Fire Safe Electrical Corridors Act of 2025 in plain language
1: Short title
This section gives the Act its official short name, the Fire Safe Electrical Corridors Act of 2025.
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1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Fire Safe Electrical Corridors Act of 2025 .
2: Permits and agreements with electrical utilities
This section would let the Secretary concerned include permission in a special use permit or easement given to an electrical utility on covered Federal lands to cut and remove trees or other vegetation from within the vicinity of the utility's distribution lines or transmission lines, without requiring a separate timber sale. That permission could be given only if the cutting and removal is consistent with both any applicable land and resource management plan and other applicable environmental laws, including regulations. Any special use permit or easement that includes this permission would have to require that if the electrical utility sells any portion of the material it removed, the utility must give the proceeds from that sale to the Secretary concerned, minus any transportation costs the utility incurred in making the sale. Nothing in that proceeds requirement would force the utility to sell the removed material; the utility could keep or dispose of it without selling it. The section defines covered Federal lands as National Forest System lands and lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. It defines Secretary concerned as the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, for National Forest System lands, and the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, for lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
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2. Permits and agreements with electrical utilities (a) In general In any special use permit or easement on covered Federal lands provided to an electrical utility, the Secretary concerned may provide permission to cut and remove trees or other vegetation from within the vicinity of distribution lines or transmission lines without requiring a separate timber sale, if that cutting and removal is consistent with— (1) any applicable land and resource management plan; and (2) other applicable environmental laws (including regulations). (b) Use of proceeds A special use permit or easement that includes permission for cutting and removal described in subsection (a) shall include a requirement that, if the applicable electrical utility sells any portion of the material removed under the permit or easement, the electrical utility shall provide to the Secretary concerned any proceeds received from the sale, less any transportation costs incurred in the sale. (c) Effect Nothing in subsection (b) shall require the sale of any material removed under a permit or easement that includes permission for cutting and removal described in subsection (a). (d) Definitions In this section: (1) Covered Federal lands The term covered Federal lands means— (A) National Forest System lands; and (B) lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. (2) Secretary concerned The term Secretary concerned means— (A) with respect to National Forest System lands, the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service; and (B) with respect to lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.