S-209 : Still Just a Bill

Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act Amendments of 2015

Amends the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to direct the Department of the Interior to provide Indian tribes with technical assistance in planning their energy resource development programs.

Makes intertribal organizations eligible for Department of Energy (DOE) Indian energy education planning and management assistance program grants.

Makes tribal energy development organizations eligible for DOE energy development loan guarantees.

Allows leases and business agreements that pool, unitize, or communitize a tribe's energy resources with other energy resources.

Requires an energy-related tribal lease, business agreement, or grant of a right-of-way made without Interior's approval to comply with a tribal energy resource agreement between the tribe and Interior, unless it is a lease with a tribal energy development organization that Interior has certified.

Alters the process and conditions for Interior's approval of tribal energy resource agreements.

Alters the process for determining whether an interested party has a valid claim to be suffering an adverse environmental impact due to a tribe's noncompliance with such agreement.

Directs DOE to collaborate with the Directors of the National Laboratories in making the full array of DOE technical and scientific resources available for tribal energy activities and projects.

Amends the Federal Power Act to include Indian tribes, along with states and municipalities, as having preference for the receipt of preliminary hydroelectric licenses.

Amends the Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 to direct Interior, for land under Bureau of Land Management jurisdiction, or the Department of Agriculture, for land under Forest Service jurisdiction, to enter into agreements with Indian tribes and Alaska Native corporations for the conduct of demonstration projects to promote biomass energy production on Indian forest land and in nearby communities by providing them with reliable supplies of woody biomass from federal lands.

Amends the Energy Conservation and Production Act to prescribe requirements for direct home weatherization grants to Indian tribes upon request when low-income Indian beneficiaries would not be better served if the grant went to their state.

Amends the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to allow Interior, an affected Indian tribe, or a certified third-party appraiser under contract with the Indian tribe to appraise Indian mineral or energy resources involved in a transaction requiring Interior's approval.

Amends the Long-Term Leasing Act to authorize the Navajo Nation to enter into commercial or agricultural leases of up to 99 years on their restricted lands without Interior approval.

Allows the Navajo Nation to enter into 25-year (renewable) mineral resource leases on its restricted lands without Interior's approval if they are executed under approved tribal regulations. Limits oil and gas leases to terms of up to 10 years if oil or gas is being produced in a paying quantity.

Allows the Crow Tribe of Montana to enter into leases on its restricted land for a term of up to 99 years.

Requires that any advance payments, bid deposits, or other earnest money received by Interior, subject to a certain restriction, in connection with the review and approval of a sale, lease, permit, or any other conveyance of any interest in any trust or restricted land of any Indian tribe or individual Indian, upon request by the tribe or individual Indian, to be held in the trust fund system, upon receipt and before contract or instrument approval, for the benefit of the Indian tribe and individual Indian from whose land the funds were generated.