Geothermal Royalty Reform Act

This Act may be cited as the “Geothermal Royalty Reform Act”.

(a) Definitions.— Section 2 of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(h) “Geothermal electric generating facility” means a facility, including all necessary equipment or structures (including turbines and cooling equipment), that produces electricity using geothermal resources. For purposes of section 5(a)(1), a facility described in the preceding sentence shall be considered a separate facility from any other such facility unless the facility shares a turbine with any other such facility.

(i) “In-service date” means, with respect to a geothermal electric generating facility, the date on which the geothermal electric generating facility begins operating.”.

(b) Geothermal royalties.— Section 5(a)(1) of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1004(a)(1)) is amended—

(1) in subparagraph (A)—

(A) by inserting “with respect to a geothermal electric generating facility producing electricity from such resources,” before “not less than”;

(B) by inserting “by the geothermal electric generating facility” after “produced”; and

(C) by striking “the first 10 years of production under the lease” and inserting “each year of the 10-year period following the in-service date of the geothermal electric generating facility”; and

(2) in subparagraph (B)—

(A) by inserting “with respect to a geothermal electric generating facility producing electricity from such resources,” before “not less than”;

(B) by inserting “by the geothermal electric generating facility” after “produced”; and

(C) by striking “such 10-year period” and inserting “the period of 10 years described in subparagraph (A)”.