Geothermal Energy Advancement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HURD of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5631, the Geothermal Energy Advancement Act.

I begin by thanking my Republican colleagues Representatives Lee, Maloy, and Kennedy and my Democratic colleagues Representatives Ansari and Ocasio-Cortez for their partnership on this bipartisan legislation. At a time when Americans are often told Congress cannot work together across the aisle, this bill is proof that we still can.

Geothermal energy represents one of the most promising opportunities in America's energy future.

When we talk about geothermal energy in this bill, we are not talking about heating and cooling systems for individual buildings. We are talking about large-scale electricity generation from the heat miles beneath the Earth's surface, energy available around the clock and dispatched when the grid needs it.

It is American energy. It is always available. It strengthens grid reliability. It supplies reliable power for military installations, advanced manufacturing, and critical infrastructure. It can help meet growing energy demand without relying on foreign supply chains.

The good news is that the challenge facing geothermal energy today is not a lack of resources. It is not a lack of innovation. It is not technology. It is not lack of entrepreneurial spirit.

The challenge is process. It is red tape.

Geothermal projects can be complex and capital intensive. Now, this legislation does not solve every challenge facing the industry, but it addresses one of the challenges that Congress can solve: unnecessary delay, fragmented permitting, and regulatory uncertainty.

When projects spend years navigating regulatory uncertainty, these costs ultimately get built into the project. Greater certainty helps attract investment, accelerate deployment, and bring promising projects online more quickly.

Across the West, we have extraordinary geothermal potential, but permitting remains fragmented, timelines are uncertain, and expertise is often spread unevenly across the Federal Government.

As a result, projects face delays that serve no one's interests.

This legislation takes a practical approach to solving those problems. It improves coordination. It increases certainty. It streamlines permitting. It helps ensure that expertise is available where it is needed. It also provides the tools necessary to move worthy projects through the process more efficiently while maintaining responsible environmental stewardship. In short, this bill helps the system work the way Congress intended it to work.

America has tremendous geothermal potential, but we have a deployment problem. The good news, though, is we can solve it. If we are serious about American energy security, American competitiveness, and American innovation, we should remove unnecessary barriers that prevent us from developing the resources that we already possess.

The future will require more electricity, more reliability, more domestic energy production. Geothermal can help meet that challenge. This legislation helps unlock that potential.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Westerman for his invaluable help on this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5631.

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