I 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5072 
To amend title VI of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 
to establish a Federal renewable electricity standard for retail electricity 
suppliers and a Federal energy efficiency resource standard for electricity 
and natural gas suppliers, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 10, 2014 
Mr. WELCH (for himself and Mr. BEN RAY LUJA´N of New Mexico) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend title VI of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies 
Act of 1978 to establish a Federal renewable electricity 
standard for retail electricity suppliers and a Federal 
energy efficiency resource standard for electricity and 
natural gas suppliers, 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 ‘‘American Renewable 
Energy and Efficiency Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD. 
Title VI of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act 
of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.) is amended by adding 
after section 609 (7 U.S.C. 918c) the following: 
‘‘SEC. 610. FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD. 
‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 
‘‘(1) 118 countries have national goals for re-
newable electricity production and 30 States and the 
District of Columbia have enacted mandatory renew-
able electricity standards; 
‘‘(2) the Federal renewable electricity standard 
established by this section establishes a market- 
based policy to create ongoing competition among 
renewable electricity generators across the United 
States and provide the greatest quantity of clean 
electricity for the lowest price; and 
‘‘(3) the United States has vast wind, solar, hy-
dropower, biomass, and geothermal resources that— 
‘‘(A) are renewable; 
‘‘(B) are dispersed widely across different 
regions of the United States; and 
‘‘(C) can be harnessed to generate a sig-
nificant share of electricity in the United 
States. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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‘‘(1) BROWNFIELD
SITE
GENERATION
FACIL-
ITY.—The term ‘brownfield site generation facility’ 
means a facility that— 
‘‘(A) generates renewable electricity; and 
‘‘(B) occupies a brownfield site (as that 
term is defined in section 101 of the Com-
prehensive Environmental Response, Compensa-
tion, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 
9601)). 
‘‘(2) DISTRIBUTED
RENEWABLE
GENERATION 
FACILITY.—The term ‘distributed renewable genera-
tion facility’ means a facility that— 
‘‘(A) generates renewable electricity; 
‘‘(B) primarily serves one or more electric 
consumers at or near the facility site; and 
‘‘(C) has not more than 2 megawatts in 
capacity. 
‘‘(3) 
FEDERAL
RENEWABLE
ELECTRICITY 
CREDIT.—The term ‘Federal renewable electricity 
credit’ means a credit, representing 1 megawatt 
hour of renewable electricity, issued pursuant to sub-
section (f). 
‘‘(4) INDIAN
LAND.—The term ‘Indian land’ 
means— 
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‘‘(A) any land within the limits of any In-
dian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria; 
‘‘(B) any land not within the limits of any 
Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria, title to 
which was on the date of enactment of this sec-
tion held by— 
‘‘(i) the United States for the benefit 
of any Indian tribe or individual; or 
‘‘(ii) any Indian tribe or individual 
subject to restriction by the United States 
against alienation; 
‘‘(C) any dependent Indian community; or 
‘‘(D) any land conveyed under the Alaska 
Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 
et seq.) to any Native Corporation (as that 
term is defined in section 3 of that Act (43 
U.S.C. 1602)). 
‘‘(5) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian tribe’ 
means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other orga-
nized group or community (including any Native vil-
lage, Regional Corporation, or Village Corporation 
(as those terms are defined in section 3 of the Alas-
ka Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602))) 
that is recognized as eligible for the special pro-
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‘‘(III) was not producing hydro-
electric power prior to the addition of 
the capacity; and 
‘‘(ii) the hydroelectric project installed 
on the dam— 
‘‘(I) is licensed or is exempt from 
licensing by the Commission; 
‘‘(II) is in compliance with— 
‘‘(aa) the terms and condi-
tions of the license or exemption; 
and 
‘‘(bb) other applicable legal 
requirements for the protection 
of environmental quality, includ-
ing applicable fish passage re-
quirements; and 
‘‘(III) is operated so that the 
water surface elevation at any given 
location and time that would have oc-
curred in the absence of the hydro-
electric project is maintained, subject 
to any license or exemption require-
ments that require changes in water 
surface elevation for the purpose of 
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improving the environmental quality 
of the affected waterway. 
‘‘(7) QUALIFIED
RENEWABLE
BIOMASS.—The 
term ‘qualified renewable biomass’ means renewable 
biomass that, when combusted, yields, on a weight-
ed-average basis, a 50-percent reduction in lifecycle 
greenhouse gas emissions (as defined in section 4(a) 
of the American Renewable Energy and Efficiency 
Act) per unit of useful energy, as compared to the 
operation of a combined cycle natural gas electric 
generating facility using the most efficient commer-
cially available technology, when calculated over a 
20-year life cycle. 
