# 119-hr-5576: Enhancing Geothermal Production on Federal Lands Act

119-hr-5576, Enhancing Geothermal Production on Federal Lands Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Fulcher, Russ [R-ID-1] (R-ID); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-11-01).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5576
- As of: 2026-11-01
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-5576
- Congress: 119
- Title: Enhancing Geothermal Production on Federal Lands Act
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-09-26
- Sponsor: Rep. Fulcher, Russ [R-ID-1] (R-ID)
- Cosponsors: 3
- Policy area: Environmental Protection
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-11-01

## Summary

**Streamline geothermal exploration on federal lands.** This bill would define small geothermal exploration projects and related activities and treat them as non-major Federal actions under the National Environmental Policy Act to speed up reviews and make approvals more predictable. - Developers and leaseholders would face faster, more predictable early drilling. Projects that meet the bill's technical limits could avoid major NEPA reviews, and leaseholders must give the Secretary at least 30 days' notice before drilling. - Federal land managers would get clear thresholds for what counts as a small exploration project, including limits on surface disturbance and project duration, which would simplify NEPA applicability decisions. The bill sets a maximum of 8 acres of unreclaimed disturbance and a 180-day completion window. - Public lands and nearby communities would benefit from required site restoration and limits on long-term disturbance. The bill requires restoration to approximately pre-project condition within 3 years unless the site moves into full development.

## Cosponsors (3)

- Rep. Maloy, Celeste [R-UT-2] (R-UT), 2025-10-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Kennedy, Mike [R-UT-3] (R-UT), 2025-11-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large] (R-AK), 2025-12-15T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Faster geothermal exploration on federal lands: mixed, medium. If enacted, the bill would treat certain geothermal exploration projects on federal leases as not 'major Federal actions' under NEPA. To qualify, the last cemented casing must be under 13 3/8 inches and unreclaimed disturbance must stay under 8 acres. The project must finish in under 180 days and t…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-404: Hearing Protection Act
- 119-hr-425: Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act
- 119-hr-1329: Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Act
- 119-hr-1232: National Right-to-Work Act
- 119-hjres-151: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to "Gra…
- 119-hres-719: Honoring the life and legacy of Charles Charlie James Kirk.

## Sources
- [119-hr-5576 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5576)

## Related
- [119-hr-404: Hearing Protection Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-404)
- [119-hr-425: Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-425)
- [119-hr-1329: Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1329)
- [119-hr-1232: National Right-to-Work Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1232)
- [119-hjres-151: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United Stat…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hjres-151)
- [119-hres-719: Honoring the life and legacy of Charles Charlie James Kirk.](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hres-719)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5576 (as of 2026-11-01).