Co-Location Energy Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Co-Location Energy Act lets renewable energy projects use land already committed to federal energy leasing. If an oil, gas, or geothermal leaseholder consents, the Interior Secretary may authorize another person to evaluate the leased area for solar or wind development and may issue permits for solar or wind production, transportation, storage, or transmission facilities on that same lease area. The bill also requires Interior, within 180 days, to decide whether co-located solar and wind actions, or solar and wind actions on other non-leased public-land areas, normally do not significantly affect the human environment under NEPA. Interior must then issue rules to carry out the section.
Who Benefits and How
Renewable energy developers benefit because the bill creates a path to use already leased federal land for solar and wind projects. Federal energy leaseholders benefit because projects cannot proceed on their lease areas without their consent and may create co-location opportunities. Transmission developers benefit because the permit authority covers transportation, storage, and transmission facilities tied to solar or wind energy. Public-land energy planners benefit from a required NEPA category review that could clarify which co-location actions qualify for faster environmental processing.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Interior renewable permitting staff must create a consent-based review and permitting process for co-located solar and wind projects. Environmental review staff must complete the 180-day categorical-exclusion analysis and support later rulemaking. Oil gas geothermal leaseholders must evaluate consent requests and coordinate surface use if renewable facilities share lease areas. Public land users may face changed land-use patterns when existing lease areas add solar, wind, storage, or transmission infrastructure.
Key Provisions
- Authorizes solar and wind evaluation on existing federal energy leases with leaseholder consent.
- Authorizes permits for solar or wind production, transportation, storage, and transmission facilities on existing lease areas.
- Requires a 180-day Interior review of whether specified solar and wind actions normally avoid significant NEPA effects.
- Requires Interior rulemaking to implement the co-location authority.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Authorizes Interior to allow solar and wind evaluation, permitting, construction, operation, transportation, storage, and transmission on existing federal energy lease areas when the leaseholder consents, and requires NEPA categorical-exclusion review and implementing rules.
Key Policy Areas
Energy, Public Lands, Permitting
Primary Purpose
Authorizes Interior to allow solar and wind evaluation, permitting, construction, operation, transportation, storage, and transmission on existing federal energy lease areas when the leaseholder consents, and requires NEPA categorical-exclusion review and implementing rules.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- Renewable energy developers
- Federal energy leaseholders
- Transmission developers
- Public-land energy planners
Identified Costs
- Interior renewable permitting staff
- Environmental review staff
- Oil gas geothermal leaseholders
- Public land users
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeSubcommittee Hearings Held
Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Mr. Kennedy of Utah (for himself and Mr. Levin) introduced …
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Environmental review staff, Interior renewable permitting staff
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology