II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 896
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to co-locate renewable energy
projects on certain existing Federal leased areas, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH6, 2025
Mr. C
URTIS(for himself and Mr. HICKENLOOPER) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment
and Public Works
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to co-locate renew-
able energy projects on certain existing Federal leased
areas, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Co-Location Energy 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. CO-LOCATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS. 6
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
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(1) EXISTING FEDERAL ENERGY LEASE .—The 1
term ‘‘existing Federal energy lease’’ means a lease, 2
easement, or right-of-way, as applicable— 3
(A) on land managed by the Secretary; and 4
(B) that was issued, granted, or renewed 5
on or before the date of enactment of this Act 6
under— 7
(i) the Mineral Leasing Act (30 8
U.S.C. 181 et seq.); or 9
(ii) the Geothermal Steam Act of 10
1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). 11
(2) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12
the Secretary of the Interior. 13
(b) A
UTHORIZATIONTOEVALUATELEASEDAREAS 14
FORRENEWABLEENERGYDEVELOPMENT.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In addition to the authority 16
of the Secretary under section 8(p) of the Outer 17
Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(p)) 18
and section 501(a)(4) of the Federal Land Policy 19
and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 20
1761(a)(4)), the Secretary may authorize a person 21
to evaluate an area of an existing Federal energy 22
lease for solar or wind energy development. 23
(2) C
ONSENT OF LEASEHOLDER .—The Sec-24
retary may not authorize a person to evaluate an 25
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area under paragraph (1) unless the applicable 1
leaseholder consents to that authorization. 2
(c) P
ERMITS FORRENEWABLEENERGYDEVELOP-3
MENT ONEXISTINGOIL, GAS, COAL, ANDGEOTHERMAL 4
L
EASEAREAS.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In addition to the authority 6
of the Secretary under section 8(p) of the Outer 7
Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(p)) 8
and section 501(a)(4) of the Federal Land Policy 9
and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 10
1761(a)(4)), the Secretary may issue a permit to au-11
thorize a person to construct or operate systems or 12
facilities for the production, transportation, storage, 13
or transmission of energy from solar or wind re-14
sources on an area of an existing Federal energy 15
lease. 16
(2) C
ONSENT OF LEASEHOLDER .—The Sec-17
retary may not issue a permit for an activity de-18
scribed in paragraph (1) unless the applicable lease-19
holder consents to the issuance of that permit. 20
(d) C
ATEGORICALEXCLUSIONS.—Not later than 180 21
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 22
shall determine whether any of the actions for which a 23
permit may be issued under subsection (c)(1), or any ac-24
tions that may be carried out pursuant to constructing 25
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or operating systems or facilities for the production, trans-1
portation, storage, or transmission of energy from solar 2
or wind resources on areas not subject to an existing Fed-3
eral energy lease, are a category of actions that normally 4
do not significantly affect the quality of the human envi-5
ronment within the meaning of section 102(2)(C) of the 6
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 7
4332(2)(C)). 8
(e) R
ULEMAKING.—The Secretary shall issue a rule 9
to carry out this section. 10
Æ
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