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S. 456 · Senate bill · 119th Congress
This bill expedites the environmental review of certain geothermal energy activities under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). Specifically, the bill expands the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to include certain geothermal exploration or development activities in an existing categorical exclusion from NEPA for certain oil or gas activities.
A categorical exclusion applies to a class of actions that do not require an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement under NEPA.
The categorical exclusion established by the bill applies to drilling a geothermal well (1) in an area where drilling has occurred previously within the five years prior to the date when drilling begins; or (2) within a developed field for which an approved land use plan or environmental document prepared under NEPA determined drilling to be a reasonably foreseeable activity, so long as the plan or document was approved within the five years prior to the date when drilling begins.
This Act may be cited as the “Streamlining Thermal Energy through Advanced Mechanisms Act” or the “STEAM Act”.
Section 390 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15942) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting “, or the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) for the purpose of exploration or development of geothermal resources” after “or gas”; and
(2) in subsection (b)—
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking “or gas” and inserting “, gas, or geothermal”; and
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking “or gas” and inserting “, gas, or geothermal”.