Bill lets heat drilling skip government checks.
H.R. 5587 — Harnessing Energy At Thermal Sources Act · Filed by Young Kim (R-CA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 26, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill changes rules for heat drilling on non-government land. Companies can drill without a government permit if the U.S. owns less than half the heat resources below ground. The company must have a state permit. The bill removes the need for government review of harm to nature and animals. Companies still must pay the government money. Indian lands are not included.
Who it affects
Heat drilling companies and private landowners can drill more easily. People lose the chance to review studies before drilling starts. Water, animals, and land may be harmed by drilling with no government check.
One thing to notice
Companies can use government heat resources and owe money for them. But they skip government review if private parties own more than half the heat below ground. State permits are now the only check, and states have weaker rules than the government.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Sep 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 26, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Energy and 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 in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 23 - 15”
- Apr 23, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 231 - 186 (Roll no. 137). (text: CR H3073)”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
9 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 15 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $5,276,600 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 31 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 89% of bills with any report.
Young Kim, who sponsored the bill, received $1,618,312 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Fervo Energy Company — $2,220,000 in 4 reports
- Chevron U.S.A. Inc. — $1,670,000 in 1 report
- Earthjustice Action — $376,600 in 2 reports
- Defenders of Wildlife — $270,000 in 1 report
- Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, Inc. — $260,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- heat drilling — Drilling into the Earth to get heat energy for power or warmth.
- government review — Official study of how a project may harm nature, water, or animals.
- permit — Official permission from the government to do something.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,797 characters) on Jul 11, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,358 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 2026-09-19.
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