Bill Text: CA AB2231 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Energy: Renewable Energy Action Team.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-04-12 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB2231 Detail]

Download: California-2009-AB2231-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2231	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member V. Manuel Perez

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2010

   An act to add Section 25405.8 to the Public Resources Code,
relating to energy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2231, as introduced, V. Manuel Perez. Energy: Renewable Energy
Action Team.
   The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Act requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission to conduct an ongoing assessment of the
opportunities and constraints presented by all forms of energy. The
commission is required to encourage the balanced use of all sources
of energy to meet the state's needs and to seek to avoid possible
undesirable consequences of reliance on a single source of energy.
   This bill would require the commission to convene the Renewable
Energy Action Team, which would consist of representatives from the
commission, the Department of Fish and Game, and the Natural
Resources Agency. The bill would require the commission also to
request the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the United
States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management to
participate in the team. The team would be required to develop and
adopt the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan to identify
renewable energy zones based on renewable energy development
potential and environmental, wildlife, and conservation criteria. The
bill would specify required components of the plan.
   The bill would require the commission, in conjunction with
development of the plan, to prepare or cause to be prepared, and
certify the completion of, a master environmental impact report or a
program environmental impact report that encompasses all of the
renewable energy resources that may be developed in the renewable
energy zones identified in the plan.
   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.  Section 25405.8 is added to the Public Resources Code,
to read:
   25405.8.  (a) The commission shall convene the Renewable Energy
Action Team, which shall consist of representatives from the
commission, the Department of Fish and Game, and the Natural
Resources Agency.
   (b) The commission shall request the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service and the United States Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management to participate in the Renewable Energy
Action Team.
   (c) The Renewable Energy Action Team, in consultation with
relevant federal, state, and local agencies, California Native
American tribes, renewable energy developers, environmental and
wildlife organizations, and other interested parties, shall develop
and adopt the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan to identify
renewable energy zones based on renewable energy development
potential and environmental, wildlife, and conservation criteria.
   (d) The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan shall contain
all of the following:
   (1) Identification of areas most suitable and acceptable for
renewable energy development, including renewable energy generation
and transmission and renewable energy zones, and areas most suitable
for regional multispecies and habitat conservation.
   (2) Development of mitigation incentive options in association
with renewable energy zones.
   (3) Determination of appropriate permitting mechanisms under the
Natural Community Conservation Planning Act (Chapter 10 (commencing
with Section 2800) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code) and the
federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.).

   (4) Guidelines to assist solar and other renewable energy
developers in designing and siting renewable energy projects in an
environmentally suitable manner.
   (e) In conjunction with the development of the Desert Renewable
Energy Conservation Plan, the commission shall prepare, or cause to
be prepared, and certify the completion of, a master environmental
impact report or a program environmental impact report that
encompasses all of the renewable energy resources that may be
developed in the renewable energy zones identified in the plan.