Washington, DC – Wednesday, January 17, 2024 – The House Committee on Natural Resources passed several bills out of the Committee today, including geothermal legislation:
H.R. 6474, introduced by Reps. Michelle Steel (R-CA) and Susie Lee (D-NV). This bill would amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to include geothermal as a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The categorical exclusion currently applies to certain exploration and development activities for oil and gas on federal lands.
Absent the reforms from H.R. 6474, geothermal energy projects can require as many as six separate NEPA reviews. NEPA reviews that result in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) require an average of 4.5 years to complete, but due to litigation and lack of coordination, some reviews can take
10 or more years.
Geothermal also provides emissions-free heat and power with the highest capacity factor of any renewable energy source. It does so while maintaining a small land footprint, which is an increasingly valuable trait as
large-scale renewable energy siting runs into headwinds.