Energy: Federal Trust Fund: geothermal projects.

Existing law requires that all revenues received by the state pursuant to specified federal laws be deposited in the Geothermal Resources Development Account and continuously appropriated as specified. Existing law requires some of those revenues to be disbursed to counties in which the federal government has leased land for geothermal development and another portion of those revenues to be available for distribution by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) as grants or loans made to local jurisdictions or private entities. Existing law specifies purposes primarily relating to geothermal energy development and mitigation for which recipients may expend these moneys. This bill would additionally authorize those recipients to expend those revenues to undertake projects to recover lithium, metals, agricultural products, and other beneficial minerals from highly mineralized geothermal brines at existing geothermal facilities that are in disadvantaged communities and provide local employment opportunities. Existing law authorizes the Energy Commission to administer funds appropriated by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (federal act) for the federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program to award contracts, grants, and loans for energy-related projects. This bill would, of the moneys appropriated to the commission in the 2016–17 fiscal year from the moneys derived from the federal act in the Federal Trust Fund for the purposes specified in existing law for funds derived from the federal act, allocate $2,500,000 to the commission for the geothermal brine treatment projects that would be authorized by this bill. The bill would, for the 2017–18 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, continuously appropriate $2,500,000 annually to the commission from the moneys derived from the federal act in the Federal Trust Fund for the above purposes specified in existing law until all of those moneys are encumbered or expended.