I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2148 
To promote the development and use of marine renewable energy technologies, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 28, 2009 
Mr. INSLEE (for himself, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. WEXLER, 
Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, and Mr. ENGEL) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science and Tech-
nology, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce and 
Ways and Means, 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 and use of marine renewable 
energy technologies, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marine Renewable En-
ergy Promotion Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 
For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘marine renewable 
energy’’ means energy from— 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:35 Apr 30, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2148.IH
H2148
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
(1) waves, tides, and currents in oceans, estu-
aries, and tidal areas; 
(2) free flowing water in rivers, lakes, man 
made channels, streams, oceans, and tidal areas; and 
(3) differentials in ocean temperature (ocean 
thermal energy conversion). 
SEC. 3. RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRATION. 
(a) PROGRAM.—The Secretary of Energy shall estab-
lish a program of marine renewable energy research, sepa-
rated from the Wind and Hydropower program, focused 
on— 
(1) developing new marine renewable energy 
technologies; 
(2) reducing the manufacturing and operation 
costs of marine renewable energy technologies; 
(3) increasing the reliability and survivability of 
marine renewable energy facilities; 
(4) integrating marine renewable energy into 
the national electric grid; 
(5) identifying opportunities for cross polli-
nation and development of economies of scale be-
tween offshore wind and marine renewable energy 
sources; 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:35 Apr 30, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2148.IH
H2148
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
(6) identifying the environmental impacts of 
marine renewable energy and ways to address nega-
tive impacts; and 
(7) application of advanced systems engineering 
and system integration methods to identify critical 
interfaces and develop open standards for marine re-
newable energy, the transfer of the resulting intellec-
tual property to industry stakeholders as public in-
formation through published interface definitions, 
standards, and demonstration projects, and the de-
velopment of incentives for industry to comply with 
such standards. 
(b) MARINE-BASED ENERGY DEVICE VERIFICATION 
PROGRAM.— 
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of En-
ergy shall establish a Marine-based Energy Device 
Verification Program (MEDVP) to provide a bridge 
from the wave, tidal, or current energy capture de-
vice design and development efforts underway across 
the industry to commercial deployment of marine re-
newable energy devices. 
(2) PURPOSES.—The Marine-based Energy De-
vice Verification Program shall fund, facilitate the 
development and installation of, and evaluate marine 
renewable energy projects, in partnership with the 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:35 Apr 30, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2148.IH
H2148
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
Electric Power Research Institute, the National Re-
newable Energy Laboratory, the Pacific Northwest 
National Laboratory Marine Sciences Laboratory, 
the Sandia National Laboratories, in conjunction 
with universities and private companies, and other 
appropriate organizations, in order to— 
(A) increase marine renewable energy ex-
perience; and 
(B) build and operate enough candidate 
devices to obtain statistically significant oper-
ating and maintenance data. 
(3) OBJECTIVES.—Specific objectives for the 
Marine-based Energy Device Verification Program 
shall include— 
(A) verifying the performance, reliability, 
maintainability, and cost of new marine renew-
able energy device designs and system compo-
nents in an operating environment; 
(B) providing States, regulators, utilities, 
and other stakeholders with a valid opportunity 
to test and evaluate marine renewable energy in 
new areas; 
(C) documenting and communicating the 
experience from these projects for the benefit of 
utilities, independent power producers, other 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
22:18 Apr 30, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2148.IH
H2148
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
nonutility generators, device suppliers, and oth-
ers in the marine renewable energy development 
community; and 
(D) resolving environmental issues through 
robust characterization, reliable impact pre-
diction, effective monitoring, development and 
use of adaptive management, and informing en-
gineering design to improve environmental per-
formance. 
(c) ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL 
FUND.— 
(1) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 
(A) the use of marine renewable energy 
technologies can reduce contributions to global 
warming gases, and such technologies can be 
produced domestically; 
(B) marine renewable energy is a nascent 
industry; and 
(C) the United States must work to pro-
mote new renewable energy technologies that 
reduce contributions to global warming gases 
and improve our country’s domestic energy pro-
duction. 
(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of En-
ergy shall establish an Adaptive Management and 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:35 Apr 30, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2148.IH
H2148
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
Environmental Fund, and shall provide grants from 
that fund to entities for the purpose of compliance 
with Federal, State, or local regulatory permit re-
quirements to assess and demonstrate the environ-
mental effects of marine renewable energy projects. 
Compliance costs for which funds made available 
under this paragraph may be used include environ-
mental studies, design, fabrication, deployment, op-
erating, monitoring, environmental mitigation, and 
decommissioning costs. 
(3) ELIGIBILITY.—In order for an entity to be 
eligible for a grant under this subsection, the regu-
latory permit must include conditions for the re-
moval of the marine renewable energy project based 
on findings by the permitting authority that the ma-
rine renewable energy project has unacceptable ad-
verse impacts on the environment. Project removal 
shall not be required in the absence of findings by 
the permitting authority that the project has such 
unacceptable adverse impacts. 
(4) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The results of any 
assessment or demonstration funded under this sub-
section shall be made available to the public, except 
to the extent that they contain information that is 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:35 Apr 30, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2148.IH
H2148
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
protected from disclosure under section 552(b) of 
title 5, United States Code. 
(5) AUDIT REQUIREMENTS.—Any developer ac-
cepting funding from the Adaptive Management and 
Environmental Fund shall be required to track pay-
ments received from the Fund, and certify annually 
that Fund payments were utilized only for purposes 
authorized under this subsection. The Secretary of 
Energy shall establish rules to oversee and audit de-
veloper use of funds. At a minimum, audits must 
take place on an annual basis. The Secretary of En-
ergy may declare a developer ineligible for continued 
participation in the Adaptive Management and Envi-
ronmental Fund upon a finding of inappropriate use 
of funding. 
(6) SUNSET.—The Secretary of Energy shall 
transmit a report to the Congress when the Sec-
retary of Energy determines that the technologies 
supported under this subsection have achieved a 
level of maturity sufficient to enable the expiration 
of programs under this subsection. The Secretary of 
Energy shall not make any new grants under this 
subsection after the report is transmitted under this 
paragraph. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:35 Apr 30, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2148.IH
H2148
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
(7) ADDITIONAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
FUNDS.— 
State resource agencies that are processing applica-
tions for permits required for marine renewables 
projects that have received disbursements from the 
Fund under this subsection are eligible to seek fund-
ing to assist staff with understanding and evaluating 
applications and participating in the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission or Minerals Management 
Service regulatory process. 
(8) NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT OF 
1969.—Nothing in this subsection shall be construed 
as eliminating or minimizing a developer’s obliga-
tions to comply with the requirements of the Na-
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969. 
(d) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of En-
ergy for carrying out this section $250,000,000 for each 
of the fiscal years 2010 through 2021. 
SEC. 4. 5-YEAR ACCELERATED DEPRECIATION PERIOD FOR 
EQUIPMENT WHICH PRODUCES ELECTRICITY 
FROM MARINE RENEWABLES. 
(a) IN
GENERAL.—Subclause (III) of section 
168(e)(3)(B)(vi) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 
amended to read as follows: 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:35 Apr 30, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2148.IH
H2148
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
‘‘(III) is described in section 
45(d)(11) (without regard to any 
placed in service date), and converts 
marine and hydrokinetic renewable 
energy 
(as 
defined 
in 
section 
45(c)(10)) into useable energy/elec-
tricity, and’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
this section shall apply to property placed in service after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:35 Apr 30, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H2148.IH
H2148
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS