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. 
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 ‘‘Zeroing In American 
Energy Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) Establishing a clean energy future requires 
new innovative technologies. 
(2) Solar energy offers the United States tre-
mendous domestic energy opportunities. 
(3) The Southwestern United States is the 
Saudi Arabia of solar energy. 
(4) The publication Scientific American, in its 
January of 2008 issue, theorized a ‘‘Grand Plan for 
Solar’’ that suggests theoretically solar power could 
provide 69 percent of America’s electricity by 2050. 
(5) Establishing a new solar energy future will 
require a strong public-private partnership. 
SEC. 3. DEVELOPING SOLAR ENERGY ON FEDERAL LANDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior shall 
carry out in accordance with this section a program for 
the leasing of Federal lands for the the advancement, de-
velopment, assessment, installation, and operation of com-
mercial photovoltaic and concentrating solar power energy 
systems. 
(b) IDENTIFICATION OF LANDS FOR LEASING.— 
(1) LANDS SELECTION.—The Secretary of the 
Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau 
of Land Management and in consultation with the 
Secretary of Energy, shall— 
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(A) identify lease sites comprising a total 
of 6,400,000 acres of Federal lands under the 
jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management 
in the States of Arizona, California, New Mex-
ico, Nevada, and Utah, that are suitable and 
feasible for the installation and operation of 
photovoltaic and concentrating solar power en-
ergy systems, subject to valid existing rights; 
and 
(B) incorporate solar energy development 
into the relevant agency land use and resource 
management plans or equivalent plans for the 
lands identified under subparagraph (A). 
(2) MINIMUM
AND
MAXIMUM
ACREAGE
OF 
SITES.—Each individual lease site identified under 
paragraph (1)(A) shall be a minimum of 1280 acres 
and shall not exceed 12,800 acres. 
(3) LANDS RELEASED FOR LEASING.—The Sec-
retary shall release for leasing under this section 
lease sites identified under paragraph (1), in acre-
ages that meet the following annual milestones: 
(A) By 2010, 79,012 acres. 
(B) By 2011, 316,049 acres. 
(C) By 2012, 711,111 acres. 
(D) By 2013, 1,300,000 acres. 
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(E) By 2014, 2,000,000 acres. 
(F) By 2015, 2,800,000 acres. 
(G) By 2016, 3,700,000 acres. 
(H) By 2017, 4,650,000 acres. 
(I) By 2018, 5,800,000 acres. 
(J) By 2019, 6,400,000 acres. 
(4) LANDS
NOT
INCLUDED.—The following 
Federal lands shall not be included within a solar 
lands leasing program: 
(A) Components of the National Land-
scape Conservation System. 
(B) Wilderness and Wilderness Study 
Areas. 
(C) Wild and Scenic Rivers. 
(D) National Scenic and Historic Trails. 
(E) Monuments. 
(F) Resource Natural Areas. 
(c) COMPETITIVE
LEASE
SALE
REQUIREMENTS 
LEASING PROCEDURES.— 
(1) NOMINATIONS.—The Secretary shall accept 
at any time nominations of land identified under 
subsection (b) for leasing under this Act, from any 
qualified person. 
(2) COMPETITIVE LEASE SALE REQUIRED.— 
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(A) IN
GENERAL.—Except as otherwise 
specifically provided by this Act, all land to be 
leased under this Act that is not subject to leas-
ing under subsection (3) shall be leased to the 
highest responsible qualified bidder, as deter-
mined by the Secretary. 
(B) ANNUAL SALES REQUIRED.—The Sec-
retary shall hold a competitive lease sale under 
this Act at least once every year for land in a 
State with respect to which there is a nomina-
tion pending under paragraph (1) of land other-
wise available for leasing. 
(3) NONCOMPETITIVE LEASING.—The Secretary 
shall make available for a period of 2 years for non-
competitive leasing any tract for which a competitive 
lease sale is held under paragraph (2), but for which 
the Secretary does not receive any bids in such sale. 
(4) PENDING
LEASE
APPLICATIONS.—It shall 
be a priority for the Secretary to ensure timely com-
pletion of administrative actions and process applica-
tions for leasing of Federal lands described in sub-
section (b)(1)(A) for installation and operation of 
photovoltaic and concentrating solar power energy 
systems, that are pending on the date of enactment 
of this subsection. 
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(d) LEASING TIME PERIOD.—Any lease of lands 
under this section shall be effective for a period of 30 
years, with an option to renew once for an additional pe-
riod of 30 years. 
SEC. 4. ROYALTY. 
(a) RESERVATION OF ROYALTY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Production of solar energy 
under a lease under this Act shall be subject to a 
royalty described in paragraph (2), which shall be 
assessed and collected by the Secretary of the Inte-
rior, acting through the Minerals Management Serv-
ice. The leaseholder shall be liable for payment of 
such royalty. 
