Subtitle D—Ensuring Safety of 16 Wildlife With Respect to Wind 17 Energy 18 SEC. 231. STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Within 180 days after the date 20 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, acting through 21 the Director and after public notice and opportunity to 22 comment, shall promulgate regulations that establish min23 imum standards for siting, construction, monitoring, and 24 adaptive management that must be satisfied by all wind VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 May 16, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\TEMP\RAHALL~4.XML HOLCPC May 16, 2007 (11:26 a.m.) F:\M10\RAHALL\RAHALL_018.XML f:\V10\051607\051607.071.xml (374202|15) 40 H.L.C. 1 projects to avoid, minimize, and mitigate adverse impacts 2 on migratory birds, bats, and other wildlife. 3 (b) NEW WIND PROJECTS.—Such standards shall, 4 for all wind projects that have not been constructed before 5 the date of enactment of this Act, include at a minimum 6 the following: 7 (1) PRECONSTRUCTION SURVEYS.—Require8 ments for comprehensive preconstruction surveys 9 that are of sufficient duration and scope to reason10 ably evaluate the extent to which a particular site is 11 used by migratory birds, bats, and other wildlife, in12 cluding species listed as endangered species or 13 threatened species under section 4 of the Endan14 gered Species Act of 1973(16 U.S.C. 1533) and the 15 potential cumulative impact that a proposed wind 16 project would have on such wildlife in combination 17 with other existing or proposed wind projects. Such 18 requirements shall provide that surveys must be car19 ried out by scientific teams that include independent 20 scientists and that the Director may obtain reason21 able access to the proposed construction site to en22 sure that survey protocols are being properly devel23 oped and implemented. 24 (2) SITING.—Standards for siting wind projects 25 for which construction has not begun so as to avoid VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 May 16, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\TEMP\RAHALL~4.XML HOLCPC May 16, 2007 (11:26 a.m.) F:\M10\RAHALL\RAHALL_018.XML f:\V10\051607\051607.071.xml (374202|15) 41 H.L.C. 1 impacts, including cumulative impacts, on birds, 2 bats, and other wildlife to the greatest extent prac3 ticable based on data gathered during 4 preconstruction surveys required under paragraph 5 (1), including— 6 (A) the avoidance of ecologically sensitive 7 areas of importance to wildlife, such as migra8 tion corridors, wetlands, and other habitats 9 where wildlife congregate; hibernation, breed10 ing, and nursery areas; and critical habitats of 11 endangered species and threatened species, and 12 (B) siting and configuring wind turbines to 13 avoid landscape and other features known to at14 tract wildlife. 15 (3) CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION.—Require16 ments for the construction and operation of wind 17 projects so that they minimize impacts on birds, 18 bats, and other wildlife to the greatest extent prac19 ticable, including by— 20 (A) incorporating the best available tech21 nology for minimizing such impacts, and 22 (B) operating such projects in a manner 23 that minimizes impacts on birds, bats, and 24 other wildlife. VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 May 16, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\TEMP\RAHALL~4.XML HOLCPC May 16, 2007 (11:26 a.m.) F:\M10\RAHALL\RAHALL_018.XML f:\V10\051607\051607.071.xml (374202|15) 42 H.L.C. 1 (4) POST-CONSTRUCTION MONITORING.—Re2 quirements for thorough post-construction moni3 toring of the actual impacts, including cumulative 4 impacts, that wind projects are having on birds, 5 bats, and other wildlife, including standards and 6 protocols for transmitting all monitoring data and 7 findings to the Director for consideration of cumu8 lative impacts and dissemination to the public. Such 9 requirements shall provide that monitoring must be 10 carried out by scientific teams that include inde11 pendent scientists, and that the Director may obtain 12 access at any time to the site to ensure that moni13 toring protocols are being properly developed and 14 implemented. 15 (5) ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT.—Requirements 16 for adaptive management of wind projects if the im17 pacts of such projects on birds, bats, and other wild18 life exceed predicted impacts, including requirements 19 that a wind project operator shall— 20 (A) take steps to reduce such impacts to 21 the levels predicted prior to operation; or 22 (B) suspend operations if such steps are 23 not, or cannot be, taken. 24 (6) OFFSET OF UNAVOIDABLE IMPACTS.