H. R. 6—67
(e) REPORT.—Not later than October 1, 2010, the Secretary 
of Agriculture, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, 
shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 
and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the 
Senate, and the Committee on Resources, the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce, and the Committee on Agriculture of the House 
of Representatives, a report describing the results of the grant 
programs authorized by this section. The report shall include the 
following: 
(1) An identification of the size, type, and use of biomass 
by persons that receive grants under this section. 
(2) The distance between the land from which the biomass 
was removed and the facility that used the biomass. 
(3) The economic impacts, particularly new job creation, 
resulting from the grants to and operation of the eligible oper-
ations. 
SEC. 211. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING GENERATION CAPACITY 
OF 
ELECTRICITY 
FROM 
RENEWABLE 
ENERGY 
RESOURCES ON PUBLIC LANDS. 
It is the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of the Interior 
should, before the end of the 10-year period beginning on the 
date of enactment of this Act, seek to have approved non-hydro-
power renewable energy projects located on the public lands with 
a generation capacity of at least 10,000 megawatts of electricity. 
Subtitle B—Geothermal Energy 
SEC. 221. SHORT TITLE. 
This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘John Rishel Geothermal 
Steam Act Amendments of 2005’’. 
SEC. 222. COMPETITIVE LEASE SALE REQUIREMENTS. 
Section 4 of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 
1003) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 4. LEASING PROCEDURES. 
‘‘(a) NOMINATIONS.—The Secretary shall accept nominations of 
land to be leased at any time from qualified companies and individ-
uals under this Act. 
‘‘(b) COMPETITIVE LEASE SALE REQUIRED.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise specifically provided 
by this Act, all land to be leased that is not subject to leasing 
under subsection (c) shall be leased as provided in this sub-
section to the highest responsible qualified bidder, as deter-
mined by the Secretary. 
‘‘(2) COMPETITIVE LEASE SALES.—The Secretary shall hold 
a competitive lease sale at least once every 2 years for land 
in a State that has nominations pending under subsection 
(a) if the land is otherwise available for leasing. 
‘‘(3) LANDS SUBJECT TO MINING CLAIMS.—Lands that are 
subject to a mining claim for which a plan of operations has 
been approved by the relevant Federal land management 
agency may be available for noncompetitive leasing under this 
section to the mining claim holder. 
‘‘(c) NONCOMPETITIVE
LEASING.—The Secretary shall make 
available for a period of 2 years for noncompetitive leasing any
H. R. 6—68
tract for which a competitive lease sale is held, but for which 
the Secretary does not receive any bids in a competitive lease 
sale. 
‘‘(d) PENDING LEASE APPLICATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be a priority for the Secretary, 
and for the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to National 
Forest Systems land, to ensure timely completion of administra-
tive actions, including amendments to applicable forest plans 
and resource management plans, necessary to process applica-
tions for geothermal leasing pending on the date of enactment 
of this subsection. All future forest plans and resource manage-
ment plans for areas with high geothermal resource potential 
shall consider geothermal leasing and development. 
‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATION.—An application described in para-
graph (1) and any lease issued pursuant to the application— 
‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), shall be 
subject to this section as in effect on the day before the 
date of enactment of this paragraph; or 
‘‘(B) at the election of the applicant, shall be subject 
to this section as in effect on the effective date of this 
paragraph. 
‘‘(e) LEASES SOLD
AS
A BLOCK.—If information is available 
to the Secretary indicating a geothermal resource that could be 
produced as 1 unit can reasonably be expected to underlie more 
than 1 parcel to be offered in a competitive lease sale, the parcels 
for such a resource may be offered for bidding as a block in the 
competitive lease sale.’’. 
SEC. 223. DIRECT USE. 
(a) FEES FOR DIRECT USE.—Section 5 of the Geothermal Steam 
Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1004) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (c), by redesignating paragraphs (1) and 
(2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively; 
(2) by redesignating subsections (a) through (d) as para-
graphs (1) through (4), respectively; 
(3) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ after ‘‘SEC. 5.’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) DIRECT USE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection (a)(1), the 
Secretary shall establish a schedule of fees, in lieu of royalties 
for geothermal resources, that a lessee or its affiliate— 
‘‘(A) uses for a purpose other than the commercial 
generation of electricity; and 
‘‘(B) does not sell. 
‘‘(2) SCHEDULE OF FEES.—The schedule of fees— 
‘‘(A) may be based on the quantity or thermal content, 
or both, of geothermal resources used; 
‘‘(B) shall ensure a fair return to the United States 
for use of the resource; and 
‘‘(C) shall encourage development of the resource. 
‘‘(3) STATE, TRIBAL, OR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—If a State, 
tribal, or local government is the lessee and uses geothermal 
resources without sale and for public purposes other than 
commercial generation of electricity, the Secretary shall charge 
only a nominal fee for use of the resource.