I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5805 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2008 

Mr. PEARCE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

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. 

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 ‘‘Zeroing In American 

5 Energy Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Establishing a clean energy future requires 

2 new innovative technologies. 

3 (2) Solar energy offers the United States tre4 mendous domestic energy opportunities. 

5 (3) The Southwestern United States is the 

6 Saudi Arabia of solar energy. 

7 (4) The publication Scientific American, in its 

8 January of 2008 issue, theorized a ‘‘Grand Plan for 

9 Solar’’ that suggests theoretically solar power could 

10 provide 69 percent of America’s electricity by 2050. 

11 (5) Establishing a new solar energy future will 

12 require a strong public-private partnership. 

13 SEC. 3. DEVELOPING SOLAR ENERGY ON FEDERAL LANDS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior shall 

15 carry out in accordance with this section a program for 

16 the leasing of Federal lands for the the advancement, de17 velopment, assessment, installation, and operation of com18 mercial photovoltaic and concentrating solar power energy 

19 systems. 

20 (b) IDENTIFICATION OF LANDS FOR LEASING.— 

21 (1) LANDS SELECTION.—The Secretary of the 

22 Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau 

23 of Land Management and in consultation with the 

24 Secretary of Energy, shall— 


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1 (A) identify lease sites comprising a total 

2 of 6,400,000 acres of Federal lands under the 

3 jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management 

4 in the States of Arizona, California, New Mex5 ico, Nevada, and Utah, that are suitable and 

6 feasible for the installation and operation of 

7 photovoltaic and concentrating solar power en8 ergy systems, subject to valid existing rights; 

9 and 

10 (B) incorporate solar energy development 

11 into the relevant agency land use and resource 

12 management plans or equivalent plans for the 

13 lands identified under subparagraph (A). 

14 (2) MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM ACREAGE OF

15 SITES.—Each individual lease site identified under 

16 paragraph (1)(A) shall be a minimum of 1280 acres 

17 and shall not exceed 12,800 acres. 

18 (3) LANDS RELEASED FOR LEASING.—The Sec19 retary shall release for leasing under this section 

20 lease sites identified under paragraph (1), in acre21 ages that meet the following annual milestones: 

22 (A) By 2010, 79,012 acres. 

23 (B) By 2011, 316,049 acres. 

24 (C) By 2012, 711,111 acres. 

25 (D) By 2013, 1,300,000 acres. 


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1 (E) By 2014, 2,000,000 acres. 

2 (F) By 2015, 2,800,000 acres. 

3 (G) By 2016, 3,700,000 acres. 

4 (H) By 2017, 4,650,000 acres. 

5 (I) By 2018, 5,800,000 acres. 

6 (J) By 2019, 6,400,000 acres. 

7 (4) LANDS NOT INCLUDED.—The following 

8 Federal lands shall not be included within a solar 

9 lands leasing program: 

10 (A) Components of the National Land11 scape Conservation System. 

12 (B) Wilderness and Wilderness Study 

13 Areas. 

14 (C) Wild and Scenic Rivers. 

15 (D) National Scenic and Historic Trails. 

16 (E) Monuments. 

17 (F) Resource Natural Areas. 

18 (c) COMPETITIVE LEASE SALE REQUIREMENTS

19 LEASING PROCEDURES.— 

20 (1) NOMINATIONS.—The Secretary shall accept 

21 at any time nominations of land identified under 

22 subsection (b) for leasing under this Act, from any 

23 qualified person. 

24 (2) COMPETITIVE LEASE SALE REQUIRED.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise 

2 specifically provided by this Act, all land to be 

3 leased under this Act that is not subject to leas4 ing under subsection (3) shall be leased to the 

5 highest responsible qualified bidder, as deter6 mined by the Secretary. 

7 (B) ANNUAL SALES REQUIRED.—The Sec8 retary shall hold a competitive lease sale under 

9 this Act at least once every year for land in a 

10 State with respect to which there is a nomina11 tion pending under paragraph (1) of land other12 wise available for leasing. 

