[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 923 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 923

     To promote the development and use of marine renewable energy 
                 technologies, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 29, 2009

 Ms. Murkowski introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To promote the development and use of marine renewable energy 
                 technologies, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Marine Renewable Energy Promotion 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Fund.--The term ``Fund'' means the Adaptive Management 
        and Environmental Fund established by section 3(c).
            (2) Marine renewable energy.--The term ``marine renewable 
        energy'' means energy from--
                    (A) waves, tides, and currents in oceans, 
                estuaries, and tidal areas;
                    (B) free flowing water in rivers, lakes, man made 
                channels, and streams; and
                    (C) differentials in ocean temperature or ocean 
                thermal energy conversion.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.

SEC. 3. MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) Research and Development Program.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a marine 
        renewable energy research and development program that is 
        focused on--
                    (A) developing new marine renewable energy 
                technologies;
                    (B) reducing the manufacturing and operation costs 
                of marine renewable energy technologies;
                    (C) increasing the reliability and survivability of 
                marine renewable energy facilities;
                    (D) integrating marine renewable energy into the 
                national electric grid;
                    (E) identifying opportunities for cross-pollination 
                and development of economies of scale between offshore 
                wind and marine renewable energy sources;
                    (F) identifying the environmental impacts of marine 
                renewable energy and ways to address any negative 
                impacts; and
                    (G)(i) applying advanced systems engineering and 
                system integration methods to identify critical 
                interfaces and develop open standards for marine 
                renewable energy;
                    (ii) transferring the resulting intellectual 
                property to industry stakeholders as public information 
                through published interface definitions, standards, and 
                demonstration projects; and
                    (iii) developing incentives for industry to comply 
                with the standards.
            (2) Administration.--The program established under 
        paragraph (1) shall be separate from any wind and hydropower 
        program carried out by the Secretary.
    (b) Marine-Based Energy Device Verification Program.--
            (1) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish a marine-
        based energy device verification program to provide a bridge 
        from the wave, tidal, current, or thermal energy capture device 
        design and development efforts underway across the industry to 
        commercial deployment of marine renewable energy devices.
            (2) Purposes.--The purposes of the program are to fund, 
        facilitate the development and installation of, and evaluate 
        marine renewable energy projects, in partnership with the 
        Electric Power Research Institute, the National Renewable 
        Energy Laboratory, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 
        Marine Sciences Laboratory, and the Sandia National 
        Laboratories, and in conjunction with universities and other 
        institutions of higher education, private business entities, 
        and other appropriate organizations, in order--
                    (A) to increase marine renewable energy experience; 
                and
                    (B) to build and operate enough candidate devices 
                to obtain statistically significant operating and 
                maintenance data.
            (3) Objectives.--The objectives of the program include--
                    (A) verifying the performance, reliability, 
                maintainability, and cost of new marine renewable 
                energy device designs and system components in an 
                operating environment;
                    (B) providing States, regulators, utilities, and 
                other stakeholders with a valid opportunity to test and 
                evaluate marine renewable energy technology in new 
                areas;
                    (C) documenting and communicating the experience 
                from those projects for the benefit of utilities, 
                independent power producers, other nonutility 
                generators, device suppliers, and others in the marine 
                renewable energy development community; and
                    (D) resolving environmental issues through robust 
                characterization, reliable impact prediction, effective 
                monitoring, development and use of adaptive management, 
                and informing engineering design to improve 
                environmental performance.
    (c) Adaptive Management and Environmental Fund.--
            (1) Findings.--Congress finds that--
                    (A) the use of marine renewable energy technologies 
                can reduce contributions to global warming;
                    (B) marine renewable energy technologies can be 
                produced domestically;
                    (C) marine renewable energy is a nascent industry; 
                and
                    (D) the United States must work to promote new 
                renewable energy technologies that reduce contributions 
                to global warming gases and improve domestic energy 
                production.
            (2) Fund.--
