Bill > HR4026

This bill aims to promote and facilitate the exploration and production of geothermal resources on federal lands. The key provisions include: 1. Establishing a "categorical exclusion" under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain "geothermal exploration test projects" that meet specific criteria, such as limited land disturbance and short duration, to streamline the review process. 2. Requiring the Secretary of the Interior to designate "geothermal leasing priority areas" on federal lands within 5 years and prepare programmatic environmental impact statements for those areas to expedite subsequent leasing and development. 3. Allowing for the noncompetitive leasing of federal lands adjoining existing geothermal leases if a valid geothermal resource discovery has been made on the adjacent private or public lands. This is intended to facilitate the co-production of geothermal energy with oil and gas operations. 4. Providing for the noncompetitive leasing of federal lands under existing oil and gas leases for the purpose of co-producing geothermal energy from the same wells.