Geothermal Production Expansion Act

Mr. President, I rise today, along with Senator Warner, to introduce pro-consumer wireless legislation, which will improve wireless coverage and go a long way toward preventing the annoying dropped phone calls that many of us frequently experience indoors and in rural areas.

Specifically, the Federal Wi-Net Act would require the installation of small wireless base stations, such as femtocells or similar technologies, and Wi-Fi hot-spots in Federal buildings to improve wireless coverage and network capacity. In addition, the bill would streamline Federal rights-of-way and wireless transmitter sitings on Federal buildings, which will simplify and expedite the placement of wireless and broadband network infrastructure, resulting in the expansion of coverage and more reliable service to consumers and businesses.

Over the past year, there has been growing concern about a looming radio spectrum crisis given the significant growth in the wireless industry. Currently, there are more than 276 million wireless subscribers in the U.S., and American consumers use more than 6.4 billion minutes of air time per day. While the foundation for wireless services has been voice communication, more subscribers are utilizing it for broadband. According to the Pew Research Center, 56 percent of adult Americans have accessed the Internet via a wireless device. And ABI Research forecasts there will be 150 million mobile broadband subscribers by 2014--a 2,900 percent increase from 2007.

To meet this growing demand, a multi-faceted solution is required that includes fostering technological advancement and more robust spectrum management. Such technologies as femtocells and Wi-Fi hotspots will help alleviate growing wireless demand by offloading that traffic onto wireline broadband networks.

To that point, approximately 40 percent of cell phone calls are made indoors and more than 25 percent of U.S. households have ``cut-the- cord,'' relying solely on cell phones to make voice calls. On the data side, Cisco's Virtual Network Index reports that approximately 60 percent of mobile Internet use is done inside--either at home or at work.

As the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan highlights, most smartphones sold today have Wi-Fi capabilities to take advantage of the growing ubiquity of wireless networks. According to a November 2008 report from AdMob, 42 percent of all iPhone traffic was transported over Wi-Fi networks rather than AT&T's cellular network. So installing more mini-base stations, such as femtocells, and Wi-Fi hotspots will improve indoor coverage and wireless network capacity.

But in addition to improving indoor coverage and network capacity, we must take steps to expand wireless coverage--primarily in rural areas. The General Services Administration, GSA, manages approximately 8,600 buildings across the country that can be used to house wireless and broadband infrastructure.

As the National Broadband Plan acknowledges, ``to effectively deploy broadband, providers often need to be able to place equipment on this federally controlled property, or to use the rights-of-way that pass through the property.'' So we must make it a priority to streamline the processes, zoning, and permitting to ensure that carriers have reasonable, timely, and appropriate access to Federal buildings. Doing so will, without question, dramatically improve the service availability on which more than 276 million wireless subscribers rely daily.

The increasing importance of wireless communications and broadband has a direct correlation to our Nation's competitiveness, economy, and national security and therefore demands that we make the appropriate changes to current spectrum policy and management to avert a spectrum crisis and continue to realize the boundless benefits of spectrum-based services. That is why I sincerely hope that my colleagues join Senator Warner and me in supporting this important legislation.

Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleagues from Idaho and Oregon, Senator James Risch, Senator Mike Crapo, and Senator Jeff Merkley, in introducing the Geothermal Production Expansion Act of 2010. This legislation will amend an already existing law--the Geothermal Steam Act--governing the way the Federal Government leases public lands for the development of geothermal energy projects.

Geothermal energy facilities provide a continuous supply of renewable energy with very few environmental impacts. Although the United States has more geothermal capacity than any other country, this potential has been barely tapped. This shortfall is partly due to the high initial cost and risk involved in locating and developing geothermal resources. Like oil and natural gas exploration, until exploration and production wells are actually drilled, the true energy value of the site is not known nor is the full extent of the underground reservoir or energy source.

This legislation is intended to expand the future production of geothermal energy on federally-owned lands by taking some of the uncertainty and guess work out of the leasing and development process by allowing the Interior Department to issue geothermal leases for adjacent lands on a non-competitive basis, based on fair-market value. This would allow a geothermal developer to expand a successful geothermal lease without being forced into a bidding war with speculators or uncooperative competitors who might threaten project expansion or even prevent the project from reaching commercial scale.

Under current law, the Department of Interior is charged with issuing geothermal energy leases through a competitive lease sale. There are, however, several situations where the Department is allowed to issue non-competitive leases, for example, if there were no competitive bids offered, or where there is an already existing mining claim, or where the geothermal energy will be used directly on site for heating or other uses and not sold as electricity. This legislation would add an additional category of non-competitive leases for lands that are immediately adjacent to an existing, competitively-awarded, geothermal lease where there is an identified, validated geothermal energy discovery. They would not just be given away to an existing lease holder. These non-competitive leases would be made at fair-market value as independently determined by the Department of Interior. They could also not be taken away from any existing lease holder, if they were already leased, nor could they be removed from competitive leasing if they had already been nominated to be competitively leased.

These safeguards are intended to insure that this new non-competitive lease authority is a limited exception to the general policy of competitive leasing for geothermal resources on our public lands. At the same time, this new authority will help ensure that when and where a geothermal resource has been discovered, the project developer will be able to tap that resource and turn it into a viable, commercial energy business and provide clean, renewable energy for our country.

This bill is a companion to bipartisan legislation sponsored by Representative Jay Inslee in the House of Representatives. The House Committee on Natural Resources held hearings on the underlying House bill, H.R. 3709, in February of this year. The legislation Sen. Risch and I are introducing today incorporates changes resulting from those hearings, primarily making it clear that any non-competitive leases issued under this authority would be at fair-market value.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.