reliability and fire safety require15 ments. 

16 ‘‘(h) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of the Inte17 rior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) not later than one year after the date of 

19 the enactment of this section, prescribe regulations, 

20 or amend existing regulations, to implement this sec21 tion; and 

22 ‘‘(2) not later than two years after the date of 

23 the enactment of this section, finalize regulations, or 

24 amend existing regulations, to implement this sec25 tion. 


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1 ‘‘(i) EXISTING VEGETATIVE MANAGEMENT, FACIL2 ITY INSPECTION AND OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE

3 PLANS.—Nothing in this section requires an owner or op4 erator to develop and submit a vegetative management, 

5 facility inspection, and operation and maintenance plan if 

6 one has already been approved by the Secretary or Sec7 retary of Agriculture before the date of the enactment of 

8 this section.’’. 

Æ 


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