HEATS Act Geothermal Permitting Exemptions
Current understanding
To be populated as evidence accumulates.
Evidence log
- 2026-07-15 — HEATS Act: cross-connection with heats-act-public-lands: Both pages appear to reference the HEATS Act; the public-lands subcommittee hearing likely covers the same bill vehicle as the geothermal permitting exemptions page—may warrant consolidation or explicit cross-reference. (novelty: 2)
- 2026-07-15 — CLEAN Act: cross-connection with geothermal-energy-leasing-federal-lands: CLEAN Act (lease-sale cadence and permit deadlines) and HEATS Act (categorical permitting exemptions) are parallel legislative efforts to speed federal geothermal development. (novelty: 2)
- 2026-07-21 — Next-Generation Geothermal Research and Development Act: cross-connection with next-generation-geothermal-rd: HEATS Act categorical exclusions for geothermal exploration would apply to the kind of supercritical exploration boreholes this bill authorizes Interior to conduct. (novelty: 3)
- 2026-06-03 — Geothermal Energy Advancement Act: cross-connection with geothermal-permitting-ombudsman-federal-land: Both target federal-land geothermal permitting acceleration but via different levers: the Advancement Act builds institutional coordination (ombudsman/task force/staff reassignment), while the HEATS Act creates NEPA/categorical exclusion pathways. (novelty: 3)
- 2026-04-28 — HEATS Act: 2025 — HEATS Act (HR5587, introduced) would exempt certain geothermal exploration and production activities on nonfederal surface estates from federal drilling permits, NEPA review, ESA consultation, and NHPA review when the United States owns less than 50% of the subsurface geothermal estate, targeting mixed-ownership ‘split estate’ lands to accelerate geothermal development. (novelty: 3) (novelty: 3)