[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5409 Introduced in House (IH)]






107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5409

    To provide an environmentally sound process for the expeditious 
 consideration and approval of a high-voltage electricity transmission 
line right-of-way through the Trabuco Ranger District of the Cleveland 
National Forest in the State of California and adjacent lands under the 
 jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 19, 2002

  Mr. Issa (for himself, Mr. Calvert, Mrs. Bono, Mr. Radanovich, Mr. 
  Cunningham, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Doolittle, and Mr. Ose) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide an environmentally sound process for the expeditious 
 consideration and approval of a high-voltage electricity transmission 
line right-of-way through the Trabuco Ranger District of the Cleveland 
National Forest in the State of California and adjacent lands under the 
 jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Cleveland National Forest 
Responsible Electricity Transmission Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION LINE RIGHT-OF-WAY.

    (a) Issuance.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall issue 
all necessary grants, easements, permits, plan amendments, and other 
approvals to allow for the siting and construction of a high-voltage 
electricity transmission line right-of-way running approximately north 
to south through the Trabuco Ranger District of the Cleveland National 
Forest in the State of California and adjacent lands under the 
jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. 
The right-of-way approvals shall provide all necessary Federal 
authorization from the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior for 
the routing, construction, operation, and maintenance of a 500 KV 
transmission line capable of meeting the region's long-term electricity 
transmission needs between the existing Valley-Serrano transmission 
line to the north and the Telega-Escondido transmission line to the 
south, and for connecting to future generating capacity that may be 
developed in the region.
    (b) Protection of Wilderness Areas.--The Secretary of the Interior 
and the Secretary of Agriculture shall not allow any portion of a 
transmission line right-of-way corridor identified in subsection (a) to 
enter any identified wilderness area in existence as of the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
    (c) Environmental and Adminstrative Review.--The Secretary of the 
Interior, acting through the Bureau of Land Management, shall be the 
lead Federal agency with overall responsibility to ensure completion of 
required environmental and other reviews of the approvals to be issued 
under subsection (a). For the portions of the corridor on Forest 
Service land, the Secretary of Agriculture shall complete all required 
environmental reviews and administrative actions, in coordination with 
the Secretary of the Interior. It is anticipated that the right-of-way 
route through the Trabuco Ranger District of the Cleveland National 
Forest will make it unnecessary to construct regional transmission 
lines through heavily populated lands in the Temecula Valley.
    (d) Time for Issuance.--The necessary grants, easements, permits, 
plan amendments and other approvals for the transmission line right-of-
way shall be issued within 60 days after the completion of the 
environmental review under subsection (c), or no later than September 
30, 2003, whichever comes first.
    (e) Other Terms and Conditions.--The transmission line right-of-way 
shall be subject to such terms and conditions as the Secretary of the 
Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture consider necessary, as a 
result of the environmental review under subsection (c), to protect the 
value of historic, cultural, and natural resources under the 
jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior or the Department of 
Agriculture
                                 <all>