Enhancing Geothermal Production on Federal Lands Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 5576 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5576 To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to promote timely exploration for geothermal resources under geothermal leases, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 26, 2025 Mr. Fulcher introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to promote timely exploration for geothermal resources under geothermal leases, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Enhancing Geothermal Production on Federal Lands Act''. SEC. 2. GEOTHERMAL PRODUCTION ON FEDERAL LANDS. The Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``SEC. 30. GEOTHERMAL EXPLORATION PROJECTS. ``(a) Definitions.--In this section: ``(1) Geothermal exploration project.--The term `geothermal exploration project' means the drilling of a temperature gradient well, monitoring well, calibration well, or another geothermal exploratory well, including construction or making improvements for such activities, on lands for which the Secretary has issued a geothermal lease-- ``(A) that is carried out by the holder of the lease; ``(B) for which-- ``(i) the last cemented casing string has an outer diameter of less than 13\3/8\ inches; and ``(ii) the total unreclaimed surface disturbance at any one time within the project area is less than 8 acres, not including the area of a permanent or temporary access road; ``(C) that is completed in less than 180 days, including the removal of any surface infrastructure from the