13 (3) NONCOMPETITIVE LEASING.—The Secretary 

14 shall make available for a period of 2 years for non15 competitive leasing any tract for which a competitive 

16 lease sale is held under paragraph (2), but for which 

17 the Secretary does not receive any bids in such sale. 

18 (4) PENDING LEASE APPLICATIONS.—It shall 

19 be a priority for the Secretary to ensure timely com20 pletion of administrative actions and process applica21 tions for leasing of Federal lands described in sub22 section (b)(1)(A) for installation and operation of 

23 photovoltaic and concentrating solar power energy 

24 systems, that are pending on the date of enactment 

25 of this subsection. 


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1 (d) LEASING TIME PERIOD.—Any lease of lands 

2 under this section shall be effective for a period of 30 

3 years, with an option to renew once for an additional pe4 riod of 30 years. 

5 SEC. 4. ROYALTY. 

6 (a) RESERVATION OF ROYALTY.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Production of solar energy 

8 under a lease under this Act shall be subject to a 

9 royalty described in paragraph (2), which shall be 

10 assessed and collected by the Secretary of the Inte11 rior, acting through the Minerals Management Serv12 ice. The leaseholder shall be liable for payment of 

13 such royalty. 

14 (2) ROYALTY FOR PROJECTS UNDER THE FED15 ERAL SOLAR LANDS LEASING PROGRAM.—The roy16 alty under paragraph (1) shall be— 

17 (A) 0.25 percent per kw/h on energy pro18 duced undert the lease in years 1 through 5 of 

19 the lease; 

20 (B) 0.5 percent per kw/h on energy pro21 duced under the lease in years 5 through 15 of 

22 the lease; 

23 (C) 1 percent per kw/h on energy produced 

24 under the lease in years 15 through 30 of the 

25 lease; and 


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1 (D) 1 percent per kw/h on energy produced 

2 under the lease after year 30. 

3 (3) REVENUE SHARING.—Of the amount re4 ceived by the United States as royalty under this 

5 subsection for a leased tract— 

6 (A) one-third shall be paid to the State in 

7 which the lands are located; and 

8 (B) one-third shall be paid to the county in 

9 which the lands are located. 

10 (b) DUTIES OF LEASEHOLDERS.— 

11 (1) PAYMENT OF ROYALTY.—A person who is 

12 required to make any royalty payment under this 

13 section shall make such payments to the United 

14 States at such times and in such manner as the Sec15 retary may by rule prescribe. 

16 (2) JOINT AND SEVERABLE LIABILITY.—Any 

17 person liable for royalty payments under this section 

18 who assigns any payment obligation shall remain 

19 jointly and severally liable for all royalty payments 

20 due for the claim for the period. 

21 (3) AFFIRMATION OF PAYMENT RESPONSI22 BILITY.—Any person paying royalties under this sec23 tion shall file a written instrument, together with the 

24 first royalty payment, affirming that such person is 

25 responsible for making proper payments for all 


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1 amounts due for all time periods for which such per2 son has a payment responsibility. Such responsibility 

3 for the periods referred to in the preceding sentence 

4 shall include any and all additional amounts billed 

5 by the Secretary and determined to be due by final 

6 agency or judicial action. 

7 (4) RECORDKEEPING.—Records required by the 

8 Secretary under this section shall be maintained for 

9 7 years after release of financial assurance unless 

10 the Secretary notifies the leaseholder that the Sec11 retary has initiated an audit or investigation involv12 ing such records and that such records must be 

13 maintained for a longer period. In any case when an 

14 audit or investigation is underway, records shall be 

15 maintained until the Secretary releases the operator 

16 of the obligation to maintain such records. 

