(a) Acronyms. As used in this part:

ALJ means Administrative Law Judge.

BLM means the Bureau of Land Management.

CERCLA means the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.).

EA means environmental assessment.

EIS means environmental impact statement.

IBLA means the Department of the Interior, Board of Land Appeals.

IPD-GDP means the Implicit Price Deflator, Gross Domestic Product, as published in the most recent edition of the Survey of Current Business of the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

NEPA means the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).

RMA means the Ranally Metro Area Population Ranking as published in the most recent edition of the Rand McNally Commercial Atlas and Marketing Guide.

(b) Terms. As used in this part, the term:

Acreage rent means rent assessed for solar and wind energy development grants and leases that is determined by the number of acres authorized for the grant or lease.

Act means the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).

Actual costs means the financial measure of resources the Federal government expends or uses in processing a right-of-way application or in monitoring the construction, operation, and termination of a facility authorized by a grant or permit. Actual costs includes both direct and indirect costs, exclusive of management overhead costs.

Application filing fee means a filing fee specific to solar and wind energy applications. This fee is an initial payment for the reasonable costs for processing, inspecting, and monitoring a right-of-way.

Assignment means the transfer, in whole or in part, of any right or interest in a right-of-way grant or lease from the holder (assignor) to a subsequent party (assignee) with the BLM's written approval. A change in ownership of the grant or lease, or other related change-in-control transaction involving the holder, including a merger or acquisition, also constitutes an assignment for purposes of these regulations requiring the BLM's written approval, unless applicable statutory authority provides otherwise.

Base rent means the dollar amount required from a grant or lease holder on BLM managed lands based on the communication use with the highest value in the associated facility or facilities, as calculated according to the communication use rent schedule. If a facility manager's or facility owner's scheduled rent is equal to the highest rent charged a tenant in the facility or facilities, then the facility manager's or facility owner's use determines the dollar amount of the base rent. Otherwise, the facility owner's, facility manager's, customer's, or tenant's use with the highest value, and which is not otherwise excluded from rent, determines the base rent.

Casual use means activities ordinarily resulting in no or negligible disturbance of the public lands, resources, or improvements. Examples of casual use include: Surveying, marking routes, and collecting data to use to prepare grant applications.

Commercial purpose or activity refers to the circumstance where a holder attempts to produce a profit by allowing the use of its facilities by an additional party. BLM may assess an appropriate rent for such commercial activities. The holder's use may not otherwise be subject to rent charges under BLM's rental provisions.

Communication use rent schedule is a schedule of rents for the following types of communication uses, including related technologies, located in a facility associated with a particular grant or lease. All use categories include ancillary communications equipment, such as internal microwave or internal one-or two-way radio, that are directly related to operating, maintaining, and monitoring the primary uses listed below. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may or may not license the primary uses. The type of use and community served, identified on an FCC license, if one has been issued, do not supersede either the definitions in this subpart or the procedures in §2806.30 of this part for calculating rent for communication facilities and uses located on public land:

(1) Television broadcast means a use that broadcasts UHF and VHF audio and video signals for general public reception. This category does not include low-power television (LPTV) or rebroadcast devices, such as translators, or transmitting devices, such as microwave relays serving broadcast translators;

(2) AM and FM radio broadcast means a use that broadcasts amplitude modulation (AM) or frequency modulation (FM) audio signals for general public reception. This category does not include low-power FM radio; rebroadcast devices, such as translators; or boosters or microwave relays serving broadcast translators;

(3) Cable television means a use that transmits video programming to multiple subscribers in a community over a wired or wireless network. This category does not include rebroadcast devices that retransmit television signals of one or more television broadcast stations, or personal or internal antenna systems, such as private systems serving hotels and residences;

(4) Broadcast translator, low-power television, and low-power FM radio means a use of translators, LPTV, or low-power FM radio (LPFM). Translators receive a television or FM radio broadcast signal and rebroadcast it on a different channel or frequency for local reception. In some cases the translator relays the true signal to an amplifier or another translator. LPTV and LPFM are broadcast translators that originate programming. This category also includes translators associated with public telecommunication services;

