§15871 — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture must, no later than 180 days after August 8, 2005, create and send to Congress a memorandum of understanding under the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 and other laws to coordinate geothermal leasing and permitting on public lands and National Forest lands they manage. The memorandum must set up a clear procedure for handling lease applications (who is in charge, the steps, and time limits); create a 5-year leasing program for National Forest lands that is updated every 5 years; cut the backlog of lease applications pending on January 1, 2005 by 90 percent within the 5-year period beginning on August 8, 2005 (by issuing leases, rejecting noncompliant applications, or finding applicants no longer interested); and build a shared data system that tracks applications and tells applicants their status and an estimated time for action.

Title 42, §15871

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Not later than 180 days after August 8, 2005, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall enter into and submit to Congress a memorandum of understanding in accordance with this section, the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (as amended by this Act) [30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.], and other applicable laws, regarding coordination of leasing and permitting for geothermal development of public lands and National Forest System lands under their respective jurisdictions.

(b)The memorandum of understanding shall—

(1)establish an administrative procedure for processing geothermal lease applications, including lines of authority, steps in application processing, and time limits for application procession;

(2)establish a 5-year program for geothermal leasing of lands in the National Forest System, and a process for updating that program every 5 years; and

(3)establish a program for reducing the backlog of geothermal lease application pending on January 1, 2005, by 90 percent within the 5-year period beginning on August 8, 2005, including, as necessary, by issuing leases, rejecting lease applications for failure to comply with the provisions of the regulations under which they were filed, or determining that an original applicant (or the applicant’s assigns, heirs, or estate) is no longer interested in pursuing the lease application.

(c)The memorandum of understanding shall establish a joint data retrieval system that is capable of tracking lease and permit applications and providing to the applicant information as to their status within the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, including an estimate of the time required for administrative action.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Geothermal Steam Act of 1970, referred to in subsec. (a), is Pub. L. 91–581, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1566, which is classified principally to chapter 23 (§ 1001 et seq.) of Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1001 of Title 30 and Tables. This Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is Pub. L. 109–58, Aug. 8, 2005, 119 Stat. 594, known as the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which enacted this chapter and enacted, amended, and repealed numerous other sections and notes in the Code. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

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note set out under section 15801 of this title and Tables.

§15871 Coordination of Geothermal Leasing and Permitting on Federal Lands

Summary

Title 42, §15871

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

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