Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB7409 Compare Versions

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Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
	1	+	IB
	2	+	Union Calendar No. 609
1	3		118THCONGRESS
2	4		2
3	5		DSESSION H. R. 7409
4		-	AN ACT
	6	+	[Report No. 118–722]
	7	+	To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to waive the requirement
	8	+	for a Federal drilling permit for certain activities, to exempt certain
	9	+	activities from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy
	10	+	Act of 1969, and for other purposes.
	11	+	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
	12	+	FEBRUARY20, 2024
	13	+	Mrs. K
	14	+	IMof California (for herself and Mr. DUARTE) introduced the following
	15	+	bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
	16	+	N
	17	+	OVEMBER1, 2024
	18	+	Additional sponsor: Mrs. P
	19	+	ELTOLA
	20	+	N
	21	+	OVEMBER1, 2024
	22	+	Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union
	23	+	and ordered to be printed
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	26	+	•HR 7409 RH
	27	+	A BILL
5	28		To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to waive
6	29		the requirement for a Federal drilling permit for certain
7	30		activities, to exempt certain activities from the require-
8	31		ments of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969,
9	32		and for other purposes.
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10	36		Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
11		-	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
12		-	•HR 7409 EH
13		-	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
14		-	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harnessing Energy 2
15		-	At Thermal Sources Act’’ or the ‘‘HEATS Act’’. 3
16		-	SEC. 2. NO FEDERAL PERMIT REQUIRED FOR GEO-4
17		-	THERMAL ACTIVITIES ON CERTAIN LAND. 5
18		-	The Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 6
19		-	et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 7
20		-	‘‘SEC. 30. NO FEDERAL PERMIT REQUIRED FOR GEO-8
21		-	THERMAL ACTIVITIES ON CERTAIN LAND. 9
	37	+	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
	38	+	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
	39	+	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harnessing Energy 4
	40	+	At Thermal Sources Act’’ or the ‘‘HEATS Act’’. 5
	41	+	SEC. 2. NO FEDERAL PERMIT REQUIRED FOR GEO-6
	42	+	THERMAL ACTIVITIES ON CERTAIN LAND. 7
	43	+	The Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 8
	44	+	et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 9
	45	+	‘‘SEC. 30. NO FEDERAL PERMIT REQUIRED FOR GEO-10
	46	+	THERMAL ACTIVITIES ON CERTAIN LAND. 11
22	47		‘‘(a) I
23		-	NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall not require 10
24		-	an operator to obtain a Federal drilling permit for geo-11
25		-	thermal exploration and production activities conducted on 12
26		-	a non-Federal surface estate, provided that— 13
27		-	‘‘(1) the United States holds an ownership in-14
28		-	terest of less than 50 percent of the subsurface geo-15
29		-	thermal estate to be accessed by the proposed action; 16
30		-	and 17
31		-	‘‘(2) the operator submits to the Secretary a 18
32		-	State permit to conduct geothermal exploration and 19
33		-	production activities on the non-Federal surface es-20
34		-	tate. 21
35		-	‘‘(b) N
36		-	OFEDERALACTION.—A geothermal explo-22
37		-	ration and production activity carried out under sub-23
38		-	section (a)— 24 3
39		-	•HR 7409 EH
40		-	‘‘(1) shall not be considered a major Federal 1
41		-	action for the purposes of section 102(2)(C) of the 2
42		-	National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; 3
43		-	‘‘(2) shall require no additional Federal action; 4
44		-	‘‘(3) may commence 30 days after submission 5
45		-	of the State permit to the Secretary; 6
46		-	‘‘(4) shall not be subject to section 7 of the En-7
47		-	dangered Species Act of 1973; and 8
48		-	‘‘(5) shall only be considered an undertaking 9
49		-	under division A of subtitle III of title 54, United 10
50		-	States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘National 11
51		-	Historic Preservation Act’), if, with respect to the 12
52		-	State in which the activity occurs, there is no State 13
53		-	law in effect that addresses the preservation of his-14
54		-	toric properties in such State. 15
	48	+	NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall not require 12
	49	+	an operator to obtain a Federal drilling permit for geo-13
	50	+	thermal exploration and production activities conducted on 14
	51	+	a non-Federal surface estate, provided that— 15
	52	+	‘‘(1) the United States holds an ownership in-16
	53	+	terest of less than 50 percent of the subsurface geo-17
	54	+	thermal estate to be accessed by the proposed action; 18
	55	+	and 19
	56	+	‘‘(2) the operator submits to the Secretary a 20
	57	+	State permit to conduct geothermal exploration and 21
	58	+	production activities on the non-Federal surface es-22
	59	+	tate. 23