(5) Commercial mobile radio service (CMRS)/facility manager means commercial mobile radio uses that provide mobile communication service to individual customers. Examples of CMRS include: Community repeaters, trunked radio (specialized mobile radio), two-way radio voice dispatch, public switched network (telephone/data) interconnect service, microwave communications link equipment, and other two-way voice and paging services. “Facility Managers” are grant or lease holders that lease building, tower, and related facility space to a variety of tenants and customers as part of the holder's business enterprise, but do not own or operate communication equipment in the facility for their own uses;

(6) Cellular telephone means a system of mobile or fixed communication devices that use a combination of radio and telephone switching technology and provide public switched network services to fixed or mobile users, or both, within a defined geographic area. The system consists of one or more cell sites containing transmitting and receiving antennas, cellular base station radio, telephone equipment, or microwave communications link equipment. Examples of cellular telephone include: Personal Communication Service, Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio, Improved Mobile Telephone Service, Air-to-Ground, Offshore Radio Telephone Service, Cell Site Extenders, and Local Multipoint Distribution Service;

(7) Private mobile radio service (PMRS) means uses supporting private mobile radio systems primarily for a single entity for mobile internal communications. PMRS service is not sold and is exclusively limited to the user in support of business, community activities, or other organizational communication needs. Examples of PMRS include: Private local radio dispatch, private paging services, and ancillary microwave communications equipment for controlling mobile facilities;

(8) Microwave means communication uses that:

(i) Provide long-line intrastate and interstate public telephone, television, and data transmissions; or

(ii) Support the primary business of pipeline and power companies, railroads, land resource management companies, or wireless internet service provider (ISP) companies; and

(9) Other communication uses means private communication uses, such as amateur radio, personal/private receive-only antennas, natural resource and environmental monitoring equipment, and other small, low-power devices used to monitor or control remote activities;

Customer means an occupant who is paying a facility manager, facility owner, or tenant for using all or any part of the space in the facility, or for communication services, and is not selling communication services or broadcasting to others. We consider persons or entities benefitting from private or internal communication uses located in a holder's facility as customers for purposes of calculating rent. Customer uses are not included in calculating the amount of rent owed by a facility owner, facility manager, or tenant, except as noted in §§2806.34(b)(4) and 2806.42 of this part. Examples of customers include: Users of PMRS, users in the microwave category when the microwave use is limited to internal communications, and all users in the category of “Other communication uses” (see paragraph (a) of the definition of Communication Use Rent Schedule in this section).

Designated leasing area means a parcel of land with specific boundaries identified by the BLM land use planning process as being a preferred location for solar or wind energy development that may be offered competitively.

Designated right-of-way corridor means a parcel of land with specific boundaries identified by law, Secretarial order, the land use planning process, or other management decision, as being a preferred location for existing and future linear rights-of-way and facilities. The corridor may be suitable to accommodate more than one right-of-way use or facility, provided that they are compatible with one another and the corridor designation.

Discharge has the meaning found at 33 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2) of the Clean Water Act.

Facility means an improvement or structure, whether existing or planned, that is or would be owned and controlled by the grant or lease holder within a right-of-way. For purposes of communication site rights-of-way or uses, facility means the building, tower, and related incidental structures or improvements authorized under the terms of the grant or lease.

Facility manager means a person or entity that leases space in a facility to communication users and:

(1) Holds a communication use grant or lease;

(2) Owns a communications facility on lands covered by that grant or lease; and

(3) Does not own or operate communications equipment in the facility for personal or commercial purposes.

Facility owner means a person or entity that may or may not lease space in a facility to communication users and:

(1) Holds a communication use grant or lease;

(2) Owns a communications facility on lands covered by that grant or lease; and

(3) Owns and operates his or her own communications equipment in the facility for personal or commercial purposes.

