I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5631 
To appoint a Geothermal Ombudsman and establish a Geothermal Permitting 
Task Force from within the Bureau of Land Management, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 30, 2025 
Mr. HURD of Colorado introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To appoint a Geothermal Ombudsman and establish a Geo-
thermal Permitting Task Force from within the Bureau 
of Land Management, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Geothermal Ombuds-
man for National Deployment and Optimal Reviews Act’’. 
SEC. 2. GEOTHERMAL OMBUDSMAN AND PERMITTING TASK 
FORCE. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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(1) GEOTHERMAL AUTHORIZATION.—The term 
‘‘geothermal authorization’’ means any license, per-
mit, approval, finding, determination, or other ad-
ministrative decision issued by the Bureau of Land 
Management and any interagency consultation that 
is required or authorized under Federal law in order 
to site, construct, reconstruct, or commence oper-
ations of a geothermal energy project administered 
by the Bureau of Land Management. 
(2) GEOTHERMAL
ENERGY
PROJECT.—The 
term ‘‘geothermal energy project’’ means a project 
wholly or partially located on public land that uses 
geothermal energy to generate heat or electricity. 
(3) PUBLIC
LAND.—The term ‘‘public land’’ 
means lands subject to geothermal leasing under 
section 3 of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 
U.S.C. 1002). 
(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior. 
(5) TASK
FORCE.—The term ‘‘Task Force’’ 
means the Geothermal Permitting Task Force estab-
lished under subsection (c). 
(b) GEOTHERMAL OMBUDSMAN.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
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shall appoint from within the Bureau of Land Man-
agement a Geothermal Ombudsman. 
(2) DUTIES.—The Geothermal Ombudsman ap-
pointed under paragraph (1) shall— 
(A) act as a liaison between— 
(i) the individual field, district, and 
State offices of the Bureau of Land Man-
agement; 
(ii) the Division Chief of the National 
Renewable Energy Coordination Office of 
the Bureau of Land Management; and 
(iii) the Director of the Bureau of 
Land Management; 
(B) provide dispute resolution services be-
tween the individual field, district, and State of-
fices of the Bureau of Land Management and 
applicants for geothermal authorizations; 
(C) monitor and facilitate permit proc-
essing practices and timelines across individual 
field offices of the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment; 
(D) develop best practices for the permit-
ting and leasing process for geothermal re-
sources; and 
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(E) coordinate with the Federal Permitting 
Improvement Steering Council. 
(c) GEOTHERMAL PERMITTING TASK FORCE.— 
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall establish within the Bureau of Land 
Management a Geothermal Permitting Task Force. 
(2) LEADERSHIP.—The Task Force shall be 
headed by the Geothermal Ombudsman appointed 
under subsection (b). 
(3) PERMITTING
SUPPORT.—The Task Force 
shall support the duties of the Geothermal Ombuds-
man appointed under subsection (b). 
(4) 
CROSS-OFFICE
PERSONNEL
ASSIGN-
MENTS.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—In their capacity as 
head of the Task Force, the Geothermal Om-
budsman may assign personnel from any De-
partmental bureaus and offices with relevant 
expertise to assist with completion of geo-
thermal authorizations in field, district, or 
State offices other than the official duty station 
where such personnel are located if— 
(i) the Geothermal Ombudsman deter-
mines that such assignment will not mate-
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