Sponsors (2)
The bill accelerates advanced geothermal deployment by clarifying eligibility, funding R&D, expanding mapping and permitting capacity, and building workforce pipelines — but it increases federal spending and raises environmental, equity, and public-participation risks if definitions, exclusions, or rushed implementation limit oversight or exclude smaller actors.
Developers and energy companies gain clear, tax-aligned statutory definitions for advanced geothermal (superhot/supercritical/hot dry rock), making projects more likely to qualify for tax incentives and reducing permitting uncertainty.
Researchers, national labs, and industry get sustained federal R&D funding plus field test facilities and USGS mapping, accelerating technology validation, lowering exploration costs, and supporting commercialization and jobs in the clean energy sector.
BLM/Forest Service technical assistance and streamlined federal review (categorical exclusions for low-impact exploration) speed permitting and reduce upfront costs and delays for geothermal projects on federal lands.
Taxpayers face increased federal spending commitments (tens of millions per year across DOE, USGS, workforce, and permitting programs) that create budgetary trade-offs for other priorities.
Injection-related risks (induced seismicity, groundwater impacts) combined with reduced site-specific review in some cases could expose nearby communities to health, safety, and environmental harms.
Narrow technical definitions and Secretary-determined site or application requirements may exclude existing projects, smaller developers, or institutions from incentives and grants, concentrating benefits among better-resourced actors.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes DOE, USGS, Labor, and land‑management support and funding to develop, test, map, train for, and permit engineered hot dry rock and supercritical geothermal technologies.
Official title: To establish programs and requirements related to the production of geothermal energy in the United States, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 13, 2026 by Jake Auchincloss · Last progress February 13, 2026
Provides federal research, testing, workforce training, mapping, and permitting support to accelerate development and demonstration of engineered "hot dry rock" and supercritical geothermal energy. It directs the Department of Energy, DOI/USGS, Department of Labor, BLM, and Forest Service to create grant programs, field testing sites, scientific mapping and monitoring, technical assistance for permitting, and a workforce training program, and it authorizes multi-year funding for those activities through FY2027–FY2031. The bill also narrows certain NEPA categorical exclusions so that some low-impact exploration and confirmation activities for geothermal may use exclusions similar to oil and gas, and it defines technical terms used across the programs (e.g., hot dry rock, supercritical, next-generation geothermal).