HEATS Act

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Hearings held.

Jul 15, 2026

The HEATS Act exempts certain geothermal exploration and production activities from federal oversight when conducted on nonfederal surface land, provided that the United States holds less than 50% ownership of the subsurface geothermal estate and the operator obtains a state permit. The bill removes the requirement for federal drilling permits under the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 for these activities. Additionally, the bill classifies such activities as not constituting major federal actions under the National Environmental Policy Act, thereby exempting them from federal environmental review. The bill also exempts these activities from consultation requirements under the Endangered Species Act and from National Historic Preservation Act review, unless the relevant state lacks its own historic preservation law.

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Harnessing Energy At Thermal Sources Act or the HEATS Act This bill exempts certain geothermal activities on state and private lands (except Indian lands) from drilling permit requirements as well as environmental and historic preservation review requirements. First, the bill prohibits the Department of the Interior from requiring an operator to obtain a drilling permit under the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 for any geothermal exploration and production activity conducted on a nonfederal surface estate (i.e., the part of the estate that is above ground) if (1) the United States holds an ownership interest of less than 50% of the subsurface geothermal estate to be accessed by the proposed action, and (2) the operator submits to Interior a state permit to conduct the geothermal exploration and production activity on the nonfederal surface estate. Next, the bill states that such geothermal exploration and production activity is not considered a major federal action under National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). Thus, such activity does not trigger NEPA's environmental review requirements. In addition, the bill exempts such activity from the consultation requirements under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. It also exempts the activity from review under the National Historic Preservation Act unless the state in which the activity occurs does not have a state law that addresses the preservation of historic properties.