BREAKING: Cortez Masto Bills to Promote Geothermal Energy Pass House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. - Today, two bills led by U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) to promote geothermal energy passed the House of Representatives. The Streamlining Thermal Energy through Advanced Mechanisms (STEAM) Act and the Geothermal Ombudsman for National Deployment and Optimal Reviews Act were among various geothermal bills included in H.R. 5631, the Geothermal Energy Advancement Act.

"To meet the energy demands of the future, our country needs to seriously invest in an all-of-the-above approach to energy generation that includes geothermal," said Senator Cortez Masto. "Geothermal energy will help lower energy costs and power our future. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to make sure these bills pass on the Floor of the Senate and make it to the President's desk."

The STEAM Act is led by Cortez Masto and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in the Senate and by Representatives Susie Lee (D-Nev.-03) and Celeste Maloy (R-Utah-02) in the House. This bill would expedite geothermal exploration and development in previously studied or developed areas, as is the case for oil and gas development projects, allowing certain projects to bypass cumbersome, repetitive environmental impact studies.

The Geothermal Ombudsman for National Deployment and Optimal Reviews Act, led by Cortez Masto and Senator James Risch (R-Idaho) in the Senate and Representatives Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.-03) and Susie Lee (D-Nev.-03) in the House, would streamline geothermal permitting on federal land by directing the Secretary of the Interior to appoint a geothermal ombudsman to lead a new Geothermal Permitting Task Force. The ombudsman would work with different Bureau of Land Management field offices and state offices to coordinate geothermal permitting and find solutions to geothermal permitting issues.

Read the full geothermal bill package here.

Senator Cortez Masto is a champion of Nevada's renewable energy industry, including geothermal. She recently introduced the bipartisan Next-Generation Geothermal Research and Development Act, a roadmap for America's research, development, and demonstration of next-generation geothermal systems. The Senator has met with leaders at Ormat Technologies in Northern Nevada to discuss her work in the geothermal space. Last Congress, Cortez Masto supported the Manchin-Barrasso permitting reform package that would have accelerated geothermal projects across Nevada.

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