BILL ANALYSIS
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2009-2010 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: AB 1012 HEARING DATE: August 25, 2010
AUTHOR: M. Perez URGENCY: Yes
VERSION: August 20, 2010 CONSULTANT: Bill Craven
DUAL REFERRAL: No FISCAL: Yes
SUBJECT: Energy: renewable resources: endangered species.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
Earlier this year, the Legislature passed and the Governor
approved SB 8X 34 (Padilla), a measure which, among other
provisions, allowed the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to
collect a fee of $75,000 for specified renewable energy projects
in the area included within the Desert Renewable Energy
Conservation Plan (DRECP). The DRECP includes large swaths of
the Colorado and Mojave deserts in Imperial, San Diego,
Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern, and Mono counties.
The DRECP is intended to serve as a Natural Communities
Conservation Plan (NCCP) for this region's development of
renewable energy projects. As such, lands designated for
development and lands designated for conservation purposes will
be identified and dedicated to those purposes consistent with
the terms of the NCCP Act and other applicable provisions of
law.
The fee is intended to offset the department's costs in
processing incidental take permit applications that may be
needed depending on the circumstances of each proposed renewable
energy development.
Projects eligible pursuant to SB 8X 34 were limited to those
within the DRECP, those receiving federal American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding, and also were limited to solar
thermal or photovoltaic power plants. This latter limitation was
designed to focus on the 15 projects that were pending review in
the DRECP region that needed to have permits issued in 2010 in
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order to retain their ARRA funding and their federal tax
credits. ARRA requires projects to begin construction by
December 31, 2010.
SB 8X 34 also allowed developers to pay in-lieu fees that would
be used by DFG to acquire and restore habitat lands for species
affected by these specified renewable energy projects. This
provision could be used as an alternative to developers'
mitigating the impacts of each of these projects on an
individual, per project basis. This approach also allows DFG to
coordinate the mitigation and to avoid piecemeal mitigation. DFG
received a loan of $10 million for this purpose. The bill also
required DFG to develop an interim mitigation strategy that
would establish conservation benchmarks for the DRECP and to
identify high priority lands that should be acquired. The
interim mitigation strategy has been revised by DFG and is now
undergoing review by a science panel.
PROPOSED LAW
This bill would require DFG to collect a fee of $75,000 to pay
for all or a portion of the costs of DFG processing incidental
take permits on a statewide basis, not just in the DRECP.
Unlike SB 8X 34, this bill would define "eligible project" to
mean all renewable energy resource development projects as
defined in the California Renewable Portfolio Standard. Those
projects include solar photovoltaic, biomass, biogas, small
hydro, geothermal, and wind, among others. If the fee is
inadequate for this purpose, the DFG may obtain an additional
fee that represents its actual costs but that shall not exceed
$75,000.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
None received
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received
COMMENTS
This bill would allow DFG to collect a fee from renewable energy
developers for all renewable energy development applications on
a statewide basis.
Several state agencies are involved in processing applications
by developers of renewable energy projects. DFG has been trying
not only to develop its in-lieu pricing structure (which is not
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yet finalized) but also working to conclude its arrangements for
36,000 acres of lands that could be used as advance mitigation.
Moreover, some 287 projects are now in the regulatory process of
the state agencies, but DFG is authorized to collect the $75,000
fee only for specified projects in the DRECP.
DFG has been subject to criticism that it is not moving fast
enough on this front. For example, an article in California
Energy Markets of August 20, 2010, states that "no developer has
specifically taken advantage of SB X8 34, in part because the
mitigation strategies that were to be designed by the Department
of Fish and Game are not yet finalized."
That and other criticisms notwithstanding, it may be the case
that DFG's capacity to process and issue permits would improve
were this bill to become law.
SUPPORT
None Received
OPPOSITION
None Received
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