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	63	+	‘‘(b) NOFEDERALACTION.—A geothermal explo-1
	64	+	ration and production activity carried out under sub-2
	65	+	section (a)— 3
	66	+	‘‘(1) shall not be considered a major Federal 4
	67	+	action for the purposes of section 102(2)(C) of the 5
	68	+	National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; 6
	69	+	‘‘(2) shall require no additional Federal action; 7
	70	+	‘‘(3) may commence 30 days after submission 8
	71	+	of the State permit to the Secretary; 9
	72	+	‘‘(4) shall not be subject to section 7 of the En-10
	73	+	dangered Species Act of 1973; and 11
	74	+	‘‘(5) shall only be considered an undertaking 12
	75	+	under division A of subtitle III of title 54, United 13
	76	+	States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘National 14
	77	+	Historic Preservation Act’), if, with respect to the 15
	78	+	State in which the activity occurs, there is no State 16
	79	+	law in effect that addresses the preservation of his-17
	80	+	toric properties in such State. 18
55	81		‘‘(c) R
56		-	OYALTIES AND PRODUCTION ACCOUNT-16
57		-	ABILITY.—(1) Nothing in this section shall affect the 17
58		-	amount of royalties due to the United States under this 18
59		-	Act from the production of electricity using geothermal re-19
60		-	sources (other than direct use of geothermal resources) or 20
61		-	the production of any byproducts. 21
62		-	‘‘(2) The Secretary may conduct onsite reviews and 22
63		-	inspections to ensure proper accountability, measurement, 23
64		-	and reporting of the production described in subsection 24
65		-	(a), and payment of royalties. 25 4
66		-	•HR 7409 EH
67		-	‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.—This section shall not apply to 1
68		-	actions on Indian lands or resources managed in trust for 2
69		-	the benefit of Indian Tribes. 3
	82	+	OYALTIES AND PRODUCTION ACCOUNT-19
	83	+	ABILITY.—(1) Nothing in this section shall affect the 20
	84	+	amount of royalties due to the United States under this 21
	85	+	Act from the production of electricity using geothermal re-22
	86	+	sources (other than direct use of geothermal resources) or 23
	87	+	the production of any byproducts. 24
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	90	+	•HR 7409 RH
	91	+	‘‘(2) The Secretary may conduct onsite reviews and 1
	92	+	inspections to ensure proper accountability, measurement, 2
	93	+	and reporting of the production described in subsection 3
	94	+	(a), and payment of royalties. 4
	95	+	‘‘(d) E
	96	+	XCEPTIONS.—This section shall not apply to 5
	97	+	actions on Indian lands or resources managed in trust for 6
	98	+	the benefit of Indian Tribes. 7
70	99		‘‘(e) I
71		-	NDIANLAND.—In this section, the term ‘Indian 4
72		-	land’ means— 5
73		-	‘‘(1) any land located within the boundaries of 6
74		-	an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria; and 7
75		-	‘‘(2) any land not located within the boundaries 8
76		-	of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria, the 9
77		-	title to which is held— 10
78		-	‘‘(A) in trust by the United States for the 11
79		-	benefit of an Indian tribe or an individual In-12
80		-	dian; 13
81		-	‘‘(B) by an Indian tribe or an individual 14
82		-	Indian, subject to restriction against alienation 15
83		-	under laws of the United States; or 16
84		-	‘‘(C) by a dependent Indian community.’’. 17
85		-	~~Passed the House of Representatives November 14~~,
86		-	~~2024~~.
87		-	~~Attest:~~
88		-	~~Clerk.~~ 118
	100	+	NDIANLAND.—In this section, the term ‘Indian 8
	101	+	land’ means— 9
	102	+	‘‘(1) any land located within the boundaries of 10
	103	+	an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria; and 11
	104	+	‘‘(2) any land not located within the boundaries 12
	105	+	of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria, the 13
	106	+	title to which is held— 14
	107	+	‘‘(A) in trust by the United States for the 15
	108	+	benefit of an Indian tribe or an individual In-16
	109	+	dian; 17
	110	+	‘‘(B) by an Indian tribe or an individual 18
	111	+	Indian, subject to restriction against alienation 19
	112	+	under laws of the United States; or 20
	113	+	‘‘(C) by a dependent Indian community.’’. 21
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	116	+	609
	117	+	118
89	118		TH
90	119		CONGRESS
91	120		2
92	121		D
93	122		S
94	123		ESSION
95	124
96	125		H. R. 7409
97		-	AN ACT
	126	+	[Report No. 118–722]
	127	+	A BILL
98	128		To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to
99	129		waive the requirement for a Federal drilling per-
100	130		mit for certain activities, to exempt certain ac-
101	131		tivities from the requirements of the National
102	132		Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and for other
103	133		purposes.
	134	+	N
	135	+	OVEMBER
	136	+	1, 2024
	137	+	Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
	138	+	State of the Union and ordered to be printed
	139	+	VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Nov 01, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H7409.RH H7409
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