Competitive Processes, Terms, and Conditions for Leasing Public Lands for Solar and Wind Energy Development and Technical Changes and Corrections

Through this final rule the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is amending its regulations governing rights-of-way issued under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA). The principal purposes of these amendments are to facilitate responsible solar and wind energy development on BLM-managed public lands and to ensure that the American taxpayer receives fair market value for such development. This final rule includes provisions to promote the use of preferred areas for solar and wind energy development, called "designated leasing areas" (DLAs). It builds upon existing regulations and policies to expand BLM's ability to utilize competitive processes to offer authorizations for development inside or outside of DLAs. It also addresses the appropriate terms and conditions (including payment and bonding requirements) for solar and wind energy development rights-of-way issued under the regulations. Finally, the rule makes technical changes, corrections, and clarifications to the existing rights-of-way regulations. Some of these changes affect all rights-of-way, while some provisions affect only specific rights-of- way, such as those for transmission lines with a capacity of 100 kilovolts (kV) or more.