II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1511 

To promote the development and use of marine and hydrokinetic renewable 

energy technologies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 24, 2007 

Mr. AKAKA (for himself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, and Ms. SNOWE) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To promote the development and use of marine and 

hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies, 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 ‘‘Marine and 

5 Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 

7 For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘marine and 

8 hydrokinetic renewable energy’’ means electrical energy 

9 from— 


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1 (1) waves, tides, and currents in oceans, estu2 aries, and tidal areas; 

3 (2) free flowing water in rivers, lakes, and 

4 streams; 

5 (3) free flowing water in man-made channels, 

6 including projects that utilize nonmechanical struc7 tures to accelerate the flow of water for electric 

8 power production purposes; and 

9 (4) differentials in ocean temperature (ocean 

10 thermal energy conversion). 

11 The term shall not include energy from any source that 

12 utilizes a dam, diversionary structure, or impoundment for 

13 electric power purposes, except as provided in paragraph 

14 (3). 

15 SEC. 3. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. 

16 (a) PROGRAM.—The Secretary of Energy, in con17 sultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the Sec18 retary of the Interior, shall establish a program of marine 

19 and hydrokinetic renewable energy research focused on— 

20 (1) developing and demonstrating marine and 

21 hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies; 

22 (2) reducing the manufacturing and operation 

23 costs of marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy 

24 technologies; 


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1 (3) increasing the reliability and survivability of 

2 marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy facilities; 

3 (4) integrating marine and hydrokinetic renew4 able energy into electric grids; 

5 (5) identifying opportunities for cross fertiliza6 tion and development of economies of scale between 

7 offshore wind and marine and hydrokinetic renew8 able energy sources; 

9 (6) identifying, in consultation with the Sec10 retary of Commerce and the Secretary of the Inte11 rior, the environmental impacts of marine and 

12 hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies and ways 

13 to address adverse impacts, and providing public in14 formation concerning technologies and other means 

15 available for monitoring and determining environ16 mental impacts; and 

17 (7) standards development, demonstration, and 

18 technology transfer for advanced systems engineer19 ing and system integration methods to identify crit20 ical interfaces. 

21 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

22 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of En23 ergy for carrying out this section $50,000,000 for each 

24 of the fiscal years 2008 through 2017. 


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1 SEC. 4. ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL 

2 FUND. 

3 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 

4 (1) the use of marine and hydrokinetic renew5 able energy technologies can avoid contributions to 

6 global warming gases, and such technologies can be 

7 produced domestically; 

8 (2) marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy 

9 is a nascent industry; and 

10 (3) the United States must work to promote 

11 new renewable energy technologies that reduce con12 tributions to global warming gases and improve our 

13 country’s domestic energy production in a manner 

14 that is consistent with environmental protection, 

15 recreation, and other public values. 

16 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Energy 

17 shall establish an Adaptive Management and Environ18 mental Fund, and shall lend amounts from that fund to 

19 entities described in subsection (f) to cover the costs of 

20 projects that produce marine and hydrokinetic renewable 

21 energy. Such costs include design, fabrication, deploy22 ment, operation, monitoring, and decommissioning costs. 

23 Loans under this section may be subordinate to project24 related loans provided by commercial lending institutions 

25 to the extent the Secretary of Energy considers appro26 priate. 


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1 (c) REASONABLE ACCESS.—As a condition of receiv2 ing a loan under this section, a recipient shall provide rea3 sonable access, to Federal or State agencies and other re4 search institutions as the Secretary considers appropriate, 

5 to the project area and facilities for the purposes of inde6 pendent environmental research. 

7 (d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The results of any as8 sessment or demonstration paid for, in whole or in part, 

9 with funds provided under this section shall be made avail10 able to the public, except to the extent that they contain 

11 information that is protected from disclosure under sec12 tion 552(b) of title 5, United States Code. 

13 (e) REPAYMENT OF LOANS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy 

15 shall require a recipient of a loan under this section 

16 to repay the loan, plus interest at a rate of 2.1 per17 cent per year, over a period not to exceed 20 years, 

18 beginning after the commercial generation of electric 

19 power from the project commences. Such repayment 

20 shall be required at a rate that takes into account 

21 the economic viability of the loan recipient and en22 sures regular and timely repayment of the loan. 

