The House Natural Resources Committee on Thursday approved a roster of bills geared toward easing the path to producing more geothermal energy, a renewable power source lauded by Republicans and Democrats alike — as well as the Trump administration.
Committee members passed more than a dozen bills Thursday via unanimous consent, including the “Geothermal Energy Opportunity (GEO) Act,” H.R. 301 from Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah), which would require that the Interior Department process applications related to geothermal leases within 60 days of completing certain federal requirements.
But Democrats did push back on some bills. One of those, Idaho Republican Rep. Russ Fulcher’s H.R. 5576, the “Enhancing Geothermal Production on Federal Lands Act,” would ease permitting for some geothermal projects by creating a National Environmental Policy Act carve-out for certain exploration wells.
Committee ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) complained the bill would “exempt some projects entirely from NEPA.”
