Smart Steps to Establish a Responsible Program for Renewable Energy on Public Lands

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Smart Steps to Establish a Responsible Program for Renewable Energy on Public Lands
Since its first day in office, the Obama Administration has made rapid and responsible expansion of renewable energy a top priority. The public lands have played a major role in achieving early goals, but only because of focused effort to correct decades of inattention and inactivity toward developing renewable energy as a major component of the nations energy mix. Before 2009, there had been no organized effort to leverage the abundant wind, solar, and geothermal renewable energy resources on public lands to power the economy and to support the growing renewable energy industry. In the Obama Administrations first term, the Department of the Interior (Department) and its Bureau of Land Management (BLM) stood up a sensible renewable energy program for our public lands. For example, the BLM has made substantial progress in working through a large queue of backlogged applications inherited from the previous administration. More than 30 projects were permitted for more than 10,000 megawatts of new renewable power. These projects are creating jobs, driving innovation, and will help supply Western markets with clean, renewable power for decades to come. Importantly, as the Administration pursued its renewable energy goals in the first term, it worked to strike an appropriate balance between the development of renewable energy resources and the protection of sensitive lands. Agency professionals helped guide the siting and mitigation requirements for proposed renewable energy projects to reduce and offset land and wildlife disturbance, and also developed policies and procedures to guide good decision-making going forward. In Secretarial Order 3285, the Administration set the stage for this new approach to energy development on the public lands, focusing on development and transmission of renewable energy from appropriate areas.1 This approach includes both protection of lands with highest conservation and wildlands values from development and efforts to designate priority, low-conflict areas for project construction. The Order also specifically calls for new or revised policies needed to increase development and transmission of power from renewable energy resources on public lands. In addition, the BLM laid out guidance for field staff to focus limited agency resources on applications in areas that are low conflict with respect to sensitive natural resources. The BLM also identified lands as suitable for development across the west through the Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and in Arizona under the Restoration Energy Design Project. These first steps toward a sound and sustainable renewable energy program on public lands can serve as a model for how the Administration can put the protection of lands and wildlife on equal ground with the development of renewable energy.
1 Secretarial Order 3285 was signed on March 11, 2009, and amended on February 22, 2010.

Renewable energy projects are creating jobs, driving innovation, and will help supply Western markets with clean, renewable power for decades to come.

Cover photo: Protecting wildlands from development is key for a smart renewable energy program. John Tull

iStockphoto.com/Dan Barnes

The Administration can and should build on this foundation by continuing to expand renewable energy development in a way that protects our most sensitive lands, developing an accurate accounting of climate benefits and impacts of all forms of energy development on public land, moving ahead with smart, landscape-scale planning for renewable energy across the West, and working with Congress to ensure that taxpayers are receiving a fair return from the development of their resources. How the Administration responds to these opportunities and challenges will determine whether its remarkable first-term successes can be translated into a lasting, long-term framework for how renewable energy on public lands can be developed in the right ways and in the right places. Accordingly, this blueprint for action was developed to assist the Presidents new Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell by identifying progress made to date to create a renewable energy program on public lands, and highlighting key aspects of the current program that have yet to be completed or can be enhanced. This report focuses on implementation of key elements of Secretarial Order 3285 as a means to prioritize opportunities over the next four years: 1. Accurately account for climate benefits and impacts from all energy development on public lands. 2. Guide wind development to appropriate areas through landscape-level planning. 3. Balance responsible renewable energy development with meaningful conservation designations through processes and plans like the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. 4. Successfully implement the BLM solar program with a focus on development within designated zones and use mitigation efforts to fully offset impacts. 5. Implement legal settlement on federal transmission corridors to better access wind and solar potential on public lands in an environmentally responsible way. 6. Finalize wind and solar program rulemaking. 7. Secure additional authority to enhance support for clean energy.

The Department should complete its formal rulemaking for wind and solar on public lands. The Wilderness Society

Consulting to develop a preliminary estimate of the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with fossil fuels extracted from federal lands and waters through private leasing. What we found was chilling: nearly 23% of our nations GHG emissions originate from federal lands. Thats approximately 1,551 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the GHG emissions of nearly all the coal-fired power plants in the US. Government accounting efforts reported only 66.4 million metric tons reported by Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) underreporting by 95%.2 Without a formal focus on tracking emissions that contribute to climate change, the government does not have reliable information upon which to form a strategy to address climate change, including by supporting a transition to renewable energy, as envisioned in the following recommendations. Additional Action Needed: In April 2011, the CEQ released the first-ever Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for the Federal Government: 2010 Data (CEQ, 2011). The report presents the total estimated GHG emissions resulting from federal government agencies operations, including emissions from building electricity and water consumption, employee travel, and numerous other activities. However, the inventory does not account for emissions associated with a range of activities that are under federal government agency control but are conducted by private entities. Such activities include exploration, production, and development of fossil fuel resources on federal lands by private sector leaseholders. 2 See Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Fossil Energy Extracted from Federal
Lands and Waters, available at http://wilderness.org/resource/greenhousegas-emissions-fossil-fuels-extracted-federal-lands.

