49–006 

113TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session 113–690 

EXPLORING FOR GEOTHERMAL ENERGY ON FEDERAL 

LANDS ACT 

DECEMBER 22, 2014.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State 

of the Union and ordered to be printed 

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, from the Committee on Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

together with 

DISSENTING VIEWS 

[To accompany H.R. 1363] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 1363) to promote timely exploration for geothermal resources under existing geothermal leases, and for other purposes, 

having considered the same, report favorably thereon without 

amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 1363 is to promote timely exploration for 

geothermal resources under existing geothermal leases. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Geothermal energy can be used for electricity production, for 

commercial, industrial, and residential direct heating purposes, 

and for heating and cooling through geothermal heat pumps. To develop geothermal electricity, wells bring the geothermal water to 

the surface, where its heat energy is converted into electricity at 

a geothermal power plant. Geothermal heat can also be used without involving a power plant or heat pump for applications such as 

space heating and cooling, food preparation, greenhouses, and agriculture. 


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Currently, the process of drilling of a well simply to test for geothermal resources requires both a permit and a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review and frequently takes 10 months, 

but can be tied up in the review process for more than a year. 

When a company has to drill multiple holes for exploration, and 

during the process drill additional subsequent holes which require 

repeating this process, this prevents geothermal resources from 

being expeditiously discovered and utilized. 

Recently obtained documents from the Department of Energy 

show that the geothermal NEPA process takes five to seven 

years—longer than both oil and gas projects and solar and wind 

projects, which take three to five years and one and a half years, 

respectively. The geothermal NEPA review process requires over 

175 document sets for each project, which equates to hundreds or 

even thousands of pages of documents for one project. These requirements are significant setbacks and lead to extremely long 

delays in geothermal production. 

H.R. 1363 will streamline the NEPA process for a geothermal 

test project which will allow a geothermal project to quickly move 

forward if resources are found. Streamlining this permitting process will allow geothermal resources to be expeditiously discovered 

and utilized. 

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 1363 was introduced on March 21, 2013, by Congressman 

Rau ́l Labrador (R–ID). The bill was referred to the Committee on 

Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee 

on Energy and Mineral Resources. On July 29, 2014, the Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill. On September 18, 2014, the 

Full Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The 

Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources was discharged by 

unanimous consent. No amendments were offered and the bill was 

adopted and ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives by voice vote. 

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII 

of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 

Natural Resources’ oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the body of this report. 

COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of 

the House of Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) of that rule provides 

that this requirement does not apply when the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 

3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 

section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate for this bill from the 

Director of the Congressional Budget Office: 


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H.R. 1363—Exploring for Geothermal Energy on Federal Lands Act 

H.R. 1363 would exempt certain geothermal exploration projects 

from complying with provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Based on information from the Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM), CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would have no significant effect on the federal budget. Enacting H.R. 1363 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. 

Under the bill, geothermal exploration projects that meet certain 

requirements related to the duration of the activities, the amount 

of land disturbed, and the restoration of the project site would not 

be required to obtain an environmental impact review under 

NEPA. The Secretary of the Interior would have 10 days to review 

proposed projects to determine whether they meet the requirements necessary to obtain a NEPA exemption. Based on information provided by BLM, CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would have a negligible effect on the agency’s workload. 

H.R. 1363 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would 

impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director 

for Budget Analysis. 

2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required by 

clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, 

this bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in revenues or 

tax expenditures. Based on information from the Bureau of Land 

Management, CBO estimates that implementing the legislation 

would have no significant effect on the federal budget. 

3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 

clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or objective 

of this bill is to promote timely exploration for geothermal resources under existing geothermal leases. 

EARMARK STATEMENT

This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, limited 

tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined under clause 9(e), 

9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104–4

This bill contains no unfunded mandates. 

COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5

Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that this 

bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any specific 

rule-making proceedings. 

Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not establish or 

reauthorize a program of the federal government known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was not included in 

any report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress 

pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111–139 or identified in the 


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most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program Information Act (Public Law 95–220, 

as amended by Public Law 98–169) as relating to other programs. 

PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or tribal law. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing law. 


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(5) 

DISSENTING VIEWS 

H.R. 1363: THE EXPLORING FOR GEOTHERMAL ENERGY ON FEDERAL

LANDS ACT

While the goal of this legislation—increasing the development of 

geothermal energy on Federal lands—is laudable, the way this bill 

tries to accomplish that goal would be inappropriate and ineffective. Unfortunately, this bill uses the same shopworn approach that 

the Majority uses time and time again when they want something 

to move faster: short-circuit environmental reviews. Not only will 

this not fix the problem the bill is purportedly trying to solve, but 

it will result in potentially harmful unintended consequences. 

To start, the basic need for this legislation has not been demonstrated by the sponsor or advocates. No data was provided to 

show that geothermal test wells have been unduly delayed due to 

environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA). In fact, at the Subcommittee’s hearing on the bill, the 

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) testified that they use categorical exclusions to exempt geothermal test wells from further NEPA 

review two-thirds of the time, and when additional review is warranted, the environmental assessments typically take less than 90 

days. 

Routine geothermal test wells are clearly already exempt from 

significant environmental review. But in those cases where the well 

would be in a particularly sensitive area, or might have some other 

extenuating circumstance, a closer look is warranted. However, this 

bill would eliminate the ability for the BLM to take that closer 

look, regardless of the circumstance. The precedent for this was established by the categorical exclusions established in Section 390 

of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In rulings that we believe are 

strongly contrary to Congressional intent, courts have held that 

these statutory categorical exclusions are not subject to the extraordinary circumstances review that all other categorically excluded actions receive. That means that BLM would not be able to 

even check and see if a well posed a significant threat to human 

health or safety or impacted the use of Native American sacred 

sites. 


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Taking shortcuts around fundamental environmental reviews 

and opportunities for public input is not the right way to encourage 

the development of renewable resources in this country. We encourage the Majority to support policies that would be far more effective, such as extending tax incentives for renewable development, 

increasing funding for renewable energy research, and enacting a 

policy to address the significant threat posed by climate change. 

H.R. 1363 creates an unnecessary environmental loophole that will 

have no positive impact on geothermal development, and as such 

we oppose it. 

PETER DEFAZIO, Ranking Member, Committee 

on Natural Resources. 

RUSH HOLT, 

Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Energy & 

Mineral Resources. 

Æ 


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