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Industry and conservationists testify for faster geothermal permitting while urging environmental safeguards
Summary
Industry witnesses told a House subcommittee that permitting delays — not technology or supply chains — are the main barrier to scaling geothermal, while conservation groups backed reform conditional on mitigation, monitoring and programmatic review; members pressed for 'extraordinary circumstances' language in categorical exclusions.
At a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing, industry witnesses and conservation representatives offered converging views that geothermal can expand rapidly if permitting is reformed, but they diverged on how to preserve environmental safeguards.
Tim Latimer, cofounder and CEO of Fervo Energy, told members that enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are ready to scale, citing the Cape Station project in Utah (permitted for up to 2 gigawatts and slated to deliver 100 megawatts in its first phase). Latimer said Fervo has cut drilling time by roughly 75% and reduced cost per foot by about 70% since its 2022 wells, and that the company has raised more than $1 billion in capital. He argued the primary barrier to deployment is permitting on federal lands and urged support for bills that provide categorical exclusions for…
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