USA: Senate Legislation Would Help Develop Geothermal Energy

Senate Energy Bill Could Spur Renewable Development (Lexology)

On April 20, 2016, the U.S. Senate passed the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016 (the Act) by a vote of 85-12. If signed into law, the bipartisan bill would encourage renewable energy development; facilitate improvements in infrastructure, including grid storage; and make numerous other changes intended to keep pace with the nation’s rapidly changing energy industry.

The Act’s renewable energy supply provisions focus on the development of hydroelectric, geothermal, marine hydrokinetic, and biomass energy resources.

The Act would encourage new geothermal energy capacity on public land, identify high-priority areas for new geothermal development, and facilitate co-production of geothermal energy on oil and gas leases. It would encourage geothermal exploration test projects by categorically excluding certain such projects from review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

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