(2) ROYALTY FOR PROJECTS UNDER THE FED-
ERAL SOLAR LANDS LEASING PROGRAM.—The roy-
alty under paragraph (1) shall be— 
(A) 0.25 percent per kw/h on energy pro-
duced undert the lease in years 1 through 5 of 
the lease; 
(B) 0.5 percent per kw/h on energy pro-
duced under the lease in years 5 through 15 of 
the lease; 
(C) 1 percent per kw/h on energy produced 
under the lease in years 15 through 30 of the 
lease; and 
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(D) 1 percent per kw/h on energy produced 
under the lease after year 30. 
(3) REVENUE
SHARING.—Of the amount re-
ceived by the United States as royalty under this 
subsection for a leased tract— 
(A) one-third shall be paid to the State in 
which the lands are located; and 
(B) one-third shall be paid to the county in 
which the lands are located. 
(b) DUTIES OF LEASEHOLDERS.— 
(1) PAYMENT OF ROYALTY.—A person who is 
required to make any royalty payment under this 
section shall make such payments to the United 
States at such times and in such manner as the Sec-
retary may by rule prescribe. 
(2) JOINT
AND
SEVERABLE
LIABILITY.—Any 
person liable for royalty payments under this section 
who assigns any payment obligation shall remain 
jointly and severally liable for all royalty payments 
due for the claim for the period. 
(3) AFFIRMATION
OF
PAYMENT
RESPONSI-
BILITY.—Any person paying royalties under this sec-
tion shall file a written instrument, together with the 
first royalty payment, affirming that such person is 
responsible for making proper payments for all 
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ments that relate to compliance with any provision 
of this section by any person. 
(6) PROVISION
OF
PROTECTED
INFORMA-
TION.—Trade secrets, proprietary, and other con-
fidential information protected from disclosure under 
section 552 of title 5, United States Code, popularly 
known as the Freedom of Information Act, shall be 
made available by the Secretary to other Federal 
agencies as necessary to assure compliance with this 
Act and other Federal laws. 
(7) UNDERREPORTING.— 
(A) PENALTY.—If there is any under-
reporting of royalty owed on energy produced 
under a lease for any production month by any 
person liable for royalty payments under this 
section, the Secretary shall assess a penalty of 
not greater than 10 percent of the amount of 
that underreporting. 
(B) WAIVER
OR
REDUCTION
AUTHOR-
IZED.—The Secretary may waive or reduce a 
penalty assessed under this paragraph if the 
person liable for royalty payments under this 
section corrects the underreporting before the 
date such person receives notice from the Sec-
retary that an underreporting may have oc-
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curred, or before 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this section, whichever is later. 
(C) WAIVER
REQUIRED.—The Secretary 
shall waive any portion of an assessment under 
this paragraph attributable to that portion of 
the underreporting for which the person respon-
sible for paying the royalty demonstrates that— 
(i) such person had written authoriza-
tion from the Secretary to report royalty 
on the value of the production on basis on 
which it was reported; 
(ii) such person had substantial au-
thority for reporting royalty on the value 
of the production on the basis on which it 
was reported; 
(iii) such person previously had noti-
fied the Secretary, in such manner as the 
Secretary may by rule prescribe, of rel-
evant reasons or facts affecting the royalty 
treatment of specific production which led 
to the underreporting; or 
(iv) such person meets any other ex-
ception which the Secretary may, by rule, 
establish. 
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(D) TREATMENT
AS
FEDERAL
SHARE.— 
Subsection (b)(4) shall not apply to penalties 
received by the United States under this para-
graph. 
(E) UNDERREPORTING DEFINED.—For the 
purposes of this subsection, the term ‘‘under-
reporting’’ means the difference between the 
royalty on the value of the production that 
should have been reported and the royalty on 
the value of the production that was reported, 
if the value that should have been reported is 
greater than the value that was reported. 
SEC. 5. PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATE-
MENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 
the date of enactment of this Act, in accordance with sec-
tion 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)), the Secretary of the Inte-
rior shall complete a programmatic environmental impact 
statement for the solar leasing program under section 3. 
(b) FINAL REGULATION.—Not later than 6 months 
after the completion of the programmatic environmental 
impact statement under this section, the Secretary shall 
publish a final regulation implementing this section. 
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SEC. 6. STUDY. 
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall complete 
a study of— 
(1) Federal lands available for possible consid-
eration of leasing for a compressed air energy stor-
age system; 
(2) barriers to additional access to Federal 
lands for transimission of energy produced under 
leases awarded under the solar energy leasing pro-
gram under this Act; and 
(3) the need for energy transmission corridors 
on public lands to address identified congestion or 
constraints. 
Æ 
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