BILL NUMBER: AB 644 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 14, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 10, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 25, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blumenfield
FEBRUARY 16, 2011
An act to add Chapter 6.2 (commencing with Section 25560) to
Division 15 of the Public Resources Code, relating to energy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 644, as amended, Blumenfield. Energy: renewable energy
facility: siting.
Existing law vests the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission with the exclusive jurisdiction to certify the
siting of a thermal powerplant with a generation capacity of 50
megawatts or more. Under existing law, a powerplant not under the
jurisdiction of the commission is regulated by local jurisdictions
through their land use authority.
This bill would require the commission, in consultation with the
Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, the Department of
Toxic Substances Control, and the Department of Conservation, to
establish criteria for identifying land with a high potential for use
as a site of a renewable energy generation facility with a
generation capacity of less than 50 megawatts in 3 specific types of
parcels and to prepare a list identifying lands meeting the criteria.
The bill would require the commission, the Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery, the Department of Toxic Substances Control,
and the Department of Conservation, to make best efforts to work with
the United States Environmental Protection Agency under that agency'
s RE-Powering America's Land: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially
Contaminated Land and Mine Sites initiative.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Renewable energy promotes economic development and provides
opportunities to stimulate the creation of jobs for Californians.
(b) California is seeking to increase renewable power generation
to help achieve the state's climate change goals required by the
California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5
(commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code).
(c) The state has been seeking to revitalize and recycle
brownfields and provide for beneficial uses for closed landfills and
unproductive farmland that does not have access to water.
(d) Closed landfills and brownfields present a unique opportunity
for siting solar energy on land that has few reuses and is often
located close to roads and transmission lines.
(e) By identifying brownfields, closed landfills, and unproductive
farmland that does not have access to water and creating incentives
to use the land for renewable energy generation, the state could put
the land with limited reuses to beneficial use while preserving
undisturbed lands and advancing renewable energy generation goals.
SEC. 2. Chapter 6.2 (commencing with Section 25560) is added to
Division 15 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
CHAPTER 6.2. RENEWABLE ENERGY SITING
25560. (a) The commission, in consultation with the Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery, the Department of Toxic Substances
Control, and the Department of Conservation, shall do both of the
following:
(1) Establish criteria for identifying land with a high potential
for use as a site for a renewable generation facility with a
generation capacity of less than 50 megawatts of electricity in the
following types of parcels:
(A) A closed disposal site as defined in Section 40115.5.
(B) A brownfield as defined in Section 44504.1 of the Health and
Safety Code.
(C) (i) Degraded agricultural land with no access to water.
(ii) As used in this subparagraph, "degraded agricultural land"
means land that has been mechanically disturbed, including land that
has been converted from native vegetation through plowing,
bulldozing, or other mechanical means in support of activities that
change the land cover, including, but not limited to, agricultural
activities, mining, and clearance for development purposes. Degraded
agricultural lands also includes land, based on appropriate
biological surveys, that has diminished value as habitat for
mitigation purposes for endangered, threatened, candidate, and other
sensitive species.
(C) (i) Marginally productive and physically impaired agricultural
land.
(ii) A parcel shall be designated as marginally productive or
physically impaired agricultural land based on substantial evidence
in the record and if the designation is approved by the Secretary of
Food and Agriculture.
(iii) For the purposes of this subparagraph, "marginally
productive agricultural land" means land consisting predominantly of
soil with significantly reduced agricultural productivity due to
chemical or physical limitations that satisfies all of the following
conditions:
(I) The parcel has not been used for agricultural purposes during
the prior six years.
(II) Any voluntary transfer or retirement of the water rights
associated with the parcel was due to significant chemical or
physical soil limitations on the parcel that severely limit
agricultural productivity.
(III) The parcel is unsuitable for agricultural practices due to
the parcel's topography.
(iv) For the purposes of this subparagraph, "physically impaired
agricultural land" means land with severely adverse soil conditions
that are detrimental to continued agricultural cultivation and
production. Severely adverse soil conditions may include, but are not
limited to, contamination by salts, selenium, or other naturally
occurring contaminants.
(2) Prepare a list that identifies lands that meet the criteria
development pursuant to paragraph (1).
(2) The evaluation criteria
(b) The evaluation criteria
developed pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall
include, but is not limited to, low habitat value for rare,
endangered, and sensitive species, compatibility with neighboring
land uses, geological compatibility, absence of recorded cultural
resources determined for listing on the California Register for
Historical Resources, and absence of Native American tribal cultural
sites, as recorded in the Sacred Lands database of the Native
American Heritage Commission.
(3) Prepare a list that identifies lands that meet the criteria
developed pursuant to this section.
(b)
(c) To avoid the duplication of effort, the commission,
the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, the Department
of Toxic Substances Control, and the Department of Conservation, in
implementing this section, shall make best efforts to work with the
United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to that agency'
s RE-Powering America's Land: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially
Contaminated Land and Mine Site initiative.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that a financial
institution providing financial assistance for renewable energy
projects located on landfills and brownfields identified pursuant to
subdivision (a) should be credited for providing that financial
assistance in the evaluation of that institution's performance under
the Community Reinvestment Act (12 U.S.C. Sec. 2901 et seq.) to the
extent permitted by the appropriate federal agency with jurisdiction
over that financial institution.