PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Apr 15, 2008
Zeroing In American Energy Act of 2008 - Requires the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a program for the leasing of federal lands for the advancement, development, assessment, installation, and operation of commercial photovoltaic and concentrating solar power energy systems.
Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, to: (1) identify lease sites comprising 6.4 million acres of federal lands under BLM jurisdiction in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah that are suitable and feasible for the installation and operation of such energy systems; and (2) incorporate solar energy development into the relevant agency land use and resource management plans or equivalent plans for such identified sites.
Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) the size of such sites; (2) annual milestones for the number of acres of sites to be leased by each of the years 2010-2019; and (3) the collection and payment of royalties from projects under such program.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Prohibits the following federal lands from being included within such program: (1) Components of the National Landscape Conservation System; (2) Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas; (3) Wild and Scenic Rivers; (4) National Scenic and Historic Trails; (5) Monuments; and (6) Resource Natural Areas.
Requires the Secretary to complete: (1) a programmatic environmental impact statement for such program prior to implementing it; and (2) a study of federal lands available for a compressed air energy storage system, barriers to access to federal lands for transmission of energy produced under the program, and the need for energy transmission corridors on public lands.
People & committees
Rep. Pearce, Stevan [R-NM-2] · R–NM
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.5805 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.5805 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.5805 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.5805 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.