Interior gets power to charge geothermal firms for permitting—but rules stay vague
H.R. 398 — Geothermal Cost-Recovery Authority Act of 2025 · Filed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) · Introduced Jan 14, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill allows the Department of the Interior to require geothermal lease applicants and holders to reimburse the federal government for administrative costs of processing applications, issuing permits, and inspecting geothermal operations through 2032. The Secretary may reduce or waive reimbursement if it would cause economic hardship or if lower costs would promote greater use of geothermal resources. Reimbursed amounts are credited back to Interior's budget for geothermal program operations.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to authorize Interior to recover administrative and inspection costs from geothermal lease applicants and operators, shifting the fiscal burden from the general taxpayer to the industry. This is a straightforward cost-allocation reform, not a subsidy or deregulation.
What the text implies
- Cost-recovery authority may disproportionately burden smaller or early-stage geothermal developers relative to large operators, potentially consolidating the market toward larger firms with greater capital to absorb permitting costs.
- The Secretary's discretionary authority to reduce reimbursement 'to promote the greatest use of geothermal resources' creates an undefined standard that could be applied inconsistently, introducing regulatory uncertainty for applicants.
- Reimbursed amounts are credited as 'discretionary offsetting collections' requiring future appropriations Acts to be available — this may create a structural incentive for Interior to maximize cost-recovery to fund its own operations, potentially inflating permitting fees.
- The 2032 sunset and mandatory 5-year report create a window for industry lobbying to extend or expand cost-recovery authority based on program performance metrics that Interior itself will help define.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill shifts administrative costs from taxpayers to geothermal operators, potentially reducing public subsidy of the program and improving fiscal accountability. However, cost-recovery requirements may increase barriers to entry for smaller operators and could slow geothermal development, which is a renewable energy source with public climate-mitigation benefits. The hardship waiver and discretionary reduction authority provide some flexibility but lack clear standards.
Who stands to gain
- geothermal energy developers and operators
- large-scale geothermal lease holders
Named in the bill
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Geothermal Steam Act of 1970, House Committee on Natural Resources, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Where it stands
- Jan 14, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 14, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Dec 16, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
- Mar 5, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Mar 5, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Unanimous Consent”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $3,890,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 10 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the sponsor, reported $35,650 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Fervo Energy Company — $2,220,000 on 4 filings
- Chevron U.S.A. Inc. — $1,670,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,592 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Interior gets power to charge geothermal firms for permitting—but rules stay vague” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr398 Report an error
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