The California Desert Protection Act of 2010 (S.2921, 111th Congress) was legislation proposed by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. The stated aim of the legislation was "to provide for conservation, enhanced recreation opportunities, and development of renewable energy in the California Desert Conservation Area."
Overview The bill consisted of two titles, the first affecting conservation and recreation and the second affecting renewable energy permitting.
The conservation title sought to create two new national monuments: the Mojave Trails National Monument along Route 66 and the Sand to Snow National Monument, which would connect Joshua Tree National Park to the San Bernardino Mountains, allowing for seasonal wildlife migrations and providing access to year-round springs in the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve. It would expand Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, and the Mojave National Preserve, designate of additional wilderness on federal lands, and add of wild and scenic river designation. Finally, it would designate specific areas for off-road vehicle use throughout the California desert.
The renewable energy title sought to expedite wind and solar projects on private land, establish Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offices focused specifically on renewable energy development, and direct the military to study renewable energy potential on their unused disturbed lands.
S. 2921 (111th Congress) was introduced to the U.S. Senate on December 21, 2009, but it died in committee and was not passed into law. On January 25, 2011, an amended version was introduced as S. 138 (112th Congress), but it also died in committee and was not passed into law.
California desert conservation and recreation (Title I)
New national monuments The proposed Mojave Trails National Monument protects of federal land between Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve along historic Route 66 in San Bernardino County. The purposes of the monument are to preserve the nationally significant biological, cultural, recreational, geological, educational, historic, scenic, and scientific values in the protected areas and to secure the opportunity for present and future generations to experience and enjoy the magnificent vistas, wildlife, land forms, and natural and cultural resources of the monument. The monument will be managed by the BLM.
The bill permits continued use of the Mojave Trails National Monument for existing recreational activities including hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, camping, hunting, trapping, rockhounding, and off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation on designated routes. Furthermore, the bill authorizes the construction of transmission lines in the monument to facilitate the transfer of renewable energy. It explicitly does not create any protective perimeter or buffer zone around the monument and does not grant the government any additional authority over non-federal land within the monument.
Approximately $45 million of private donations and $18 million in federal Land and Water Conservation funds were spent to purchase land from the Catellus Corporation between 1999 and 2004 with the promise of conserving it in perpetuity. However, the BLM subsequently accepted applications to build solar and wind energy projects on these former railroad lands. The California Desert Protection Act of 2010 provides additional protection for approximately of these acquisitions, prohibiting disposal of this land or additional mining, rights-of-way, leases, livestock grazing, infrastructure development, or off-highway vehicle use.
The proposed Sand to Snow National Monument covers of federal land between Joshua Tree National Park and the San Bernardino National Forest in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The bill maintains existing recreational uses, including hunting, vehicular travel on existing open roads and trails, camping, horseback riding, and rock collecting. This monument would be jointly managed by the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service.
Land additions to existing national parks
The California Desert Protection Act of 2010 adds approximately of land to the National Park System. The additions to Death Valley National Park total approximately . The largest parcel (31,000 acres/48 sq mi/130 km2) is known as the "Bowling Alley"—a narrow strip of land between the southern boundary of the park and Ft. Irwin that was designated a wilderness study area by the California Desert Protection Act of 1994. The "Crater Mine Area" (6,400 acres/10 sq mi/26 km2) is a former sulfur mining area in northern Death Valley that is entirely surrounded by Park wilderness. The bill adds a area containing the Castle Mountains on the border of Nevada to the Mojave National Preserve. This land was left out of the original California Desert Protection Act that created the preserve due to an open-pit gold mine that was still active in 1994. The mine has since been closed and the mining company has largely restored the land. The bill adds approximately to Joshua Tree National Park in the form of multiple small parcels of BLM land on the northern boundary of the park that have been identified for disposal.
Wilderness and wild and scenic rivers The bill designates approximately of wilderness in five BLM Wilderness Study Areas near Fort Irwin as well as portions of Death Valley National Park (90,000 acres/140 sq mi/360 km2) and the San Bernardino National Forest (4,300 acres/6.7 sq mi/17 km2). It releases approximately in the Cady and Soda Mountains that were designated wilderness study areas in the 1994 California Desert Protection Act, thereby allowing vehicular access to these areas.
