Tell your Senators to pass the Geothermal Energy Advancement Act and CLEAN Act!

In a pleasantly surprising instance of functional and constructive bipartisanship, on June 2 the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a package of related bills promoting the fast-progressing field of U.S. geothermal development! Importantly, this was passed by voice vote, indicating near-unanimous consent for the modest but meaningful new measures focused on streamlining permitting for the fast-growing “clean drilling” technology.

The Geothermal Energy Advancement Act, which now goes to the Senate, includes the text of six other previously proposed geothermal bills including the GEO Act fast-tracking vital geothermal permitting, the STEAM Act giving geothermal wells on public lands the same priority categorical exclusion status that oil and gas wells already have, creating a new federal Geothermal Ombudsman and Geothermal Permitting Task Force to boost clean drilling, and more.

And the CLEAN Act, passed on the same day separately from the bigger package, would require the Department of the Interior to hold geothermal lease sales every year, again creating parity with oil and gas drilling.

“This flexibility would expedite geothermal projects without undermining community input or environmental protections…

At a time of extreme political polarization, this package shows that Congress can still come together on commonsense solutions to better the lives of the American people.”

— Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14).

“We passed a bipartisan package to make it easier to develop geothermal energy sources, allowing more affordable and reliable energy onto the grid…I encourage the Senate to act soon.”

— Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-AR-04).

This is the best sign yet for geothermal as the one U.S. clean energy sector that has retained substantial bipartisan support, likely thanks to the many opportunities for repurposing oil and gas drilling tech, companies, and workers in the growing clean drilling field. However, despite the strong support in an otherwise bitterly divided House, it’s still not a done deal. There’s a window of opportunity here to meaningfully accelerate widespread deployment of a proven 24/7 clean energy source! The Senate must prioritize swiftly passing the bipartisan House geothermal package, ideally with a veto-proof majority.

Tell your Senators to pass the Geothermal Energy Advancement Act and CLEAN Act!