II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1901 

To promote geothermal energy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 19, 2019 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To promote geothermal energy, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Geothermal Energy 

5 Opportunities Act’’ or the ‘‘GEO Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL GOALS FOR PRODUCTION AND SITE 

7 IDENTIFICATION. 

8 It is the sense of Congress that, not later than 10 

9 years after the date of enactment of this Act— 

10 (1) the Secretary of the Interior should seek to 

11 have approved more than 15,000 megawatts of new 


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1 geothermal energy capacity on public land across a 

2 geographically diverse set of States using the full 

3 range of available technologies; and 

4 (2) the Director of the United States Geological 

5 Survey and the Secretary of Energy should identify 

6 sites capable of producing a total of 50,000 

7 megawatts of geothermal power, using the full range 

8 of available technologies. 

9 SEC. 3. PRIORITY AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT ON FEDERAL 

10 LAND. 

11 The Director of the Bureau of Land Management, 

12 in consultation with other appropriate Federal officials, 

13 shall— 

14 (1) identify high-priority areas for new geo15 thermal development; and 

16 (2) take any actions the Director determines 

17 necessary to facilitate that development, consistent 

18 with applicable laws. 

19 SEC. 4. FACILITATION OF COPRODUCTION OF GEO20 THERMAL ENERGY ON OIL AND GAS LEASES. 

21 Section 4(b) of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 

22 (30 U.S.C. 1003(b)) is amended by adding at the end the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(4) LAND SUBJECT TO OIL AND GAS LEASE.— 

25 Land under an oil and gas lease issued pursuant to 


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1 the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) or 

2 the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands (30 

3 U.S.C. 351 et seq.) that is subject to an approved 

4 application for permit to drill and from which oil 

5 and gas production is occurring may be available for 

6 noncompetitive leasing under this section to the 

7 holder of the oil and gas lease— 

8 ‘‘(A) on a determination that— 

9 ‘‘(i) geothermal energy will be pro10 duced from a well producing or capable of 

11 producing oil and gas; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) national energy security will be 

13 improved by the issuance of such a lease; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(B) to provide for the coproduction of 

16 geothermal energy with oil and gas.’’. 

17 SEC. 5. COST-SHARED EXPLORATION. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—To promote the goals described 

19 in section 2, the Secretary of Energy may conduct a feder20 ally funded program of cost-shared drilling with industry 

21 partners— 

22 (1) to explore and document new geothermal re23 sources in the United States; and 

24 (2) to develop improved tools and methods for 

25 geothermal resource identification and extraction, 


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1 with the goal of achieving material reductions in the 

2 cost of exploration with a corresponding increase in 

3 the likelihood of drilling success. 

4 (b) GRANTS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out the program 

6 described in subsection (a), the Secretary of Energy 

7 may award cost-share grants on a competitive and 

8 merit basis to eligible applicants to support explo9 ration drilling and related activities. 

10 (2) PROJECT CRITERIA.—In selecting appli11 cants to receive grants under paragraph (1), the 

12 Secretary of Energy shall— 

13 (A) give preference to applicants proposing 

14 projects located in a variety of geologic and geo15 graphic settings with previously unexplored, 

16 underexplored, or unproven geothermal re17 sources; and 

18 (B) consider— 

19 (i) the potential that the unproven 

20 geothermal resources would be explored 

21 and developed under the proposed project; 

22 (ii) the expertise and experience of an 

23 applicant in developing geothermal re24 sources; and 


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1 (iii) the contribution the proposed 

2 project would make toward meeting the 

3 goals described in section 2. 

4 (c) DATA SHARING.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Data from all exploratory 

6 wells that are carried out under the program de7 scribed in subsection (a) shall be provided to the 

8 Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of the Inte9 rior for— 

10 (A) use in mapping national geothermal 

11 resources; and 

12 (B) other purposes, including— 

13 (i) subsurface geologic data; 

14 (ii) metadata; 

15 (iii) borehole temperature data; and 

16 (iv) inclusion in the National Geo17 thermal Data System of the Department of 

18 Energy. 

19 (2) SHARING OF CONFIDENTIAL DATA.—Not 

20 later than 2 years after the date of enactment of 

21 this Act, confidential data from all exploratory wells 

22 that are carried out under the program described in 

23 subsection (a) shall be provided to the Secretary of 

24 Energy and the Secretary of the Interior for the 

25 purposes described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 


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1 paragraph (1), to be available for a period of time 

2 to be determined by the Secretary of Energy and the 

3 Secretary of the Interior. 

4 SEC. 6. USE OF GEOTHERMAL LEASE REVENUES. 

5 (a) AMOUNTS DEPOSITED.—Notwithstanding any 

6 other provision of law, beginning in the first full fiscal year 

7 after the date of enactment of this Act, any amounts re8 ceived by the United States as rentals, royalties, and other 

9 payments required under leases pursuant to the Geo10 thermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) (ex11 cluding funds required to be paid to State and county gov12 ernments) and from new geothermal leases issued after 

13 the date of enactment of this Act shall be deposited into 

14 a separate account in the Treasury. 