1. Accurately account for climate benefits and impacts from all energy development on public lands.
For decades, energy development on public lands has been dominated by fossil fuel extraction. This singleminded focus has come at a great cost not just to the western landscape, but also to the global climate. In 2012, The Wilderness Society commissioned a review by Stratus

Accounting for these activities would increase the federal governments total emissions of GHGs substantially. The Interior Department should: Produce an accurate accounting of global warming emissions resulting from Interior Department activities under EO 13514, including ultimate emissions from energy resources extracted from public lands or waters. Establish departmental guidance for accounting for greenhouse gas emissions under the National Environmental Policy Act from major federal actions. Continue to allocate resources, even in an era of sequestration, to this effort, by establishing a Climate and Energy Task Force to ensure these accountings are made public and ongoing commitments are made to address impacts of climate change from the public lands.

are already apparent for federal agencies, project proponents, stakeholders and our public lands. Conflict and controversy have plagued many applications, and inappropriately sited projects are impacting birds, bats and other wildlife. In order to maximize the BLMs limited planning dollars, initial effort must be focused on landscape-scale pre-screening of areas where wind development can be accommodated with minimal environmental conflicts, while also identifying areas which are inappropriate for development and should be excluded from that use. The WWATS effort should serve as a pilot for identifying appropriate wind development areas in other western states, incorporating information from the BLMs greater sage-grouse planning effort. Additional Action Needed: The BLM should initiate and complete the WWATS study and associated land designations for Wyoming, and develop a process that other key states can follow. This approach should generally: Identify sensitive areas that should be excluded from wind development. Develop criteria for environmentally-preferable wind development areas and sites. Identify near-term opportunities for getting wind energy on the grid. One of the biggest benefits of guided development is the potential to induce transmission to serve areas with excellent wind resources. Develop a process to identify more comprehensive priority wind development areas. Develop and require use of best management practices and a regional approach to mitigation. Where priority wind development areas are identified, the BLM must ensure lasting protection of associated conservation areas to ensure wildlife and ecological sustainability. The BLM needs to make durable, effective land conservation allocations for at-risk species, including eagles, sage-grouse, lesser prairiechickens, and other important resources if significant renewable energy development is going to proceed. It is paramount that protections for these allocations are enduring because the energy projects will unquestionably be long-lasting, if not permanent.

2. Guide wind development to appropriate areas through landscape-level planning.

In 2013, Wyoming BLM plans to launch the Wyoming Wind and Transmission Study (WWATS), a multi-year state-wide planning process for Wyoming public lands to identify and incentivize low-conflict, high potential areas for wind development and to identify areas with sensitive natural or cultural resources that should be excluded from development. The Wilderness Society is pressing BLM to launch a similar effort for Oregon and Nevada. These states all have important sensitive lands and wild areas that should be protected, as well as excellent wind resources that industry has shown an active interest in developing. New wind development plans are necessary because the 2005 Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement relating to the authorization of wind energy projects did not guide wind projects and transmission to low conflict areas, and in fact left areas of high environmental value open to application. The 2005 plan failed to ensure that inappropriate lands are shielded from development or to give the industry the certainty it needs to make sound business decisions. In addition, the BLMs wind energy policy from 2008 is out of date in its approach to best management practices, measures to mitigate potential impacts on birds, wildlife habitat, and other resource values, and guidance on administering wind energy authorizations. Industry and the agency are left to address development Guiding wind development to low-conflict areas will interest projectincrease success while limiting impacts. by-project. Even though wind development on our public lands is still in its relative infancy, the high costs of this project-byproject approach

3. Balance conservation and development with the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan
The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), being produced jointly by the State of California and federal agencies, is a major component of California's efforts to meet its renewable energy goals as directed by the progressive 33% by 2020 renewable portfolio standard adopted by the state in 2011. DRECP is a sweeping planning process that will allocate public and private lands to renewable energy development and conservation over a 22.5 million acre swath of the California Desert, of which approximately 12.5 million

courtesy of NREL/Cielo Wind Power

Additions to the National Landscape Conservation System made through the DRECP are durable. Sufficient low-conflict private and public lands are designated for development in the California desert to help meet the states renewable portfolio standard.

