Oversight Field Hearing on "“Letting Off Steam: Unleashing Geothermal Energy Development on Federal Land”
2025-05-12
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Source: Congress.gov
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Transcript
Before we begin, I'd like to remind everybody about the rules of decorum for official congressional proceedings. I ask that there not be any kind of disruption regarding the testimony given here today. It is important that we respect the rules of the committee and of the house and to allow the members and the public to hear our proceedings. The Subcommittee on Energy and Minerals Resources will come to order. Good afternoon, everyone. I want to welcome our witnesses, members, and our guests in the audience today for today's hearing. And I also want to thank Representative Molloy for hosting us here in Cedar City. I would now like to recognize Southern Utah University Student President Landon Lee. who will begin this hearing with an opening prayer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Landon, come on up.
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Unknown (SPEAKER_03)
Hey everybody, if you will, can you please bow your heads? Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the amazing people that's come out here to represent us in Utah. Please bless us and give us guidance as we go through this meeting and give us the strength to power forward through this. We thank you again, Heavenly Father, for everything you've given us and the opportunities that we can take as a person. We say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Please arise with me as I say the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all. Thank you, Landon.
Today we are at Southern Utah University for a House Committee on Natural Resources oversight hearing entitled, Letting Off Steam, Unleashing Geothermal Energy Development on Federal Land. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recess of the committee at any time. By way of introduction, I'm Pete Stauber, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, subcommittee at Energy and Minerals Resources. I also represent Minnesota's eighth congressional district covering northeastern Minnesota. I am grateful to be joined today by two of my colleagues. I ask unanimous consent that the gentlelady from Utah, Ms. Malloy, be allowed to participate in today's hearing. without objection so ordered. I also ask unanimous consent that all other members opening statements be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted in accordance with rule three zero without objection so ordered. I will now recognize myself. for an opening statement. I'd like to begin by thanking all the witnesses for being here to discuss this important topic before us today. I'd also like to thank Fervo Energy for leading an exciting and informative field tour of the cutting edge Cape Station project just this morning. In the coming years, the United States will face unprecedented growth in energy demand as we race to win the AI war against China and bring gigawatts of new data center capacity online. An all-of-the-above approach for energy development is the only option we have to move forward. As we saw today, reliable, clean, baseload geothermal power has incredible potential to help meet our growing needs. Geothermal plants already supply power across seven states and Hawaii, and that's just the beginning. For example, the Department of Energy estimates that next-generation geothermal technologies like the Enhanced Geothermal System, or EGS, that we toured this morning could provide up to 90 gigawatts of electricity by 2050, enough to power millions of homes and businesses across this great nation.
Unfortunately, cumbersome leasing and permitting practices on federal lands have prolonged project timelines and increased cost for geothermal developers. I'm proud to say that House Republicans are leading the charge to end these inefficiencies and unleash geothermal energy on federal lands. Just last week, the House Natural Resources Committee advanced its historic reconciliation title, which will generate $18.5 billion in new revenue and savings for the American people. This package includes mandates for annual geothermal lease sales, which will contribute $23 million in revenue for the federal government and increase certainty for geothermal energy producers. While these changes are a vital step in the right direction, there is much more work to be done to allow geothermal power to scale up and reach its full potential. The Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, oversees geothermal development on federal lands. In fact, geothermal energy was the first type of renewable energy that the BLM approved for production on federal lands, dating back to 1978. However, as we've seen from other forms of energy operating on public lands, the permitting process for geothermal is mirrored by duplicative requirements and lengthy regulatory delays. Federal geothermal projects must complete up to six stages of National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, review throughout the development process. This can take up to 10 years and does not include endless cycles of frivolous litigation.
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