15 (b) USE OF DEPOSITS.—Amounts deposited under 

16 subsection (a) shall be available to the Secretary of Energy 

17 for expenditure, without further appropriation or fiscal 

18 year limitation, to carry out section 5. 

19 (c) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—To promote the goals de20 scribed in section 2, the Secretary of Energy may author21 ize the expenditure or transfer of any funds that are nec22 essary to other cooperating Federal agencies. 


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1 SEC. 7. NONCOMPETITIVE LEASING OF ADJOINING AREAS 

2 FOR DEVELOPMENT OF GEOTHERMAL RE3 SOURCES. 

4 Section 4(b) of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 

5 (30 U.S.C. 1003(b)) (as amended by section 4) is amend6 ed by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(5) ADJOINING LAND.— 

8 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(i) FAIR MARKET VALUE PER

10 ACRE.—The term ‘fair market value per 

11 acre’ means a dollar amount per acre 

12 that— 

13 ‘‘(I) except as provided in this 

14 clause, shall be equal to the market 

15 value per acre (taking into account 

16 the determination under subparagraph 

17 (B)(iii) regarding a valid discovery on 

18 the adjoining land), as determined by 

19 the Secretary under regulations issued 

20 under this paragraph; 

21 ‘‘(II) shall be determined by the 

22 Secretary with respect to a lease 

23 under this paragraph, by not later 

24 than the end of the 180-day period 

25 beginning on the date the Secretary 


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1 receives an application for the lease; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(III) shall be not less than the 

4 greater of— 

5 ‘‘(aa) 4 times the median 

6 amount paid per acre for all land 

7 leased under this Act during the 

8 preceding year; or 

9 ‘‘(bb) $50. 

10 ‘‘(ii) INDUSTRY STANDARDS.—The 

11 term ‘industry standards’ means the stand12 ards by which a qualified geothermal pro13 fessional assesses whether downhole or 

14 flowing temperature measurements with 

15 indications of permeability are sufficient to 

16 produce energy from geothermal resources, 

17 as determined through flow or injection 

18 testing or measurement of lost circulation 

19 while drilling. 

20 ‘‘(iii) QUALIFIED FEDERAL LAND.— 

21 The term ‘qualified Federal land’ means 

22 land that is otherwise available for leasing 

23 under this Act. 

24 ‘‘(iv) QUALIFIED GEOTHERMAL PRO25 FESSIONAL.—The term ‘qualified geoVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1901.IS S1901

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1 thermal professional’ means an individual 

2 who is an engineer or geoscientist in good 

3 professional standing with at least 5 years 

4 of experience in geothermal exploration, 

5 development, or project assessment. 

6 ‘‘(v) QUALIFIED LESSEE.—The term 

7 ‘qualified lessee’ means a person that is el8 igible to hold a geothermal lease under this 

9 Act (including applicable regulations). 

10 ‘‘(vi) VALID DISCOVERY.—The term 

11 ‘valid discovery’ means a discovery of a 

12 geothermal resource by a new or existing 

13 slim hole or production well, that exhibits 

14 downhole or flowing temperature measure15 ments with indications of permeability that 

16 are sufficient to meet industry standards. 

17 ‘‘(B) AUTHORITY.—An area of qualified 

18 Federal land that adjoins other land for which 

19 a qualified lessee holds a legal right to develop 

20 geothermal resources may be available for a 

21 noncompetitive lease under this section to the 

22 qualified lessee at the fair market value per 

23 acre, if— 

24 ‘‘(i) the area of qualified Federal 

25 land— 


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1 ‘‘(I) consists of not less than 1 

2 acre and not more than 640 acres; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(II) is not already leased under 

5 this Act or nominated to be leased 

6 under subsection (a); 

7 ‘‘(ii) the qualified lessee has not pre8 viously received a noncompetitive lease 

9 under this paragraph in connection with 

10 the valid discovery for which data has been 

11 submitted under clause (iii)(I); and 

12 ‘‘(iii) sufficient geological and other 

13 technical data prepared by a qualified geo14 thermal professional has been submitted by 

15 the qualified lessee to the applicable Fed16 eral land management agency that would 

17 lead individuals who are experienced in the 

18 subject matter to believe that— 

19 ‘‘(I) there is a valid discovery of 

20 geothermal resources on the land for 

21 which the qualified lessee holds the 

22 legal right to develop geothermal re23 sources; and 

24 ‘‘(II) that thermal feature ex25 tends into the adjoining areas. 


