118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 7409
AN ACT
To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to waive
the requirement for a Federal drilling permit for certain
activities, to exempt certain activities from the require-
ments of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
•HR 7409 EH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harnessing Energy 2
At Thermal Sources Act’’ or the ‘‘HEATS Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. NO FEDERAL PERMIT REQUIRED FOR GEO-4
THERMAL ACTIVITIES ON CERTAIN LAND. 5
The Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 6
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 7
‘‘SEC. 30. NO FEDERAL PERMIT REQUIRED FOR GEO-8
THERMAL ACTIVITIES ON CERTAIN LAND. 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall not require 10
an operator to obtain a Federal drilling permit for geo-11
thermal exploration and production activities conducted on 12
a non-Federal surface estate, provided that— 13
‘‘(1) the United States holds an ownership in-14
terest of less than 50 percent of the subsurface geo-15
thermal estate to be accessed by the proposed action; 16
and 17
‘‘(2) the operator submits to the Secretary a 18
State permit to conduct geothermal exploration and 19
production activities on the non-Federal surface es-20
tate. 21
‘‘(b) N
OFEDERALACTION.—A geothermal explo-22
ration and production activity carried out under sub-23
section (a)— 24 3
•HR 7409 EH
‘‘(1) shall not be considered a major Federal 1
action for the purposes of section 102(2)(C) of the 2
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; 3
‘‘(2) shall require no additional Federal action; 4
‘‘(3) may commence 30 days after submission 5
of the State permit to the Secretary; 6
‘‘(4) shall not be subject to section 7 of the En-7
dangered Species Act of 1973; and 8
‘‘(5) shall only be considered an undertaking 9
under division A of subtitle III of title 54, United 10
States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘National 11
Historic Preservation Act’), if, with respect to the 12
State in which the activity occurs, there is no State 13
law in effect that addresses the preservation of his-14
toric properties in such State. 15
‘‘(c) R
OYALTIES AND PRODUCTION ACCOUNT-16
ABILITY.—(1) Nothing in this section shall affect the 17
amount of royalties due to the United States under this 18
Act from the production of electricity using geothermal re-19
sources (other than direct use of geothermal resources) or 20
the production of any byproducts. 21
‘‘(2) The Secretary may conduct onsite reviews and 22
inspections to ensure proper accountability, measurement, 23
and reporting of the production described in subsection 24
(a), and payment of royalties. 25 4
•HR 7409 EH
‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.—This section shall not apply to 1
actions on Indian lands or resources managed in trust for 2
the benefit of Indian Tribes. 3
‘‘(e) I
NDIANLAND.—In this section, the term ‘Indian 4
land’ means— 5
‘‘(1) any land located within the boundaries of 6
an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria; and 7
‘‘(2) any land not located within the boundaries 8
of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria, the 9
title to which is held— 10
‘‘(A) in trust by the United States for the 11
benefit of an Indian tribe or an individual In-12
dian; 13
‘‘(B) by an Indian tribe or an individual 14
Indian, subject to restriction against alienation 15
under laws of the United States; or 16
‘‘(C) by a dependent Indian community.’’. 17
Passed the House of Representatives November 14,
2024.
Attest:
Clerk. 118
TH
CONGRESS
2
D
S
ESSION
H. R. 7409
AN ACT
To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to
waive the requirement for a Federal drilling per-
mit for certain activities, to exempt certain ac-
tivities from the requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and for other
purposes.