Feds fast-track renewable energy on public lands, fund habitat restoration from project revenues.
H.R. 2301 — To promote the development of renewable energy on public land, and for other purposes. · Filed by Mike Levin (D-CA) · Introduced Mar 24, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill accelerates renewable energy development on federal public lands by raising the national production goal from 25 GW to 60 GW by 2030, streamlining permitting for wind and solar projects, capping rental fees at private-land rates, and establishing a conservation fund from project revenues. States and counties receive 25% of revenues each (2026–2045), the federal government retains 15% for permitting, and 35% funds habitat restoration and public access improvements in affected regions.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is to streamline federal permitting for wind, solar, and geothermal projects on public lands while establishing a dedicated conservation fund from project revenues. It is not a subsidy or tax carve-out; it is a procedural and revenue-allocation reform designed to balance development speed with environmental mitigation.
What the text implies
- Delegation of permitting authority to State Renewable Energy Coordination Offices may create inconsistent standards across states and reduce federal oversight of environmental compliance.
- Cost-recovery agreements that preclude new claims to land during active applications may lock out competing uses (grazing, mining, conservation) for extended periods.
- The 35–40% revenue allocation to the conservation fund is discretionary (Secretary 'may' distribute to agencies); actual habitat restoration depends on agency cooperation and appropriations.
- Categorical exclusion of preliminary geotechnical and meteorological work from environmental review may compress the environmental assessment timeline and reduce public input opportunities.
- Rental-rate caps tied to private-land pastureland surveys may undervalue federal land if renewable projects generate higher economic returns than grazing.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens gain from accelerated clean energy development, lower federal permitting costs (passed through as lower project costs), and dedicated funding for habitat restoration and public access in affected regions. Revenue-sharing with states and counties provides local fiscal benefit. The conservation fund directly addresses environmental impacts from renewable projects.
Who stands to gain
- renewable energy developers (wind, solar, geothermal)
- transmission infrastructure operators
- energy storage companies
- environmental consulting firms (permitting support)
Named in the bill
Bureau of Land Management, Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture / Forest Service, State Renewable Energy Coordination Offices, Energy Act of 2020 (Section 3104, 3102), Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, Renewable Energy Resource Conservation Fund, Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, National Environmental Policy Act
Where it stands
- Mar 24, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 24, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture and House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $210,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 42 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Levin, the sponsor, reported $429,156 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Corporate Energy Buyers Association — $210,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (27,068 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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