Geothermal Cost-Recovery Authority Act of 2024
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Geothermal Cost-Recovery Authority Act of 2024
This bill expands the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to give the Department of the Interior the authority to collect certain fees from holders of geothermal leases through September 30, 2031. Specifically, Interior may direct those leaseholders to reimburse the United States for costs from (1) processing applications for geothermal leases on federal land, such as applications for geothermal drilling permits; and (2) monitoring geothermal exploration and development activities, including reclamation activities. Interior may reduce the amount of the fee if it determines that (1) the full reimbursement would impose an economic hardship on the leaseholder, or (2) a less than full reimbursement is necessary to promote the greatest use of geothermal resources.
Interior must use those fees for processing applications for geothermal leases and monitoring related exploration and development activities.
Within five years of the bill's enactment, Interior must submit to Congress a report that includes an assessment of how the fees affect Interior's geothermal leasing program and any recommendations for updates to the fees and the program.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House" stage on September 12, 2024. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 25, 2024: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced it on February 20, 2024. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 20, 2024, 933 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 715 days ago, on September 25, 2024.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers