The heat under your feet: Pro geothermal bill sponsored by Idaho Congressman Russ Fulcher introduced to the house
Chris Nestman
In a push to speed up the approval and development of geothermal energy, Idaho Congressman Russ Fulcher (R) sponsored a bill to ease the regulatory burden on exploring potential geothermal sites.
“[The] biggest obstacle thus far has been just simply not getting permission or not getting access to where the resources are. And so that’s what this legislation is geared to try to do, is just make it available,” said Fulcher.
The bill, H.R. 5576, provides a new regulatory exclusion for geothermal exploration activities on federal land.
Currently, any geothermal exploration requires an Environmental Assessment (EA) that may take up to 10 months to get completed, with no guarantee the application will even get approved. Oil and gas wells do not need an EA for exploration, if land has already been approved for drilling. Fulcher’s bill would align geothermal exploration with oil and gas which he says will greatly speed up the process.
“So we think we’ve got a real win win situation here. We’ve got a great source of energy that’s a dependable baseload. It’s cheap, it’s clean, it takes a very small footprint that it disturbs on the land surface,” said Fulcher. “And and it’s just a great energy source at a time when our energy demands are really skyrocketing.”
Fulcher said Idaho in particular could benefit as we are one of the most prime states for geothermal exploration. He also said he doesn’t think other environmental concerns will hold up the development of geothermal plants as much compared to other sources of power like nuclear or coal.
The bill still has to make its way through the house, but Fulcher says he believes it has enough support on both sides of the isle to get the approval. If it does pass the house, it will then move onto the Senate. If it passes the Senate, then it moves to President Trump’s desk. Fulcher says he believes the President will support and sign the bill.