23 (2) BEGINNING OF REPAYMENT PERIOD.—No 

24 repayments shall be required under this subsection 

25 until after the project generates net proceeds. For 


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1 purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘‘net proceeds’’ 

2 means proceeds from the commercial sale of elec3 tricity after payment of project-related costs, includ4 ing taxes and regulatory fees that have not been 

5 paid using funds from a loan provided for the 

6 project under this section. 

7 (3) TERMINATION.—Repayment of a loan made 

8 under this section shall terminate as of the date that 

9 the project for which the loan was provided ceases 

10 commercial generation of electricity if a govern11 mental permitting authority has ordered the closure 

12 of the facility because of a finding that the project 

13 has unacceptable adverse environmental impacts, ex14 cept that the Secretary shall require a loan recipient 

15 to continue making loan repayments for the cost of 

16 equipment, obtained using funds from the loan that 

17 have not otherwise been repaid under rules estab18 lished by the Secretary, that is utilized in a subse19 quent project for the commercial generation of elec20 tricity. 

21 (f) ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN.—In order to re22 ceive a loan under this section, an applicant for a Federal 

23 license or permit to construct, operate, or maintain a ma24 rine or hydrokinetic renewable energy project shall provide 

25 to the Federal agency with primary jurisdiction to issue 


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1 such license or permit an adaptive management plan for 

2 the proposed project. Such plan shall— 

3 (1) be prepared in consultation with other par4 ties to the permitting or licensing proceeding, includ5 ing all Federal, State, municipal, and tribal agencies 

6 with authority under applicable Federal law to re7 quire or recommend design or operating conditions, 

8 for protection, mitigation, and enhancement of fish 

9 and wildlife resources, water quality, navigation, 

10 public safety, land reservations, or recreation, for in11 corporation into the permit or license; 

12 (2) set forth specific and measurable objectives 

13 for the protection, mitigation, and enhancement of 

14 fish and wildlife resources, water quality, navigation, 

15 public safety, land reservations, or recreation, as re16 quired or recommended by governmental agencies 

17 described in paragraph (1), and shall require moni18 toring to ensure that these objectives are met; 

19 (3) provide specifically for the modification or, 

20 if necessary, removal of the marine or hydrokinetic 

21 renewable energy project based on findings by the li22 censing or permitting agency that the marine or 

23 hydrokinetic renewable energy project has not at24 tained or will not attain the specific and measurable 

25 objectives set forth in paragraph (2); and 


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1 (4) be approved and incorporated in the Fed2 eral license or permit. 

3 (g) SUNSET.—The Secretary of Energy shall trans4 mit a report to the Congress when the Secretary of Energy 

5 determines that the technologies supported under this Act 

6 have achieved a level of maturity sufficient to enable the 

7 expiration of the programs under this Act. The Secretary 

8 of Energy shall not make any new loans under this section 

9 after the report is transmitted under this subsection. 

10 SEC. 5. PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATE11 MENT. 

12 The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the 

13 Interior shall, in cooperation with the Federal Energy 

14 Regulatory Commission and the Secretary of Energy, and 

15 in consultation with appropriate State agencies, jointly 

16 prepare programmatic environmental impact statements 

17 which contain all the elements of an environmental impact 

18 statement under section 102 of the National Environ19 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332), regarding 

20 the impacts of the deployment of marine and hydrokinetic 

21 renewable energy technologies in the navigable waters of 

22 the United States. One programmatic environmental im23 pact statement shall be prepared under this section for 

24 each of the Environmental Protection Agency regions of 

25 the United States. The agencies shall issue the proVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:35 May 27, 2007 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1511.IS S1511

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1 grammatic environmental impact statements under this 

2 section not later than 18 months after the date of enact3 ment of this Act. The programmatic environmental impact 

4 statements shall evaluate among other things the potential 

5 impacts of site selection on fish and wildlife and related 

6 habitat. Nothing in this section shall operate to delay con7 sideration of any application for a license or permit for 

8 a marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy technology 

9 project. 

10 SEC. 6. PRODUCTION CREDIT FOR ELECTRICITY PRO11 DUCED FROM MARINE RENEWABLES. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 45 of the 

13 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to resources) is 

14 amended— 

15 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub17 paragraph (G), 

18 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

19 subparagraph (H) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and 

20 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

21 subparagraph: 

22 ‘‘(I) marine and hydrokinetic renewable en23 ergy.’’, and 

24 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

25 paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(10) MARINE AND HYDROKINETIC RENEW2 ABLE ENERGY.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘marine and 

4 hydrokinetic renewable energy’ means energy 

5 derived from— 

6 ‘‘(i) waves, tides, and currents in 

7 oceans, estuaries, and tidal areas, 

8 ‘‘(ii) free flowing water in rivers, 

9 lakes, and streams, 

10 ‘‘(iii) free flowing water in man-made 

11 channels, including projects that utilize 

12 nonmechanical structures to accelerate the 

13 flow of water for electric power production 

14 purposes, or 

15 ‘‘(iv) differentials in ocean tempera16 ture (ocean thermal energy conversion). 

17 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.—Such term shall not 

18 include any energy which is— 

19 ‘‘(i) described in subparagraphs (A) 

20 through (H) of paragraph (1), or 

21 ‘‘(ii) derived from any source that uti22 lizes a dam, diversionary structure, or im23 poundment for electric power production 

24 purposes, except as provided in subpara25 graph (A)(iii).’’. 


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1 (b) DEFINITION OF FACILITY.—Subsection (d) of 

2 section 45 of such Code (relating to qualified facilities) 

3 is amended by adding at the end the following new para4 graph: 

5 ‘‘(11) MARINE AND HYDROKINETIC RENEW6 ABLE ENERGY FACILITIES.—In the case of a facility 

7 producing electricity from marine and hydrokinetic 

8 renewable energy, the term ‘qualified facility’ means 

9 any facility owned by the taxpayer which is origi10 nally placed in service after the date of the enact11 ment of this paragraph and before January 1, 

12 2009.’’. 

13 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

14 this section shall apply to electricity produced and sold 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, in taxable 

16 years ending after such date. 

17 SEC. 7. INVESTMENT CREDIT AND 5-YEAR DEPRECIATION 

18 FOR EQUIPMENT WHICH PRODUCES ELEC19 TRICITY FROM MARINE AND HYDROKINETIC 

20 RENEWABLE ENERGY. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

22 48(a)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating 

23 to energy property) is amended— 

24 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of clause (iii), 


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1 (2) by inserting ‘‘or’’ at the end of clause (iv), 

2 and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

4 clause: 

5 ‘‘(v) equipment which uses marine 

6 and hydrokinetic renewable energy (as de7 fined in section 45(c)(10)) but only with 

8 respect to periods ending before January 

9 1, 2018,’’. 

10 (b) 30 PERCENT CREDIT.—Clause (i) of section 

11 48(a)(2)(A) of such Code (relating to 30 percent credit) 

12 is amended— 

13 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subclause 

14 (II), and 

15 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub16 clause: 

17 ‘‘(IV) energy property described 

18 in paragraph (3)(A)(v), and’’. 

19 (c) CREDITS ALLOWED FOR INVESTMENT AND PRO20 DUCTION.—Paragraph (3) of section 48(a) of such Code 

21 (relating to energy property) is amended by inserting 

22 ‘‘(other than property described in subparagraph (A)(v))’’ 

23 after ‘‘any property’’ in the last sentence thereof. 

24 (d) DENIAL OF DUAL BENEFIT.—Paragraph (9) of 

25 section 45(e) of such Code (relating to coordination with 


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1 credit for producing fuel from a nonconventional source) 

2 is amended— 

3 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘shall not 

4 include’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘shall not 

5 include— 

6 ‘‘(i) any facility which produces elec7 tricity from gas derived from the bio8 degradation of municipal solid waste if 

9 such biodegradation occurred in a facility 

10 (within the meaning of section 45K) the 

11 production from which is allowed as a 

12 credit under section 45K for the taxable 

13 year or any prior taxable year, or 

14 ‘‘(ii) any marine and hydrokinetic fa15 cility for which a credit is claimed by the 

16 taxpayer under section 48 for the taxable 

17 year.’’, and 

18 (2) in the header— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘CREDIT’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘CREDITS’’, and 

21 (B) by inserting ‘‘AND INVESTMENT IN MA22 RINE AND HYDROKINETIC RENEWABLE EN23 ERGY’’ after ‘‘NONCONVENTIONAL SOURCE’’. 

24 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

25 this section shall apply to property placed in service after 


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1 the date of the enactment of this Act, in taxable years 

2 ending after such date. 

Æ 


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