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1 ‘‘(C) DETERMINATION OF FAIR MARKET

2 VALUE.— 

3 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 

4 shall— 

5 ‘‘(I) publish a notice of any re6 quest to lease land under this para7 graph; 

8 ‘‘(II) determine fair market value 

9 for purposes of this paragraph in ac10 cordance with procedures for making 

11 those determinations that are estab12 lished by regulations issued by the 

13 Secretary; 

14 ‘‘(III) provide to a qualified les15 see and publish, with an opportunity 

16 for public comment for a period of 30 

17 days, any proposed determination 

18 under this subparagraph of the fair 

19 market value of an area that the 

20 qualified lessee seeks to lease under 

21 this paragraph; and 

22 ‘‘(IV) provide to the qualified les23 see and any adversely affected party 

24 the opportunity to appeal the final de25 termination of fair market value in an 


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1 administrative proceeding before the 

2 applicable Federal land management 

3 agency, in accordance with applicable 

4 law (including regulations). 

5 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION ON NOMINATION.— 

6 After publication of a notice of request to 

7 lease land under this paragraph, the Sec8 retary may not accept under subsection (a) 

9 any nomination of the land for leasing un10 less the request has been denied or with11 drawn. 

12 ‘‘(iii) ANNUAL RENTAL.—For pur13 poses of section 5(a)(3), a lease awarded 

14 under this paragraph shall be considered a 

15 lease awarded in a competitive lease sale. 

16 ‘‘(D) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 270 

17 days after the date of enactment of the Geo18 thermal Energy Opportunities Act, the Sec19 retary shall issue regulations to carry out this 

20 paragraph.’’. 

21 SEC. 8. LARGE-SCALE GEOTHERMAL ENERGY. 

22 Title VI of the Energy Independence and Security 

23 Act of 2007 is amended by inserting after section 616 (42 

24 U.S.C. 17195) the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 616A. LARGE-SCALE GEOTHERMAL ENERGY. 

2 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

3 ‘‘(1) the Geothermal Technologies Program of 

4 the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable En5 ergy of the Department has included a focus on di6 rect use of geothermal energy in the low-temperature 

7 geothermal energy subprogram (including in the de8 velopment of a research and development plan for 

9 the program); 

10 ‘‘(2) the Building Technologies Program of the 

11 Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

12 of the Department— 

13 ‘‘(A) is focused on the energy demand and 

14 energy efficiency of buildings; and 

15 ‘‘(B) includes geothermal heat pumps as a 

16 component technology in the residential and 

17 commercial deployment activities of the pro18 gram; and 

19 ‘‘(3) geothermal heat pumps and direct use of 

20 geothermal energy, especially in large-scale applica21 tions, can make a significant contribution to the use 

22 of renewable energy but are underrepresented in re23 search, development, demonstration, and commer24 cialization. 

25 ‘‘(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 


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1 ‘‘(1) to improve the components, processes, and 

2 systems used for geothermal heat pumps and the di3 rect use of geothermal energy; and 

4 ‘‘(2) to increase the energy efficiency, lower the 

5 cost, increase the use, and improve and demonstrate 

6 the applicability of geothermal heat pumps to, and 

7 the direct use of geothermal energy in, large build8 ings, commercial districts, residential communities, 

9 and large municipal, agricultural, or industrial 

10 projects. 

11 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) DIRECT USE OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY.— 

13 The term ‘direct use of geothermal energy’ means 

14 systems that use water that is at a temperature be15 tween approximately 38 degrees Celsius and 149 de16 grees Celsius directly or through a heat exchanger to 

17 provide— 

18 ‘‘(A) heating to buildings; or 

19 ‘‘(B) heat required for industrial processes, 

20 agriculture, aquaculture, and other facilities. 

21 ‘‘(2) GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMP.—The term 

22 ‘geothermal heat pump’ means a system that pro23 vides heating and cooling by exchanging heat from 

24 shallow ground or surface water using— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a closed loop system, which transfers 

2 heat by way of buried or immersed pipes that 

3 contain a mix of water and working fluid; or 

4 ‘‘(B) an open loop system, which circulates 

5 ground or surface water directly into the build6 ing and returns the water to the same aquifer 

7 or surface water source. 

8 ‘‘(3) LARGE-SCALE APPLICATION.—The term 

9 ‘large-scale application’ means an application for 

10 space or process heating or cooling for large entities 

11 with a name-plate capacity, expected resource, or 

12 rating of 10 or more megawatts, such as a large 

13 building, commercial district, residential community, 

14 or a large municipal, agricultural, or industrial 

15 project. 