Grant means any authorization or instrument (e.g., easement, lease, license, or permit) BLM issues under Title V of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, 43 U.S.C. 1761 et seq., and those authorizations and instruments BLM and its predecessors issued for like purposes before October 21, 1976, under then existing statutory authority. It does not include authorizations issued under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 185).

Hazardous material means:

(1) Any substance or material defined as hazardous, a pollutant, or a contaminant under CERCLA at 42 U.S.C. 9601(14) and (33);

(2) Any regulated substance contained in or released from underground storage tanks, as defined by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at 42 U.S.C. 6991;

(3) Oil, as defined by the Clean Water Act at 33 U.S.C. 1321(a) and the Oil Pollution Act at 33 U.S.C. 2701(23); or

(4) Other substances applicable Federal, state, tribal, or local law define and regulate as “hazardous.”

Holder means any entity with a BLM right-of-way authorization.

Management overhead costs means Federal expenditures associated with a particular Federal agency's directorate. The BLM's directorate includes all State Directors and the entire Washington Office staff, except where a State Director or Washington Office staff member is required to perform work on a specific right-of-way case.

Megawatt (MW) capacity fee means the fee paid in addition to the acreage rent for solar and wind energy development grants and leases. The MW capacity fee is the approved MW capacity of the solar or wind energy grant or lease multiplied by the appropriate MW rate. A grant or lease may provide for stages of development, and the grantee or lessee will be charged a fee for each stage by multiplying the MW rate by the approved MW capacity for the stage of the project.

Megawatt rate means the price of each MW of capacity for various solar and wind energy technologies as determined by the MW rate formula. Current MW rates are found on the BLM's MW rate schedule, which can be obtained at any BLM office or at http://www.blm.gov. The MW rate is calculated by multiplying the total hours per year by the net capacity factor, by the MW hour (MWh) price, and by the rate of return, where:

(1) Net capacity factor means the average operational time divided by the average potential operational time of a solar or wind energy development, multiplied by the current technology efficiency rates. The BLM establishes net capacity factors for different technology types but may determine another net capacity factor to be more appropriate, on a case-by-case or regional basis, to reflect changes in technology, such as a solar or wind project that employs energy storage technologies, or if a grant or lease holder or applicant is able to demonstrate that another net capacity factor is appropriate for a particular project or region. The net capacity factor for each technology type is:

(i) Photovoltaic (PV)—20 percent;

(ii) Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) and concentrated solar power (CSP)—25 percent;

(iii) CSP with storage capacity of 3 hours or more—30 percent; and

(iv) Wind energy—35 percent;

(2) Megawatt hour (MWh) price means the 5 calendar-year average of the annual weighted average wholesale prices per MWh for the major trading hubs serving the 11 western States of the continental United States (U.S.);

(3) Rate of return means the relationship of income (to the property owner) to revenue generated from authorized solar and wind energy development facilities based on the 10-year average of the 20-year U.S. Treasury bond yield rounded to the nearest one-tenth percent; and

(4) Hours per year means the total number of hours in a year, which, for purposes of this part, means 8,760 hours.

Monetary value of the rights and privileges you seek means the objective value of the right-of-way or what the right-of-way grant is worth in financial terms to the applicant.

Monitoring means those actions the Federal government performs to ensure compliance with the terms, conditions, and stipulations of a grant.

(1) For Monitoring Categories 1 through 4, the actions include inspecting construction, operation, maintenance, and termination of permanent or temporary facilities and protection and rehabilitation activities until the holder completes rehabilitation of the right-of-way and BLM approves it;

(2) For Monitoring Category 5 (Master Agreements), those actions agreed to in the Master Agreement; and

(3) For Monitoring Category 6, those actions agreed to between BLM and the applicant before BLM issues the grant.

Performance and reclamation bond means the document provided by the holder of a right-of-way grant or lease that provides the appropriate financial guarantees, including cash, to cover potential liabilities or specific requirements identified by the BLM for the construction, operation, decommissioning, and reclamation of an authorized right-of-way on public lands.