4. Successfully implement the BLM solar program

Last fall, the Department of the Interior took several historic steps towards changing the way energy is developed on public lands by committing to a zone-based approach for solar energy development through the Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement or BLM solar program. This approach recognizes and addresses the challenges of siting large utility-scale energy projects on public lands and directs commercial development to pre-screened, low-conflict zones while protecting wildlands and habitat for wildlife such as desert tortoise and sagegrouse from development. Additionally, Arizona BLM finalized its Restoration Design Energy Project (RDEP) and identified priority wind and solar development sites across the state with an emphasis on already disturbed lands and areas with few conflicting uses or values. While these plans provide an excellent toolset for managing renewable energy on public lands, rigorous attention to implementation by the BLM will be required to realize the benefits they offer. Additional Action Needed: The near-term success of the BLM solar program will depend on: Establishing an effective petition process for designating additional Solar Energy Zones (SEZs) in low-conflict areas. This process should allow stakeholders to request an assessment of the need for new SEZs, the modification or retraction of an existing SEZ, or the creation of a new SEZ. The BLM, in cooperation with the Department of Energy and the states, should develop clear criteria in an open, transparent process for use in identifying new zones,

Responsible development avoids recreation areas on public lands.

John Tull

acres are federal lands. The plan is an initiative of state and federal agencies and is being jointly prepared by the BLM, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Energy Commission and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The plan will govern land management of the California desert over a period of 30 years. The DRECP is intended to provide effective protection and conservation of desert ecosystems while allowing for the appropriate development of renewable energy projects on public and private lands. According to the agencies, the DRECP will result in an efficient and effective biological mitigation and conservation program providing renewable project developers with permitting and cost certainty under the federal and California Endangered Species Acts. At the same time, it will preserve, restore and enhance natural communities and related ecosystems. The DRECP, and the associated land use plan that BLM will produce to implement it, has the potential to further guide renewable energy development to lower conflict areas, while securing enduring conservation protections. Successful completion of DRECP will require maintaining engagement and commitment of all stakeholders, and fostering creativity to overcome early challenges. For example, concerns have been raised that the BLM does not have the policies necessary to create durable protections for wildlife habitat. Success will also require putting conservation on equal ground with energy development to ensure new projects can be successfully woven into a landscape where the highest conservation and wildland values are protected and other competing interests are considered. Additional Action Needed: For the DRECP to achieve the goals of advancing conservation and renewable energy development, the Interior Department should ensure that: Mitigation actions endure at least as long as the impacts from development and provide real gains for conservation. Conservation designations are protected from both energy generation and transmission impacts.

Sensitive wildlife habitat is not appropriate for development.

Ian Dowdy

including the criteria identified in Appendix D of the BLM solar program and an indication of how state and/or sub-regional-specific planning efforts, e.g. the DRECP and RDEP, will be the initial mechanism for designation of new zones. Developing meaningful and effective regional mitigation plans for designated SEZs. BLM has taken the important step of initiating a pilot process to develop a Regional Mitigation Plan for the Dry Lake SEZ near Las Vegas, Nevada. This pilot and the plans that will be developed for the rest of the zones offer the opportunity to create more up-front certainty for developers regarding off-site mitigation costs, while taking a science-based approach to focusing mitigation investments in areas which are regionally important for wildlands and wildlife habitat. Ensuring that the variance process for applications outside of SEZs is implemented properly to guarantee that applications outside of zones are the exception, not the rule, and applications in areas which are inappropriate for development are rejected.

are administered. Under the current system, the public only has the opportunity to comment on programmatic and project-level environmental reviews. A public discussion with robust opportunity for public input has never occurred for these important new programs, such as would occur with new regulations published with public comment periods. Additionally, establishing a program framework in law, even using existing FLPMA authority, would significantly reduce uncertainty and agency vulnerability to legal challenge. Additional Action Needed: In the absence of Congressional direction to act more quickly, the Department should issue a final rule no later than the end of 2014 that amends the existing Code of Federal Regulations so that the legal and analytical footing for wind and solar development are clearly articulated, including requirements for early and meaningful stakeholder involvement.