—Re25 quirements that wind projects offset any unavoidable VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 May 16, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\TEMP\RAHALL~4.XML HOLCPC May 16, 2007 (11:26 a.m.) F:\M10\RAHALL\RAHALL_018.XML f:\V10\051607\051607.071.xml (374202|15) 43 H.L.C. 1 impacts, including cumulative impacts, on birds, 2 bats, and other wildlife through the acquisition, con3 servation, or restoration of mitigation habitat, the 4 funding of research that will be of value in con5 serving affected wildlife, and other appropriate 6 measures. 7 (c) EXISTING PROJECTS.—Such standards shall, for 8 all wind projects that have begun operation before the date 9 of enactment of this Act, include at a minimum appro10 priate requirements for monitoring, adaptive management, 11 and offset of unavoidable impacts mitigation for adverse 12 impacts on birds, bats, and other wildlife, consistent with 13 paragraphs (4) through (6) of subsection (b). 14 SEC. 232. CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE. 15 (a) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—No person may construct or 17 operate a wind project unless the Director has 18 issued a certification that the project will be con19 structed and operated in compliance with the stand20 ards promulgated under section 231. 21 (2) APPLICATION.—Paragraph (1) shall 22 apply— 23 (A) in the case of a wind power project 24 that began operating before the date of enact25 ment of this Act, beginning at the end of the VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 May 16, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\TEMP\RAHALL~4.XML HOLCPC May 16, 2007 (11:26 a.m.) F:\M10\RAHALL\RAHALL_018.XML f:\V10\051607\051607.071.xml (374202|15) 44 H.L.C. 1 180-day period beginning on the date the Direc2 tor promulgates regulations under subsection 3 (b); and 4 (B) in the case of a wind power project 5 that has not been constructed before the date of 6 enactment of this Act, beginning on such date 7 of enactment. 8 (b) APPLICATIONS.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Within 180 days after the 10 date of enactment of this Act, the Director, after 11 public notice and opportunity to comment, shall pro12 mulgate regulations that establish procedures for 13 issuing certifications under this section. 14 (2) CONTENTS.—Such regulations shall— 15 (A) include requirements for submitting an 16 application for certification under this section, 17 including requirements for the contents of such 18 applications; 19 (B) provide for advance public comment on 20 each application for certification and on the 21 conditions that should be attached to such a 22 certification; and 23 (C) require that such applications address 24 in detail how the project will be constructed and VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 May 16, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\TEMP\RAHALL~4.XML HOLCPC May 16, 2007 (11:26 a.m.) F:\M10\RAHALL\RAHALL_018.XML f:\V10\051607\051607.071.xml (374202|15) 45 H.L.C. 1 operated in compliance with all applicable 2 standards promulgated under section 231. 3 (c) RENEWAL OF CERTIFICATION.—Regulations 4 under subsection (b) shall— 5 (1) require that each certification under this 6 section must be renewed at least once every three 7 years; 8 (2) establish procedures and requirements ap9 plicable to such renewal applications; and 10 (3) provide for advance public notice and com11 ment regarding each application for renewal. 12 SEC. 233. PENALTIES. 13 A person who violates this subtitle or a regulation 14 issued under this subtitle is subject to a fine of not more 15 than $50,000, or imprisonment of not more than one year, 16 or both. 17 SEC. 234. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER STATUTES. 18 Nothing in this subtitle affects the application of the 19 Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Migratory Bird 20 Treaty Act, the Bald Eagle Protection Act, the Golden 21 Eagle Protection Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act 22 of 1973, National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, or 23 any other relevant Federal law to wind projects. 24 SEC. 235. DEFINITIONS. 25 As used in this subtitle: VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 May 16, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\TEMP\RAHALL~4.XML HOLCPC May 16, 2007 (11:26 a.m.) F:\M10\RAHALL\RAHALL_018.XML f:\V10\051607\051607.071.xml (374202|15) 46 H.L.C. 1 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 2 the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 3 Service, or a designee of that Director. 4 (2) INDEPENDENT SCIENTIST.—The term 5 ‘‘independent scientist’’ mean a scientist who is not 6 an employee of, or regular consultant to, the wind 7 power industry. 8 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 9 the Secretary of the Interior. 10 (4) WIND PROJECT.—The term ‘‘wind project’’ 11 means any project in the United States that uses 12 wind to generate electric power.
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