| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 301 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to establish a deadline for |
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| 6 | 6 | | processing applications related to geothermal leasing. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | JANUARY9, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Ms. M |
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| 10 | 10 | | ALOYintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee |
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| 11 | 11 | | on Natural Resources |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to establish |
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| 14 | 14 | | a deadline for processing applications related to geo- |
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| 15 | 15 | | thermal leasing. |
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| 16 | 16 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 17 | 17 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 18 | 18 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 19 | 19 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Geothermal Energy 4 |
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| 20 | 20 | | Opportunity Act’’ or the ‘‘GEO Act’’. 5 |
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| 21 | 21 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H301.IH H301 |
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| 22 | 22 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 23 | 23 | | •HR 301 IH |
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| 24 | 24 | | SEC. 2. EFFECT OF PENDING CIVIL ACTIONS ON PROC-1 |
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| 25 | 25 | | ESSING APPLICATIONS RELATED TO GEO-2 |
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| 26 | 26 | | THERMAL LEASING. 3 |
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| 27 | 27 | | Section 4 of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 4 |
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| 28 | 28 | | U.S.C. 1003) is amended by adding at the end the fol-5 |
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| 29 | 29 | | lowing: 6 |
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| 30 | 30 | | ‘‘(h) E |
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| 31 | 31 | | FFECT OFPENDINGCIVILACTIONS ONPROC-7 |
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| 32 | 32 | | ESSINGAPPLICATIONSRELATED TOGEOTHERMALLEAS-8 |
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| 33 | 33 | | ING.— 9 |
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| 34 | 34 | | ‘‘(1) R |
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| 35 | 35 | | EQUIREMENT TO PROCESS APPLICA -10 |
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| 36 | 36 | | TIONS.—Notwithstanding the existence of any pend-11 |
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| 37 | 37 | | ing civil action that affects an application for a geo-12 |
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| 38 | 38 | | thermal drilling permit, sundry notice, notice to pro-13 |
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| 39 | 39 | | ceed, right-of-way, or any other authorization under 14 |
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| 40 | 40 | | a valid existing geothermal lease, the Secretary shall, 15 |
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| 41 | 41 | | unless a United States Federal court vacates or pro-16 |
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| 42 | 42 | | vides injunctive relief for the applicable geothermal 17 |
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| 43 | 43 | | lease, geothermal drilling permit, sundry notice, no-18 |
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| 44 | 44 | | tice to proceed, right-of-way, or other authorization, 19 |
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| 45 | 45 | | approve and issue, or deny, each such application 20 |
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| 46 | 46 | | not later than 60 days after completing all require-21 |
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| 47 | 47 | | ments under applicable Federal laws and regula-22 |
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| 48 | 48 | | tions, including the National Environmental Policy 23 |
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| 49 | 49 | | Act of 1969, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 24 |
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| 50 | 50 | | and division A of subtitle III of title 54, United 25 |
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| 51 | 51 | | States Code. 26 |
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| 52 | 52 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H301.IH H301 |
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| 53 | 53 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 54 | 54 | | •HR 301 IH |
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| 55 | 55 | | ‘‘(2) NO NEW AUTHORITY FOR FEDERAL 1 |
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| 56 | 56 | | COURTS.—Nothing in this subsection shall be con-2 |
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| 57 | 57 | | strued as modifying any existing authority of a Fed-3 |
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| 58 | 58 | | eral court to vacate or provide injunctive relief for 4 |
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| 59 | 59 | | a geothermal lease, geothermal drilling permit, sun-5 |
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| 60 | 60 | | dry notice, notice to proceed, right-of-way, or other 6 |
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| 61 | 61 | | authorization. 7 |
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| 62 | 62 | | ‘‘(3) D |
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| 63 | 63 | | EFINITION OF AUTHORIZATION .—In this 8 |
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| 64 | 64 | | subsection, the term ‘authorization’ means any li-9 |
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| 65 | 65 | | cense, permit, approval, finding, determination, or 10 |
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| 66 | 66 | | other administrative decision issued by a Federal 11 |
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| 67 | 67 | | agency, or any interagency consultation, that is re-12 |
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| 68 | 68 | | quired or authorized under Federal law or regula-13 |
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| 69 | 69 | | tions in order to site, construct, reconstruct, or com-14 |
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| 70 | 70 | | mence operations of a geothermal project adminis-15 |
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| 71 | 71 | | tered by a Federal agency.’’. 16 |
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| 72 | 72 | | Æ |
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| 73 | 73 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H301.IH H301 |
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| 74 | 74 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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