Natural Resources Democrats Secure Six Bipartisan Geothermal Bills, Save Our Sequoias Framework in Committee Markup

Natural Resources Democrats Secure Six Bipartisan Geothermal Bills, Save Our Sequoias Framework in Committee Markup

Committee advances clean energy legislation, sequoia protections, and bills to support Alaska Native communities

Washington, D.C. - Today, House Natural Resources Committee Democrats advanced a bipartisan package of geothermal energy bills and a negotiated framework to protect California's giant sequoia groves during a full committee markup. Six geothermal bills passed by unanimous consent after Democrats successfully negotiated to maintain strong environmental standards and deliver real benefits to tribes, taxpayers, and communities.

"At a time when we are divided on so many things, when there's so much chaos and alarming news seemingly by the hour, it is refreshing to have a unanimous consent package today that is robust, to see that there's been some honest, bipartisan cooperation and negotiation that went into the markup today," Ranking Member Huffman said during the markup.

Geothermal energy accounts for only one-half of one percent of U.S. electricity generation, but America leads the world in geothermal capacity and next-generation technologies. The six geothermal bills in today's unanimous consent package, including three sponsored by Democrats and three by Republicans, will help lower costs for Americans and promote responsible, efficient permitting through enhanced coordination, common-sense royalty reforms, and placing the geothermal industry on the same footing as oil and gas.

"Geothermal should be a point of strong bipartisan consensus. It's one of America's most promising and underutilized sources of energy," Ranking Member Huffman said. "These bills will help us grow a 24/7, carbon pollution-free source of electricity that will help us combat both the affordability crisis and the climate crisis, and I'm grateful to our colleagues across the aisle for working with us in good faith to make this happen."

Democrats also secured significant changes to the Save Our Sequoias Act, which establishes a framework to address the ongoing emergency threatening California's iconic giant sequoia groves. Following the 2021 KNP Complex fire, which killed between 1,300 and 2,400 giant sequoias, the negotiated bill now includes critical protections that were absent from the original version.

"This took months of negotiations, and I want to you and your team for working with us in good faith," Ranking Member Huffman said to Chairman Westerman. "A great deal of hard work went into refining this bill to include the right safeguards, and the result is a stronger, more balanced piece of legislation better equipped to support the ongoing restoration and recovery of our giant sequoias. As climate-driven wildfires threaten their very existence, this legislation provides some help, including coordinated, focused response that these agencies and the American people want to see."

Bipartisan Wins

The following Democratic bills passed by unanimous consent:

• H.R. 398 (Rep. Ocasio-Cortez), the Geothermal Cost-Recovery Act, gives the Department of the Interior cost-recovery authority for processing and monitoring geothermal projects, helping expedite reviews without undermining environmental protections or community input.
• H.R. 1077 (Rep. Susie Lee), the STEAM Act, extends existing categorical exclusions to geothermal projects, providing equal treatment with oil and gas.
• H.R. 5617 (Rep. Ansari), the Geothermal Gold Book Development Act, directs DOI to publish standard procedures for efficient and environmentally responsible geothermal leasing and permitting.
• H.R. 3553 (Rep. Min), the BRUSH Fires Act, directs the Forest Service to study wildfire mitigation in shrubland ecosystems following the devastating 2025 Los Angeles fires.

Additional bills passed by unanimous consent include H.R. 41, which finally recognizes five Southeast Alaska Native communities that were wrongly denied eligibility under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and H.R. 5682, which takes land into trust for the Pechanga Band of Indians to consolidate their ancestral lands around Pu'éska Mountain.

Save Our Sequoias Protections

The negotiated Save Our Sequoias Act incorporates significant guardrails that Democrats secured, including requirements that all protection projects comply with existing land management plans and federal laws, "extraordinary circumstances" protections for categorical exclusions, and public notice and meeting requirements. Republicans agreed to strike amendments to the Wilderness Act, remove specific Endangered Species Act bypasses for the Pacific fisher and California spotted owl, and eliminate references to chemical treatments for invasive species.

"These trees are not just an iconic keystone species; they are a profound ecological, cultural, and scientific legacy," Ranking Member Huffman said. "But I want to be clear that a bill, including this bill, can only do so much. Restoration, reforestation, long-term monitoring will fail if the National Park Service and the Forest Service continue to struggle with shrinking budgets and staffing shortages. Protecting these sequoia groves is not just about passing a piece of legislation. It's about ensuring these agencies tasked with their survival have the capacity and the expertise and the stability to continue this critical work."

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