Subcommittee hearing spotlights nine-bill package to speed geothermal permitting while retaining environmental safeguards

WITNESSES FROM industry, conservation groups and geothermal developers told the House Natural Resources subcommittee that a package of nine bills before the panel would reduce redundant environmental reviews, create more predictable permitting timelines, and accelerate deployment of geothermal power — while maintaining environmental and tribal protections.

Dr. Jones, a witness speaking for the geothermal industry, told the subcommittee that inconsistent review practices across Bureau of Land Management field offices mean identical review phases "can take 6 months in one BLM office and perhaps years in another," creating barriers to deploying gigawatts of geothermal energy. "We can either continue to strand gigawatts of clean, reliable domestic energy underground, or we can pass these common sense reforms and unlock one of our most abundant and untapped baseload energy resources," he said.