                    (A) Establishment.--There is established in the 
                Treasury of the United States a revolving fund, to be 
                known as the ``Adaptive Management and Environmental 
                Fund'', consisting of such amounts as are appropriated 
                to the Fund under subsection (d).
                    (B) Expenditures from fund.--
                            (i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), on 
                        request by the Secretary, the Secretary of the 
                        Treasury shall transfer from the Fund to the 
                        Secretary such amounts as the Secretary 
                        determines are necessary to provide grants to 
                        eligible entities to assist the entities in 
                        complying with Federal, State, or local 
                        regulatory permit requirements through 
                        assessment and demonstration of the 
                        environmental effects of marine renewable 
                        energy projects (including environmental 
                        studies, design, fabrication, deployment, 
                        operating, monitoring, environmental 
                        mitigation, and decommissioning costs).
                            (ii) Administrative expenses.--An amount 
                        not exceeding 10 percent of the amounts in the 
                        Fund shall be available for each fiscal year to 
                        pay the administrative expenses necessary to 
                        carry out this subsection.
                    (C) Transfers of amounts.--
                            (i) In general.--The amounts required to be 
                        transferred to the Fund under this paragraph 
                        shall be transferred at least monthly from the 
                        general fund of the Treasury to the Fund on the 
                        basis of estimates made by the Secretary of the 
                        Treasury.
                            (ii) Adjustments.--Proper adjustment shall 
                        be made in amounts subsequently transferred to 
                        the extent prior estimates were in excess of or 
                        less than the amounts required to be 
                        transferred.
            (3) Eligibility.--
                    (A) In general.--To be eligible for a grant under 
                this subsection, an entity shall provide to the 
                Secretary a regulatory permit that includes conditions 
                for the removal of the marine renewable energy project 
                supported by the grant if the permitting authority 
                finds that the marine renewable energy project has an 
                unacceptable adverse impact on the environment.
                    (B) Administration.--A marine renewable energy 
                project shall not be required to be removed in the 
                absence of a finding by the permitting authority that 
                the project has an unacceptable adverse impact.
            (4) Public availability.--The results of any assessment or 
        demonstration conducted under this subsection shall be made 
        available to the public, except to the extent that the 
        assessment or demonstration contains information that is 
        protected from disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5, 
        United States Code.
            (5) Audit requirements.--
                    (A) In general.--Any entity that receives a grant 
                under this subsection shall--
                            (i) track the use of grant funds from the 
                        Fund; and
                            (ii) certify annually to the Secretary that 
                        the grant funds were used only for purposes 
                        authorized under this subsection.
                    (B) Procedures.--The Secretary shall establish 
                procedures to ensure that the Secretary is able to 
                oversee and audit the use of funds by eligible 
                entities.
                    (C) Annual audits.--The Secretary shall conduct an 
                audit, at least annually, of the use of grant funds 
                received under this subsection by each eligible entity.
                    (D) Ineligibility.--The Secretary may declare an 
                entity ineligible for a grant under this subsection on 
                a finding of inappropriate use of funding.
            (6) Sunset provision.--
                    (A) Report.--The Secretary shall submit a report to 
                the appropriate committees of Congress if the Secretary 
                determines that the technologies and activities 
                supported under this subsection have achieved a level 
                of maturity that is sufficient to enable the program 
                authorized under this subsection to cease.
                    (B) Termination.--The program authorized under this 
                subsection and the Fund shall cease to exist effective 
                on the date of submission of a report described in 
                subparagraph (A).
            (7) Administration.--The Secretary may use amounts in the 
        Fund to provide assistance to State resource agencies that are 
        processing applications for permits required for marine 
        renewables projects that have received assistance from the Fund 
        to assist staff with understanding and evaluating applications 
        and participating in the applicable Federal Energy Regulatory 
        Commission or Minerals Management Service regulatory process.
            (8) Environmental requirement.--Nothing in this section 
        eliminates or otherwise affects any requirement imposed under 
        the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 
        et seq.).
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $250,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2010 through 2021.
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