Bill removes federal rules for heat-from-earth drilling on mixed land.
S. 4975 — HEATS Act · Filed by John Hoeven (R-ND) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 14, 2026 · Hearing held
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What it does
The bill changes how heat-from-earth drilling works on mixed-ownership land. When the federal government owns less than half the underground rights, companies get a state permit instead. The bill removes three federal checks: environmental review, rare animal checks, and old-site reviews. The federal government still collects royalty payments and inspects the work.
Who it affects
Citizens lose some environmental and rare animal protections for heat-from-earth projects. States take over permit decisions. Heat-from-earth energy companies gain faster approval for drilling.
One thing to notice
The bill shifts power from federal to state review. State permits may not check for the same harms as federal review did.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Jul 14, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 14, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
- Jul 15, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Hearings held”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- environmental review — A study of how a project might harm air, water, and wildlife.
- royalty payments — Money the government gets when companies drill on federal land.
- rare animal checks — Federal law that protects animals and plants at risk of dying out.
- heat-from-earth drilling — Drilling deep into the Earth to reach heat used to make power.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,719 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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