5. Finalize wind and solar program rulemaking

Ultimately, a formal wind and solar energy program will require undertaking a formal rulemaking to clearly articulate the legal and analytical framework, and to issue binding requirements on the agency and project applicants. The current program relies on authority pursuant to Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761(a)(4)) to govern wind and solar development, and on agency guidance in the form of Instruction Memoranda to direct agency actions. While this may be sufficient direction to shape near-term development of these resources, we are already seeing differences in management emerge among the various BLM State Offices. These differences are likely to become more pronounced over time as project proponents better understand the politics of the states and the BLM. An enduring commitment to responsibly and sustainably tapping the renewable energy resources found on the public lands will mean applying enforceable requirements across the agency. A rulemaking would also provide for early and meaningful stakeholder involvement in how these important resources

6. Fully implement the West-wide Energy Corridor settlement

Section 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy and Interior, in consultation with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), other governments, industries, and other interested parties, to designate energy corridors on federal lands. The agencies are required to complete any environmental reviews and incorporate the corridors into existing land use plans as part of the designation process. Section 368 also requires that the agencies establish procedures to ensure that additional corridors are designated promptly and to expedite applications for construction of pipelines and powerlines within the designated corridors. In June 2012, a landmark settlement was reached between federal agencies and a coalition of conservation organizations, including The Wilderness Society, as well as a western Colorado county that had challenged designation of 6,000 miles of corridors for pipelines and powerlines across the West. Through the settlement, the designations will be reevaluated and revised to better: avoid environmentally sensitive areas, diminish proliferation of dispersed right-of-ways (ROWs), and facilitate development of renewable energy projects. The settlement includes timelines for completion of key steps, most within one year of signing, and the plaintiffs can enforce these obligations through the court if the agencies do not meet them. Successful implementation of the settlement will protect sensitive wildlands and wildlife areas bisected by the original designations, and will deliberately serve renewable energy zones under development by the BLM and other state and regional processes by thoughtfully adding, editing and deleting corridors.

Smart solar development on public lands is crucial for tackling climate change.

6 Flickr/LangAlex

Additional Action Needed: Re-evaluation of the corridors under the settlement agreement will be accomplished through four key steps, which the Interior Department should support and facilitate: BLM, Forest Service (FS) and Department of Energy (DOE) will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will guide the agencies review of corridors and mitigation measures for designated corridors and any new corridors through an interagency work group. BLM, FS and DOE will follow specified corridor siting principles when reviewing corridors and developing recommendations for revisions, deletions and additions. BLM and FS will issue guidance on use and development of corridors, including identifying corridors of concern and known conflicts in those corridors, as well as emphasizing the need for environmental analysis of any proposed projects in a corridor pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. BLM and FS will incorporate and increase emphasis on environmental considerations into agency training on processing applications to site pipelines and electrical transmission lines.

Additional Action Needed: The Department should have the authority to charge a royalty per unit of electricity produced. In creating its fee structure, the Department currently lacks statutory authority to charge royalties and, thus, resorts to charging annual rents that amount to a clumsy proxy for a production royalty. Sound wind and solar programs should contain royalty provisions that may only be reduced or waived by the administrative agencies Congress must provide in very narrow, specified circumstances. the Department with

7. Secure additional authority to enhance support for clean energy

The Department has gone a long way in a short while to stand up a program for wind and solar energy development. But Congress must provide the Department with the full set of tools to establish a robust, responsible fiscal system to develop clean energy projects on public lands.

the full set of tools to The Department should also have the authority to establish a robust, reinvest revenue derived from the development of responsible fiscal system federally-controlled energy to develop clean energy resources in conservation programs that help projects on public lands. mitigate the adverse impacts that accompany such development. This precedent has been established in Public Law 88-578, 78 Stat. 897, for the development of non-renewable energy resources in public waters. Given the anticipated scarcity of future appropriations to help address the adverse impacts of renewable energy development, climate change and other stresses on our public lands, the Department should establish a program whereby a share of the revenues derived from future projects will be dedicated to a program designed to enhance the health and integrity of ecosystems adversely impacted by energy development.

Dennis Schroeder, courtesy of NREL

CONCLUSION
The Interior Department is blessed with the opportunity to establish a clean energy and conservation legacy by creating an enduring program for responsible renewable energy development on public lands. Efforts over the last four years have resulted in important advances in both policy and projects, but long-term success requires a relentless focus on cementing those gains and tackling remaining challenges. We look forward to working with Secretary Jewell and her staff to capitalize on the opportunities highlighted in this blueprint for action our public lands and our clean energy future depend on it.

...the last four years have resulted in important advances in both policy and projects, but long-term success requires a relentless focus on cementing those gains...

John Tull

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For more information, please contact: Chase Huntley Director for Renewable Energy chase_huntley@tws.org (202) 429-7431 Alex Daue Renewable Energy Associate alex_daue@tws.org (303) 650-5818 x108 Nada Culver Senior Director, Agency Policy & Planning nada_culver@tws.org (303) 650-5818 x117

Cover photo John Tull MAY 2013

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