A House Natural Resources subcommittee will hold an oversight field hearing Monday in Utah to discuss strategies for removing barriers to geothermal energy development on federal lands.
The Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources hearing in Cedar City, Utah, follows the full committee’s passage last week of its portion of the massive reconciliation budget bill that includes a section addressing increased geothermal lease sales.
The Bureau of Land Management during the Biden administration approved 14 geothermal power projects that would have the capacity to power about 700,000 homes. BLM in the first few months of President Donald Trump’s second term has similarly advanced geothermal.
The agency last month held a large lease sale in Utah that generated $5.7 million in bids on 14 parcels covering more than 50,000 acres, and it has announced plans to hold additional geothermal lease sales this year in Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. BLM in March also approved the Newcastle Geothermal Development project in Cedar City, Utah.