‘‘(8) RENEWABLE BIOMASS.—The term ‘renew-
able biomass’ means— 
‘‘(A) crops, crop byproducts, or crop resi-
dues harvested from actively managed or fallow 
agricultural land that is— 
‘‘(i) nonforested; and 
‘‘(ii) cleared prior to the date of en-
actment of this section; 
‘‘(B) planted trees, brush, slash, and all 
residues from an actively managed tree farm lo-
cated on non-Federal land cleared prior to the 
date of enactment of this section; 
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‘‘(C) precommercial-sized thinnings, slash, 
brush, and residue from milled trees, from for-
ested land that is not— 
‘‘(i) old-growth or mature forest; 
‘‘(ii) identified under a State natural 
heritage program as rare, imperiled, or 
critically imperiled; or 
‘‘(iii) Federal land; 
‘‘(D) algae; 
‘‘(E) nonhazardous plant matter derived 
from waste— 
‘‘(i) including separated yard waste, 
landscape right-of-way trimmings, or food 
waste; but 
‘‘(ii) not including municipal solid 
waste, recyclable waste paper, painted, 
treated or pressurized wood, or wood con-
taminated with plastic or metals; 
‘‘(F) animal waste or animal byproducts, 
including products of animal waste digesters; 
‘‘(G) vegetative matter removed from with-
in 200 yards of any manmade structure or 
campground; 
‘‘(H) 
slash 
and 
precommercial-sized 
thinnings harvested— 
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‘‘(i) in environmentally sustainable 
quantities, as determined by the appro-
priate Federal land manager; and 
‘‘(ii) from National Forest System 
land or public lands (as defined in section 
103 of the Federal Land Policy and Man-
agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)), 
other than— 
‘‘(I) components of the National 
Wilderness Preservation System es-
tablished under the Wilderness Act 
(16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.); 
‘‘(II) Wilderness Study Areas, as 
identified by the Bureau of Land 
Management; 
‘‘(III) inventoried roadless areas 
and all unroaded areas of at least 
5,000 acres; 
‘‘(IV) old growth and late seral 
stands; 
‘‘(V) components of the National 
Landscape Conservation System ad-
ministered by the Bureau of Land 
Management; and 
‘‘(VI) national monuments; and 
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‘‘(I) forest thinnings sourced as part of 
catastrophic wildfire risk mitigation activities. 
‘‘(9) RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY.—The term ‘re-
newable electricity’ means electricity generated (in-
cluding by means of a fuel cell) from a renewable en-
ergy resource. 
‘‘(10) RENEWABLE
ENERGY
RESOURCE.—The 
term ‘renewable energy resource’ means each of the 
following: 
‘‘(A) Wind energy. 
‘‘(B) Solar energy. 
‘‘(C) Geothermal energy. 
‘‘(D) Qualified renewable biomass. 
‘‘(E) Biogas derived from qualified renew-
able biomass. 
‘‘(F) Biofuels derived from qualified re-
newable biomass. 
‘‘(G) Qualified hydropower. 
‘‘(H) Marine and hydrokinetic renewable 
energy (as defined in section 632 of the Energy 
Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 
U.S.C. 17211)). 
‘‘(I) Landfill gas. 
‘‘(11) RETAIL ELECTRIC SUPPLIER.— 
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘retail elec-
tric supplier’ means, for any calendar year, an 
electric utility that sells not fewer than 
1,000,000 megawatt hours of electric energy to 
electric consumers for purposes other than re-
sale during the preceding calendar year. 
‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS.—For 
purposes of determining whether an electric 
utility qualifies as a retail electric supplier 
under subparagraph (A)— 
‘‘(i) the sales made by any affiliate of 
the electric utility to electric consumers, 
other than sales to lessees or tenants of 
the affiliate, for purposes other than resale 
shall be considered to be sales made by the 
electric utility; and 
‘‘(ii) sales made by the electric utility 
to an affiliate, lessee, or tenant of the elec-
tric utility shall not be treated as sales to 
electric consumers. 
‘‘(C) AFFILIATE.—In this paragraph, the 
term ‘affiliate’ when used in relation to a per-
son, means another person that directly or indi-
rectly owns or controls, is owned or controlled 
by, or is under common ownership or control 
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‘‘(C) achieved within the same State as is 
served by the retail electricity supplier or retail 
natural gas supplier. 
‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 
(2)(C), a State regulatory authority may authorize a 
retail electricity supplier or a retail natural gas sup-
plier regulated by the State regulatory authority to 
purchase savings achieved in a different State, if— 
‘‘(A) the savings are achieved within the 
same power pool; and 
‘‘(B) the State regulatory authority that 
regulates the purchaser oversees the measure-
ment and verification of the savings pursuant to 
the procedures and standards applicable in the 
State in which the purchaser is located. 
‘‘(4) REGULATORY APPROVAL.—Nothing in this 
subsection limits or affects the authority of a State 
regulatory authority to require a retail electricity 
supplier or retail natural gas supplier that is regu-
lated by the State regulatory authority to obtain the 
authorization or approval of the State regulatory au-
thority of a contract for transfer of electricity sav-
ings or natural gas savings under this paragraph. 
‘‘(5) LIMITATIONS.—To optimize the achieve-
ment of cost-effective efficiency potential, the Sec-
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