42 USC 15851 - Assessment of renewable energy resources

Collapse to view only § 15851. Assessment of renewable energy resources

§ 15851. Assessment of renewable energy resources
§ 15852. Federal purchase requirement
§ 15853. Rebate program
§ 15854. Sugar Cane Ethanol Program
§ 15855. Grants to improve the commercial value of forest biomass for electric energy, useful heat, transportation fuels, and other commercial purposes

§ 15851. Assessment of renewable energy resources

(a) Resource assessment

(b) Contents of reports

Not later than 1 year after August 8, 2005, and each year thereafter, the Secretary shall publish a report based on the assessment under subsection (a). The report shall contain—

(1) a detailed inventory describing the available amount and characteristics of the renewable energy resources; and

(2) such other information as the Secretary believes would be useful in developing such renewable energy resources, including descriptions of surrounding terrain, population and load centers, nearby energy infrastructure, location of energy and water resources, and available estimates of the costs needed to develop each resource, together with an identification of any barriers to providing adequate transmission for remote sources of renewable energy resources to current and emerging markets, recommendations for removing or addressing such barriers, and ways to provide access to the grid that do not unfairly disadvantage renewable or other energy producers.

(Pub. L. 109–58, title II, § 201, Aug. 8, 2005, 119 Stat. 650; Pub. L. 116–260, div. Z, title III, § 3006(b)(1), Dec. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 2512.)

§ 15852. Federal purchase requirement

(a) Requirement

The President, acting through the Secretary, shall seek to ensure that, to the extent economically feasible and technically practicable, of the total amount of electric energy the Federal Government consumes during any fiscal year, the following amounts shall be renewable energy:

(1) Not less than 3 percent in fiscal years 2007 through 2009.

(2) Not less than 5 percent in fiscal years 2010 through 2012.

(3) Not less than 7.5 percent in fiscal year 2013 and each fiscal year thereafter.

(b) Definitions

In this section:

(1) Biomass

The term “biomass” means any lignin waste material that is segregated from other waste materials and is determined to be nonhazardous by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and any solid, nonhazardous, cellulosic material that is derived from—

(A) any of the following forest-related resources: mill residues, precommercial thinnings, slash, and brush, or nonmerchantable material;

(B) solid wood waste materials, including waste pallets, crates, dunnage, manufacturing and construction wood wastes (other than pressure-treated, chemically-treated, or painted wood wastes), and landscape or right-of-way tree trimmings, but not including municipal solid waste (garbage), gas derived from the biodegradation of solid waste, or paper that is commonly recycled;

(C) agriculture wastes, including orchard tree crops, vineyard, grain, legumes, sugar, and other crop by-products or residues, and livestock waste nutrients; or

(D) a plant that is grown exclusively as a fuel for the production of electricity.

(2) Renewable energy

(1) In general

For purposes of determining compliance with the requirement of this section, the amount of renewable energy shall be doubled if—

(A) the renewable energy is produced and used on-site at a Federal facility;

(B) the renewable energy is produced on Federal lands and used at a Federal facility; or

(C) the renewable energy is produced on Indian land as defined in title XXVI of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and used at a Federal facility.

(2) Separate calculation

(A) In general

(B) Efficiency accounting

(d) Report

(Pub. L. 109–58, title II, § 203, Aug. 8, 2005, 119 Stat. 652; Pub. L. 116–260, div. Z, title III, §§ 3002(o), 3006(b)(2), Dec. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 2497, 2512.)

§ 15853. Rebate program

(1) Establishment

(2) Amount of rebate

Rebates provided under the program established under paragraph (1) shall be in an amount not to exceed the lesser of—

(A) 25 percent of the expenditures described in paragraph (1) made by the consumer; or

(B) $3,000.

(3) Definition

(4) Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for carrying out this section, to remain available until expended—

(A) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2006;

(B) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2007;

(D) $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and

(E) $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.

(Pub. L. 109–58, title II, § 206(c), Aug. 8, 2005, 119 Stat. 655.)

§ 15854. Sugar Cane Ethanol Program

(a) Definition of program

(b) Establishment

(1) In generalSubject to the availability of appropriations under subsection (d), in carrying out the program, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall establish a project that is—

(A) carried out in multiple States—

(i) in each of which is produced cane sugar that is eligible for loans under section 7272 of title 7, or a similar subsequent authority; and

(ii) at the option of each such State, that have an incentive program that requires the use of ethanol in the State; and

(B) designed to study the production of ethanol from cane sugar, sugarcane, and sugarcane byproducts.

(2) RequirementsA project described in paragraph (1) shall—

(A) be limited to sugar producers and the production of ethanol in the States of Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Hawaii, divided equally among the States, to demonstrate that the process may be applicable to cane sugar, sugarcane, and sugarcane byproducts;

(B) include information on the ways in which the scale of production may be replicated once the sugar cane industry has located sites for, and constructed, ethanol production facilities; and

(d) Authorization of appropriations

(Pub. L. 109–58, title II, § 208, Aug. 8, 2005, 119 Stat. 656.)

§ 15855. Grants to improve the commercial value of forest biomass for electric energy, useful heat, transportation fuels, and other commercial purposes

(a) DefinitionsIn this section:

(1) BiomassThe term “biomass” means nonmerchantable materials or precommercial thinnings that are byproducts of preventive treatments, such as trees, wood, brush, thinnings, chips, and slash, that are removed—

(A) to reduce hazardous fuels;

(B) to reduce or contain disease or insect infestation; or

(2) Indian tribe

(3) Nonmerchantable

(4) PersonThe term “person” includes—

(A) an individual;

(B) a community (as determined by the Secretary concerned);

(D) a small business or a corporation that is incorporated in the United States; and

(E) a nonprofit organization.

(5) Preferred communityThe term “preferred community” means—

(A) any Indian tribe;

(B) any town, township, municipality, or other similar unit of local government (as determined by the Secretary concerned) that—

(i) has a population of not more than 50,000 individuals; and

(ii) the Secretary concerned, in the sole discretion of the Secretary concerned, determines contains or is located near Federal or Indian land, the condition of which is at significant risk of catastrophic wildfire, disease, or insect infestation or which suffers from disease or insect infestation; or

(i) is not contained within a metropolitan statistical area; and

(6) Secretary concerned

(b) Biomass commercial use grant program

(1) In general

(2) Grant amounts

(3) Monitoring of grant recipient activities

(1) In general

(2) SelectionThe Secretary concerned shall select a grant recipient under paragraph (1) after giving consideration to—

(A) the anticipated public benefits of the project, including the potential to develop thermal or electric energy resources or affordable energy;

(B) opportunities for the creation or expansion of small businesses and micro-businesses;

(D) the potential for the project to improve efficiency or develop cleaner technologies for biomass utilization; and

(E) the potential for the project to reduce the hazardous fuels from the areas in greatest need of treatment.

(3) Grant amount

(d) Authorization of appropriations

(e) ReportNot later than October 1, 2010, the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture, 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 report shall include the following:

(1) An identification of the size, type, and 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.

(Pub. L. 109–58, title II, § 210, Aug. 8, 2005, 119 Stat. 658; Pub. L. 109–375, § 6, Dec. 1, 2006, 120 Stat. 2658.)