(1) Acceptable bond instruments. The BLM will accept cash, cashier's or certified check, certificate or book entry deposits, negotiable U.S. Treasury securities, and surety bonds from the approved list of sureties (U.S. Treasury Circular 570) payable to the BLM. Irrevocable letters of credit payable to the BLM and issued by banks or financial institutions organized or authorized to transact business in the United States are also acceptable bond instruments. An insurance policy can also qualify as an acceptable bond instrument, provided that the BLM is a named beneficiary of the policy, and the BLM determines that the insurance policy will guarantee performance of financial obligations and was issued by an insurance carrier that has the authority to issue policies in the applicable jurisdiction and whose insurance operations are organized or authorized to transact business in the United States.

(2) Unacceptable bond instruments. The BLM will not accept a corporate guarantee as an acceptable form of bond instrument.

Public lands means any land and interest in land owned by the United States within the several states and administered by the Secretary of the Interior through BLM without regard to how the United States acquired ownership, except lands:

(1) Located on the Outer Continental Shelf; and

(2) Held for the benefit of Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos.

Reasonable costs has the meaning found at section 304(b) of the Act.

Reclamation cost estimate (RCE) means the estimate of costs to restore the land to a condition that will support pre-disturbance land uses. This includes the cost to remove all improvements made under the right-of-way authorization, return the land to approximate original contour, and establish a sustainable vegetative community, as required by the BLM. The RCE will be used to establish the appropriate amount for financial guarantees of land uses on the public lands, including those uses authorized by right-of-way grants or leases issued under this part.

Release has the meaning found at 42 U.S.C. 9601(22) of CERCLA.

Right-of-way means the public lands that the BLM authorizes a holder to use or occupy under a particular grant or lease.

Screening criteria for solar and wind energy development refers to the policies and procedures that the BLM uses to prioritize how it processes solar and wind energy development right-of-way applications to facilitate the environmentally responsible development of such facilities through the consideration of resource conflicts, land use plans, and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. Applications for projects with lesser resource conflicts are anticipated to be less costly and time-consuming for the BLM to process and will be prioritized over those with greater resource conflicts.

Short-term right-of-way grant means any grant issued for a term of 3 years or less for such uses as storage sites, construction areas, and site testing and monitoring activities, including site characterization studies and environmental monitoring.

Site means an area, such as a mountaintop, where a holder locates one or more communication or other right-of-way facilities.

Substantial deviation means a change in the authorized location or use which requires:

(1) Construction or use outside the boundaries of the right-of-way; or

(2) Any change from, or modification of, the authorized use. Examples of substantial deviation include: Adding equipment, overhead or underground lines, pipelines, structures, or other facilities not included in the original grant.

Tenant means an occupant who is paying a facility manager, facility owner, or other entity for occupying and using all or any part of a facility. A tenant operates communication equipment in the facility for profit by broadcasting to others or selling communication services. For purposes of calculating the amount of rent that BLM charges, a tenant's use does not include:

(1) Private mobile radio or internal microwave use that is not being sold; or

(2) A use in the category of “Other Communication Uses” (see paragraph (a) of the definition of Communication Use Rent Schedule in this section).

Third party means any person or entity other than BLM, the applicant, or the holder of a right-of-way authorization.

Tramway means a system for carrying passengers, logs, or other material using traveling carriages or cars suspended from an overhead cable or cables supported by a series of towers, hangers, tailhold anchors, guyline trees, etc.

Transportation and utility corridor means a parcel of land, without fixed limits or boundaries, that holders use as the location for one or more transportation or utility rights-of-way.

Zone means one of eight geographic groupings necessary for linear right-of-way rent assessment purposes, covering all lands in the contiguous United States.

[70 FR 21058, Apr. 22, 2005, as amended at 81 FR 92205, Dec. 19, 2016]