BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 13 X1
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 13 X1 (V. Manuel P�rez, et al.)
As Amended March 1, 2011
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 8-1 APPROPRIATIONS 11-5
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Knight, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Brownley, Dickinson, | |Bradford, Charles |
| |Grove, Huffman, Monning, | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, |
| |Skinner | |Gatto, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Solorio |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Halderman |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Expands existing provisions, enacted to facilitate
permitting of solar energy projects in a specified desert
region, to include a broader range of renewable energy projects
in the desert and, for specified provisions, other regions of
the state. Establishes new provisions to support planning and
permitting of renewable energy projects in the San Joaquin
Valley. Specifically, this bill :
1)Expands California Endangered Species Act (CESA) mitigation
provisions, currently limited to American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-eligible solar thermal and
photovoltaic projects, to include ARRA-eligible wind and
geothermal projects within the Desert Renewable Energy
Conservation Plan (DRECP).
2)Expands a $75,000 permit application fee for Department of
Fish and Game (DFG) review of incidental take permits,
currently limited to ARRA-eligible solar thermal and
photovoltaic projects within the DRECP, to apply to any
eligible renewable energy project in the state.
3)Requires DFG, consistent with the Natural Community
Conservation Planning Act and to the extent practicable, to
enter into one or more planning agreements with appropriate
participants to develop a natural community conservation plan
(NCCP) for renewable energy development in the San Joaquin
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Valley.
4)Expands an optional applicant fee, allowing the California
Energy Commission (CEC) to contract for third party review of
the applicant's project, to apply to any eligible renewable
energy project in the state. This fee is currently limited to
ARRA-eligible solar thermal projects within the DRECP.
5)Requires the CEC to provide, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, up to $7 million in grants to qualified counties
in the San Joaquin Valley and desert regions to revise rules
and policies, including general plans, zoning ordinances, and
NCCPs, to facilitate renewable energy development on
"disturbed lands," as defined.
6)Provides that this bill is contingent on enactment of SB 2 X1
(Simitian) of 2011.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Pursuant to CESA, prohibits the take of any endangered or
threatened species unless the take is authorized by DFG. DFG
may issue an incidental take permit authorizing the take of
endangered or threatened species if certain conditions are
met, including that the take is incidental to an otherwise
lawful activity, and the impacts of the authorized take are
minimized and fully mitigated. CESA requires applicants to
ensure adequate funding to implement mitigation measures,
including for monitoring.
2)Pursuant to the Natural Community Conservation Planning Act,
authorizes DFG to permit the taking of any covered species
whose conservation and management is provided for in a NCCP
approved by DFG.
3)SB 34 X8 (Padilla), Chapter 9, Statutes of 2009-10 Eighth
Extraordinary Session:
a) Authorizes DFG, in consultation with the CEC, to develop
mitigation actions, including advance mitigation and
interim mitigation strategies, to fully mitigate the
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impacts on endangered and threatened species of solar
energy projects that are eligible for federal ARRA funding,
and are proposed for siting within the DRECP planning area;
b) Authorizes eligible project developers to meet their
mitigation obligations by voluntarily paying fees for
deposit into a fund which would be used by DFG to complete
the mitigation actions; and,
c) Requires eligible project developers to pay and DFG to
collect a one-time permit application fee of $75,000 to
cover DFG's costs of processing incidental take permit
applications. Authorizes DFG, if the fee is insufficient
to cover the actual costs of completing the permitting, to
collect an additional fee of up to $75,000.
4)Requires the CEC to license thermal power plants over 50
megawatts and the plant's related facilities including fuel
supply lines, water pipelines, and transmission lines that tie
the facility to the grid.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, fully reimbursed but unknown costs, possibly in the
tens of millions of dollars, to implement wildlife habitat
mitigation projects within the DRECP planning area. Additional
annual fee revenue to DFG in the millions of dollars.
Negligible costs to DFG to expand the types of renewable energy
projects in the DRECP planning area. Absorbable and
reimbursable costs to the CEC to hire third-party consultants
for permitting analysis. Cost to CEC during a two-year period
of approximately $8 million for contract consultants to develop
one or more NCCPs for the San Joaquin Valley, should such work
be undertaken. Ongoing costs to the CEC of about $600,000 to
$800,000 (equivalent to 4 personnel year (PY)) to coordinate,
manage, and support development and implementation of one or
more NCCPs for the San Joaquin Valley, should such work be
undertaken. Ongoing costs to DFG, in the range of the low
hundreds of thousands of dollars, to enter into NCCP planning
agreements for the San Joaquin Valley and to support development
of the NCCPs, should such work be undertaken. One-time costs of
$7 million to CEC, upon appropriation, to provide grants to
local governments in the San Joaquin Valley and desert regions
to revise planning documents to facilitate development of
renewable energy resources. Ongoing costs to CEC of
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approximately $150,000 (equivalent to 1 PY) for staff to develop
and process solicitations for grants to local governments in the
San Joaquin Valley and desert regions to support revision of
planning documents to facilitate development of renewable energy
resources.
COMMENTS : The DRECP, which covers renewable resource lands in
the Colorado and Mojave deserts, is intended to serve as a NCCP
for development of renewable energy projects in the region. 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 Natural Community
Conservation Planning Act and other applicable provisions of
law.
SB 34 X8 allowed solar energy developers to pay in-lieu fees
that would be used by DFG to acquire and restore habitat lands
for species affected by projects within the DRECP. This
provision is 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. SB 34 X8 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 bill required
DFG to collect a fee of $75,000 for solar energy projects in the
area included within the DRECP.
Projects eligible pursuant to SB 34 X8 were limited to solar
power plants within the DRECP, receiving ARRA funding, and
therefore required to be permitted and begin construction in
2010. These limitations focused the bill on about 15 projects
that were pending review in the DRECP region that needed to have
permits issued in 2010 in order to retain their ARRA funding and
their federal tax credits.
This bill would expand the basic provisions of SB 34 X8, in
light of the federal extension of ARRA deadlines, to include
wind and geothermal energy projects, which may enable additional
renewable energy projects within the DRECP to take advantage of
DFG's in-lieu mitigation program. The bill is also intended to
facilitate development of a renewable energy NCCP for the San
Joaquin Valley by directing DFG to work with local governments
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and developers, as well as directing the CEC to provide grants
for local government participation. The bill would also expand
fee provisions, which support DFG and CEC review of renewable
energy projects, to apply to all eligible renewable energy
projects developed to achieve the Renewables Portfolio Standard.
Finally, the bill makes modest clarifications to the California
Environmental Quality Act to support efficient consideration of
the environmental impacts of proposed renewable energy projects
subject to review by local lead agencies.
Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0000037