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(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for each 
of the fiscal years 2006 through 2016 to carry out this 
section. 
(f) REPORT.—Not later than October 1, 2010, the 
Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the Sec-
retary of the Interior, shall submit to the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Ag-
riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and the 
Committee on Resources, the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce, and the Committee on Agriculture of the 
House of Representatives a report describing the results 
of the grant programs authorized by this section. The re-
port shall include the following: 
(1) An identification of the size, type, and the 
use of biomass by persons that receive grants under 
this section. 
(2) The distance between the land from which 
the biomass was removed and the facility that used 
the biomass. 
(3) The economic impacts, particularly new job 
creation, resulting from the grants to and operation 
of the eligible operations.
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SEC. 1702. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW FOR RENEWABLE EN-
ERGY PROJECTS. 
(a) COMPLIANCE WITH NEPA FOR RENEWABLE EN-
ERGY PROJECTS.—Notwithstanding any other law, in pre-
paring an environmental assessment or environmental im-
pact statement required under section 102 of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332) with 
respect to any action authorizing a renewable energy 
project under the jurisdiction of a Federal agency— 
(1) no Federal agency is required to identify al-
ternative project locations or actions other than the 
proposed action and the no action alternative; and 
(2) no Federal agency is required to analyze the 
environmental effects of alternative locations or ac-
tions other than those submitted by the project pro-
ponent. 
(b) CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATIVES.—In any en-
vironmental assessment or environmental impact state-
ment referred to in subsection (a), the Federal agency 
shall only identify and analyze the environmental effects 
and potential mitigation measures of— 
(1) the proposed action; and 
(2) the no action alternative. 
(c) PUBLIC COMMENT.—In preparing an environ-
mental assessment or environmental impact statement re-
ferred to in subsection (a), the Federal agency shall only
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consider public comments that specifically address the pre-
ferred action and that are filed within 20 days after publi-
cation of a draft environmental assessment or draft envi-
ronmental impact statement. Notwithstanding any other 
law, compliance with this subsection is deemed to satisfy 
section 102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)) and the applicable regula-
tions and administrative guidelines with respect to pro-
posed renewable energy projects. 
(d) RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT DEFINED.—For 
purposes of this section, the term ‘‘renewable energy 
project’’— 
(1) means any proposal to utilize an energy 
source other than nuclear power, coal, oil, or natural 
gas; and 
(2) includes the use of wind, solar, geothermal, 
biomass, or tidal forces to generate energy. 
SEC. 1703. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING GENERATION 
CAPACITY OF ELECTRICITY FROM RENEW-
ABLE 
ENERGY 
RESOURCES 
ON 
PUBLIC 
LANDS. 
It is the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of 
the Interior should, before the end of the 10-year period 
beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, seek to 
have approved non-hydropower renewable energy projects
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located on the public lands with a generation capacity of 
at least 10,000 megawatts of electricity. 
TITLE XVIII—GEOTHERMAL 
ENERGY 
SEC. 1801. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘John Rishel Geo-
thermal Steam Act Amendments of 2005’’. 
SEC. 1802. COMPETITIVE LEASE SALE REQUIREMENTS. 
Section 4 of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 
U.S.C. 1003) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 4. LEASING PROCEDURES. 
‘‘(a) NOMINATIONS.—The Secretary shall accept 
nominations of lands available for leasing at any time from 
qualified companies and individuals under this Act. 
‘‘(b) COMPETITIVE LEASE SALE REQUIRED.—The 
Secretary shall hold a competitive lease sale at least once 
every 2 years for lands in a State which has nominations 
pending under subsection (a) if such lands are otherwise 
available for leasing. Lands that are subject to a mining 
claim for which a plan of operations has been approved 
by the relevant Federal land management agency are not 
available for competitive leasing. 
‘‘(c) NONCOMPETITIVE LEASING.— 
‘‘(1) 
REQUIREMENT.—The 
Secretary 
shall 
make available for a period of 2 years for non-
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competitive leasing any tract for which a competitive 
lease sale is held, but for which the Secretary does 
not receive any bids in a competitive lease sale. 
‘‘(2) STATES WITHOUT NOMINATIONS.—In any 
State for which there are no nominations received 
under subsection (a) and having a total acreage 
under lease or the subject of an application for lease 
of less than 10,000 acres, the Secretary may des-
ignate lands available for 2 years for noncompetitive 
leasing. 
‘‘(d) LEASES SOLD AS A BLOCK.—If information is 
available to the Secretary indicating a geothermal resource 
that could be produced as 1 unit can reasonably be ex-
pected to underlie more than 1 parcel to be offered in a 
competitive lease sale, the parcels for such a resource may 
be offered for bidding as a block in the competitive lease 
sale. 
‘‘(e) AREA SUBJECT TO LEASE FOR GEOTHERMAL 
RESOURCES.—A geothermal lease for the use of geo-
thermal resources shall embrace not more than the 
amount of acreage determined by the Secretary to be ap-
propriate.’’.
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SEC. 1803. DIRECT USE. 
(a) FEES FOR DIRECT USE.—Section 5 of the Geo-
thermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1004) is amend-
ed— 
(1) in paragraph (c) by redesignating subpara-
graphs (1) and (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B); 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (a) through (d) 
in order as paragraphs (1) through (4); 
(3) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ after 
‘‘SEC. 5.’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) FEES FOR DIRECT USE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection 
(a)(1), with respect to the direct use of geothermal 
resources for purposes other than the commercial 
generation of electricity, the Secretary of the Inte-
rior shall establish a schedule of fees and collect fees 
pursuant to such a schedule in lieu of royalties. Not-
withstanding section 102(a)(9) of the Federal Land 
Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 
1701(a)(9)), the schedule of fees shall be based upon 
comparable non-Federal fees charged for direct use 
of geothermal resources within the State concerned. 
For direct use by a State or local government for 
public purposes, the fee charged shall be nominal. 
Leases in existence on the date of enactment of this