16 ‘‘(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

17 the Secretary of Energy, acting through the Assist18 ant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

19 Energy. 

20 ‘‘(d) PROGRAM.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab22 lish a program of research, development, and dem23 onstration for geothermal heat pumps and the direct 

24 use of geothermal energy. 


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1 ‘‘(2) AREAS.—The program may include re2 search, development, demonstration, and commercial 

3 application of— 

4 ‘‘(A) geothermal ground loop efficiency im5 provements through more efficient heat transfer 

6 fluids; 

7 ‘‘(B) geothermal ground loop efficiency im8 provements through more efficient thermal 

9 grouts for wells and trenches; 

10 ‘‘(C) geothermal ground loop installation 

11 cost reduction through— 

12 ‘‘(i) improved drilling methods; 

13 ‘‘(ii) improvements in drilling equip14 ment; 

15 ‘‘(iii) improvements in design method16 ology and energy analysis procedures; and 

17 ‘‘(iv) improved methods for deter18 mination of ground thermal properties and 

19 ground temperatures; 

20 ‘‘(D) installing geothermal ground loops 

21 near the foundation walls of new construction 

22 to take advantage of existing structures; 

23 ‘‘(E) using gray or black wastewater as a 

24 method of heat exchange; 


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1 ‘‘(F) improving geothermal heat pump sys2 tem economics through integration of geo3 thermal systems with other building systems, 

4 including providing hot and cold water and re5 jecting or circulating industrial process heat 

6 through refrigeration heat rejection and waste 

7 heat recovery; 

8 ‘‘(G) advanced geothermal systems using 

9 variable pumping rates to increase efficiency; 

10 ‘‘(H) geothermal heat pump efficiency im11 provements; 

12 ‘‘(I) use of hot water found in mines and 

13 mine shafts and other surface waters as the 

14 heat exchange medium; 

15 ‘‘(J) heating of districts, neighborhoods, 

16 communities, large commercial or public build17 ings (including office, retail, educational, gov18 ernment, and institutional buildings and multi19 family residential buildings and campuses), and 

20 industrial and manufacturing facilities; 

21 ‘‘(K) geothermal system integration with 

22 solar thermal water heating or cool roofs and 

23 solar-regenerated desiccants to balance loads 

24 and use building hot water to store geothermal 

25 energy; 


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1 ‘‘(L) use of hot water coproduced from oil 

2 and gas recovery; 

3 ‘‘(M) use of water sources at a tempera4 ture of less than 150 degrees Celsius for direct 

5 use; 

6 ‘‘(N) system integration of direct use with 

7 geothermal electricity production; and 

8 ‘‘(O) coproduction of heat and power, in9 cluding on-site use. 

10 ‘‘(3) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.—In carrying 

11 out the program, the Secretary shall identify and 

12 mitigate potential environmental impacts in accord13 ance with section 614(c). 

14 ‘‘(e) GRANTS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 

16 grants available to State and local governments, in17 stitutions of higher education, nonprofit entities, 

18 utilities, and for-profit companies (including manu19 facturers of heat-pump and direct-use components 

20 and systems) to promote the development of geo21 thermal heat pumps and the direct use of geo22 thermal energy. 

23 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this 

24 subsection, the Secretary shall give priority to pro25 posals that apply to large buildings (including office, 


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1 retail, educational, government, institutional, and 

2 multifamily residential buildings and campuses and 

3 industrial and manufacturing facilities), commercial 

4 districts, and residential communities. 

5 ‘‘(3) NATIONAL SOLICITATION.—Not later than 

6 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

7 the Secretary shall conduct a national solicitation for 

8 applications for grants under this section. 

9 ‘‘(f) REPORTS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

11 after the date of enactment of this section and annu12 ally thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the 

13 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 

14 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and 

15 Technology of the House of Representatives a report 

16 on progress made and results obtained under this 

17 section to develop geothermal heat pumps and direct 

18 use of geothermal energy. 

19 ‘‘(2) AREAS.—Each of the reports required 

20 under this subsection shall include— 

21 ‘‘(A) an analysis of progress made in each 

22 of the areas described in subsection (d)(2); and 

23 ‘‘(B)(i) a description of any relevant rec24 ommendations made during a review of the pro25 gram; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) any plans to address the rec2 ommendations under clause (i).’’. 

3 SEC. 9. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

4 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 

5 of this Act, and not less frequently than once every 5 years 

6 thereafter, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary 

7 of Energy shall submit to the appropriate committees of 

8 Congress a report describing the progress made towards 

9 achieving the goals described in section 2. 

10 SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

11 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

12 this Act such sums as are necessary. 

Æ 


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