17 (5) AUDITS.—The Secretary may conduct such 

18 audits of all leaseholders directly or indirectly in19 volved in the production of solar energy on lands 

20 leased under this section as the Secretary considers 

21 necessary for the purposes of ensuring compliance 

22 with the requirements of this section. For purposes 

23 of performing such audits, the Secretary shall, at 

24 reasonable times and upon request, have access to, 

25 and may copy, all books, papers, and other docuVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:53 Apr 18, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5805.IH H5805

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1 ments that relate to compliance with any provision 

2 of this section by any person. 

3 (6) PROVISION OF PROTECTED INFORMA4 TION.—Trade secrets, proprietary, and other con5 fidential information protected from disclosure under 

6 section 552 of title 5, United States Code, popularly 

7 known as the Freedom of Information Act, shall be 

8 made available by the Secretary to other Federal 

9 agencies as necessary to assure compliance with this 

10 Act and other Federal laws. 

11 (7) UNDERREPORTING.— 

12 (A) PENALTY.—If there is any under13 reporting of royalty owed on energy produced 

14 under a lease for any production month by any 

15 person liable for royalty payments under this 

16 section, the Secretary shall assess a penalty of 

17 not greater than 10 percent of the amount of 

18 that underreporting. 

19 (B) WAIVER OR REDUCTION AUTHOR20 IZED.—The Secretary may waive or reduce a 

21 penalty assessed under this paragraph if the 

22 person liable for royalty payments under this 

23 section corrects the underreporting before the 

24 date such person receives notice from the Sec25 retary that an underreporting may have ocVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:53 Apr 18, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5805.IH H5805

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1 curred, or before 90 days after the date of the 

2 enactment of this section, whichever is later. 

3 (C) WAIVER REQUIRED.—The Secretary 

4 shall waive any portion of an assessment under 

5 this paragraph attributable to that portion of 

6 the underreporting for which the person respon7 sible for paying the royalty demonstrates that— 

8 (i) such person had written authoriza9 tion from the Secretary to report royalty 

10 on the value of the production on basis on 

11 which it was reported; 

12 (ii) such person had substantial au13 thority for reporting royalty on the value 

14 of the production on the basis on which it 

15 was reported; 

16 (iii) such person previously had noti17 fied the Secretary, in such manner as the 

18 Secretary may by rule prescribe, of rel19 evant reasons or facts affecting the royalty 

20 treatment of specific production which led 

21 to the underreporting; or 

22 (iv) such person meets any other ex23 ception which the Secretary may, by rule, 

24 establish. 


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1 (D) TREATMENT AS FEDERAL SHARE.— 

2 Subsection (b)(4) shall not apply to penalties 

3 received by the United States under this para4 graph. 

5 (E) UNDERREPORTING DEFINED.—For the 

6 purposes of this subsection, the term ‘‘under7 reporting’’ means the difference between the 

8 royalty on the value of the production that 

9 should have been reported and the royalty on 

10 the value of the production that was reported, 

11 if the value that should have been reported is 

12 greater than the value that was reported. 

13 SEC. 5. PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATE14 MENT. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 

16 the date of enactment of this Act, in accordance with sec17 tion 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act 

18 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)), the Secretary of the Inte19 rior shall complete a programmatic environmental impact 

20 statement for the solar leasing program under section 3. 

21 (b) FINAL REGULATION.—Not later than 6 months 

22 after the completion of the programmatic environmental 

23 impact statement under this section, the Secretary shall 

24 publish a final regulation implementing this section. 


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1 SEC. 6. STUDY. 

2 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

3 of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall complete 

4 a study of— 

5 (1) Federal lands available for possible consid6 eration of leasing for a compressed air energy stor7 age system; 

8 (2) barriers to additional access to Federal 

9 lands for transimission of energy produced under 

10 leases awarded under the solar energy leasing pro11 gram under this Act; and 

12 (3) the need for energy transmission corridors 

13 on public lands to address identified congestion or 

14 constraints. 

Æ 


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