The bill designates a Vinagre Wash Special Management Area covering in eastern Imperial County in order to conserve, protect and enhance plant and wildlife management as well as nationally significant ecological, recreational, archeological, and cultural resources. The area contains approximately of potential wilderness and approximately of former private land donated to the federal government for conservation. Permitted uses include hiking, camping, mountain biking, sightseeing, hunting, off-highway vehicle use on designated routes and horseback riding. Prohibited uses include new mining, permanent roads, commercial uses, or activities that would preclude the potential wilderness areas from becoming wilderness in the future.
The bill stipulates that the Table Mountain Wilderness Study Area be transferred from the BLM to Anza Borrego Desert State Park, which surrounds it on three sides, to be managed as state wilderness.
The bill designates of wild and scenic rivers, including Deep Creek and the Whitewater River which originate in the San Bernardino National Forest and the Amargosa River and Surprise Canyon Creek near Death Valley National Park.
Permanent off-highway vehicle recreation areas The bill designates four existing, administratively designated off-highway vehicle areas in San Bernardino County as permanent off-highway vehicle recreation areas. Land management would remain as it exists today, but the BLM would be given discretion whether to require a new site specific management plan or simply modify its existing desert-wide management plan. Furthermore, BLM lands in Johnson Valley that are not needed for the expansion of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center would become part of the Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area.
Cultural resources management The bill requires the Secretary the Interior to develop a cultural resources management plan to protect the Xam Kwatchan Trail network extending from Avikwaame (Spirit Mountain, Nevada) to Avikwlal (Pilot Knob, California) that is sacred to Native American tribes in this region.
Desert renewable energy permitting (Title II)
Funding renewable energy coordination offices The bill stipulates the creation of renewable energy coordination offices to improve federal permit coordination for renewable energy and expedite the issuance of these permits. The offices would be funded with revenues in the existing BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund, which can otherwise only be used for oil and gas permitting.
50 percent of income generated from renewable energy projects on federal land shall be used to replenish the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund, increase the size of the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, and establish a fund for the purpose of reclaiming any abandoned renewable energy project sites. The remaining 50 percent of income shall be given to state and county governments for the purpose of improving permitting and increasing conservation.
Accelerated processing of energy development proposals Section 202 of this title establishes a process to reduce the backlog of renewable energy development proposals on federal land. This section imposes deadlines on both federal agencies and applicants to expedite the right-of-way and environmental review of renewable energy development proposals, to prioritize development proposals in which the developer makes significant progress, and to turn down ill-conceived and speculative proposals. Applicants who fail to meet deadlines will be rejected in favor of developers who make progress on their sites. The Bureau of Land Management would replace its first-come, first-served permit review process with a process that would give priority to renewable energy developers who have (1) completed their biological and cultural studies, (2) submitted an accepted development plan and a plan for securing necessary water, and (3) applied for an interconnection to the power grid. The Secretary of the Interior has used similar criteria to declare renewable energy proposals on a permitting "fast track". This section affects all applications for authorization to construct wind or solar electricity generation facilities in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming.
In order to expedite the site evaluation process, the bill provides a categorical exclusion for small, temporary solar and wind meteorological tests on BLM land, eliminating the requirement to produce environmental impact statements or environmental assessments for these tests.
Coordinated plan to develop renewable energy on federal land Section 203 establishes a coordinated plan to develop renewable energy on federal land. It requires the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Defense (DoD), and the U.S. Forest Service to undertake programmatic environmental impact statements of renewable energy potential on federal land, with the goal of identifying zones where renewable energy production is in the public interest, and where environmental approval of renewable energy projects can be expedited. The following section requires the DoD to study the potential of renewable energy development on areas of military bases in California and Nevada that are not needed for training.
As of May 2010, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was assessing the suitability of in the California desert for potential renewable energy development, significantly more than experts estimate is needed to meet state renewable goals. None of the lands proposed by S.2921 to be protected in national parklands, as wilderness, or as ORV areas are within these BLM study areas.
Mitigation requirements Recent research indicates that, especially for protection of the desert tortoise, better and more active management of existing federal land is a more effective way to protect the species than acquiring additional mitigation acres in an uncoordinated manner. The bill establishes endangered species mitigation zones and requires developers proposing to develop private lands to contribute money to an endowed fund that would be used to better manage, in perpetuity, habitat for desert tortoise and other endangered or threatened species on at least of specified public lands.