H.R. 2358: Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act

114th Congress · introduced 2015-05-15 · Public Lands and Natural Resources · Latest: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 219.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2015-05-15 · official record
Who proposed it: Rep. Zinke, Ryan K. [R-MT-At Large] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 219. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act

Plain summary

Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act (Sec. 2) This bill requires the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), with respect to lands under their respective jurisdictions, to provide direction under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to ensure that all existing and future rights-of-way for electrical transmission and distribution facilities on such lands include requirements meeting specified criteria for utility vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and maintenance activities. Interior and the USDA shall: (1) give facility owners and operators the option to submit their own vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and maintenance plans for approval; and (2) develop jointly a consolidated and coordinated process for review and approval of those plans. Interior and the USDA shall apply their respective categorical exclusion processes under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to any plans developed on existing transmission and distribution rights-of-way located on lands under their respective jurisdictions. (A "categorical exclusion" under NEPA is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations and for which, therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.) A plan approved under this section shall become part of the authorization governing the covered right-of-way and hazard trees adjacent to that right-of-way. A hazard tree is any tree inside or located outside a right-of-way that has been found by either the transmission or distribution facility owner or operator, or by Interior or the USDA, to be likely to fail and cause a high risk of injury, damage, or disruption within 10 feet or less of an electric power line or related structure if it fell . If vegetation on federal lands within, or hazard trees on federal lands adjacent to, an electrical transmission or distribution right-of-way granted by Interior or the USDA has contacted, or is in imminent danger of contacting, one or more electric transmission or distribution lines, the owner or operator: may prune or remove the vegetation to avoid disruption of electric service and risk of fire; and shall notify the local agent of the relevant Department within 24 hours after such removal. The owner or operator of a transmission or distribution facility, after notifying Interior or the USDA, as appropriate, may also conduct vegetation management activities on federal lands to meet clearance requirements under standards established by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation or by state and local authorities. An owner or operator of a transmission or distribution facility shall not be held liable for wildfire damage, loss, or injury, including the cost of fire suppression, if Interior or the USDA fails to allow it to: operate consistently with an approved vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and maintenance plan on federal lands within or adjacent to a right-of-way to comply with federal, state, or local electric system reliability and fire safety standards; or perform vegetation management activities in response to an identified hazard tree or a tree in imminent danger of contacting the owner's or operator's transmission or distribution facility. Interior and the USDA should develop a program to train their personnel involved in vegetation management decisions relating to transmission and distribution facilities to ensure that they: understand electric system reliability and fire safety requirements, assist transmission and distribution facility owners and operators to comply with applicable electric reliability and fire safety requirements, and encourage and assist willing owners and operators to incorporate voluntarily vegetation management practices to enhance habitats and forage for pollinators and for other wildlife so long as those practices are compatible with the integrated vegetation management practices necessary for reliability and safety.

Congressional Research Service summary (Reported to House amended, Part I), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

If it is not passed, current law stays as it is.

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Reported to House amended, Part I)

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The strongest published arguments

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Zinke, Ryan K. [R-MT-At Large] · 14 cosponsors

Cost estimate: CBO cost estimate: H.R. 2358, Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act (2015-09-15)

Cosponsors on this site

Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Cynthia M. Lummis (R-WY), Tom Cole (R-OK), Bruce Westerman (R-AR), Brett Guthrie (R-KY)

Sponsor's campaign money: Rep. Zinke, Ryan K. [R-MT-At Large] reported raising $10.1 million (2023–2024). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (4)

Appropriation: Money a legislature sets aside by law for a specific purpose. Government agencies may spend public money only as it has been appropriated.
Authorization: A law that creates or continues a government program and says what it may do, often with a suggested spending ceiling. An authorization alone does not provide money; a separate appropriation does.
Bill: A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Rulemaking: The process agencies use to write regulations that carry out laws passed by Congress or a legislature. Usually an agency publishes a proposed rule, takes public comments, then publishes a final rule.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Reported to House amended, Part I)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-114hr2358.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/114/hr>

Record fed-us-cong114-hr2358 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong114 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong114