I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 398
To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to provide cost-recovery
authority for the Department of the Interior.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY14, 2025
Ms. O
CASIO-CORTEZintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to provide
cost-recovery authority for the Department of the Interior.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Geothermal Cost-Re-4
covery Authority Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. COST RECOVERY FROM GEOTHERMAL LEASING, 6
PERMITTING, AND INSPECTIONS. 7
Section 6 of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 8
U.S.C. 1005) is amended by adding at the end the fol-9
lowing: 10
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H398.IH H398
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 398 IH
‘‘(j) COSTRECOVERY.— 1
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—During the period that be-2
gins on the date of enactment of this subsection and 3
ends September 30, 2032, the Secretary may require 4
an applicant for, or a holder of, a geothermal lease 5
to reimburse the United States for all reasonable ad-6
ministrative and other costs incurred by the United 7
States from— 8
‘‘(A) processing the application for the 9
geothermal lease, including any application for 10
an operations plan, geothermal drilling permit, 11
utilization plan, site license, facility construc-12
tion permit, commercial use permit, and any 13
other approval associated with a geothermal 14
lease; and 15
‘‘(B) inspecting and monitoring— 16
‘‘(i) geophysical exploration activities; 17
‘‘(ii) the drilling, plugging, and aban-18
donment of wells; and 19
‘‘(iii) the construction, operation, ter-20
mination, and reclamation of any well site 21
or facility for the utilization of geothermal 22
resources pursuant to the geothermal 23
lease. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H398.IH H398
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 398 IH
‘‘(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining wheth-1
er to require reimbursement under paragraph (1), 2
the Secretary shall consider whether there is in ex-3
istence a cooperative cost share agreement between 4
the United States and the holder of a geothermal 5
lease. 6
‘‘(3) A
DJUSTMENTS.—The Secretary may re-7
duce the amount to be reimbursed under paragraph 8
(1) if the Secretary determines— 9
‘‘(A) that full reimbursement would impose 10
an economic hardship on the applicant; or 11
‘‘(B) that a less than full reimbursement is 12
necessary to promote the greatest use of geo-13
thermal resources. 14
‘‘(4) U
SE.—The amounts reimbursed under this 15
subsection shall be credited to the currently applica-16
ble appropriation, account, or fund of the Depart-17
ment of the Interior as discretionary offsetting col-18
lections, and shall be available only to the extent 19
provided in advance in appropriations Acts for— 20
‘‘(A) processing the application for geo-21
thermal leases, including any application for op-22
erations plans, geothermal drilling permits, uti-23
lization plans, site licenses, facility construction 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H398.IH H398
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 398 IH
permits, commercial use permits, and any other 1
approval associated with geothermal leases; and 2
‘‘(B) inspecting and monitoring— 3
‘‘(i) geophysical exploration activities; 4
‘‘(ii) the drilling, plugging, and aban-5
donment of wells; and 6
‘‘(iii) the construction, operation, ter-7
mination, and reclamation of any well site 8
or facility for the utilization of geothermal 9
resources pursuant to geothermal leases.’’. 10
SEC. 3. REPORT. 11
(a) R
EPORT.—Not later than 5 years after the date 12
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior, 13
in consultation with the geothermal industry and other 14
stakeholders, shall submit to the Committee on Natural 15
Resources of the House of Representatives and the Com-16
mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate, 17
and make publicly available on the website of the Depart-18
ment of the Interior, a report that includes— 19
(1) an assessment of how the amendments 20
made by section 2 of this Act affected the Bureau 21
of Land Management’s geothermal program; 22
(2) any recommendations for reauthorization of 23
section 6(j) of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970, 24
as added by this Act; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H398.IH H398
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 398 IH
(3) any other recommendations for updates to 1
such section and the Bureau of Land Management’s 2
geothermal program. 3
(b) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the report re-4
quired in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Interior shall 5
solicit facts or information from the geothermal industry 6
and other stakeholders. 7
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H398.IH H398
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS