House Republicans are continuing their lame-duck push on geothermal, passing another bill Tuesday designed to streamline environmental approvals for the energy source.
The House passed Rep. Russ Fulcher’s (R-Idaho) H.R. 1449, the “Committing Leases for Energy Access Now Act,” on a 244-171 vote. More than two dozen Democrats backed the bill.
That comes after the House last week passed H.R. 7409, the “Harnessing Energy at Thermal Sources Act,” from Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.), to also promote geothermal energy development.
And the House is not finished with geothermal. On Wednesday, the Natural Resources Committee will mark up a bipartisan bill, H.R. 8665, from Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), that would establish a program at the Department of Energy to bolster so-called supercritical geothermal, which requires deep drilling.
