H.R. 398 · 119th Congress

Geothermal Cost-Recovery Authority Act of 2025

Introduced on Jan 14, 2025 by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14). Latest action (May 20, 2026): Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 569.

Stage
Reported by committee
Introduced
Jan 14, 2025
Cosponsors
0
Policy area
Energy
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to provide cost-recovery authority for the Department of the Interior.

Subjects

  • Alternative and renewable resources
  • Electric power generation and transmission
  • Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
  • Land use and conservation
  • Mining
  • Pollution liability
  • User charges and fees

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Jan 14, 2025). Public domain.

Geothermal Cost-Recovery Authority Act of 2025

This bill expands the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to give the Department of the Interior the authority to collect certain fees from applicants for, or holders of, geothermal leases through September 30, 2032. Specifically, Interior may direct those applicants or leaseholders to reimburse the United States for costs from (1) processing applications for geothermal leases on federal land, such as applications for geothermal drilling permits; and (2) inspecting and monitoring geothermal exploration and development activities, including reclamation activities.

Interior may reduce the amount of the fee if it determines that (1) the full reimbursement would impose an economic hardship on the applicant, or (2) a less than full reimbursement is necessary to promote the greatest use of geothermal resources.

Interior may use those fees only to the extent that they are provided in advance in appropriations acts for (1) processing applications for geothermal leases, and (2) inspecting and monitoring related exploration and development activities.

Within five years of the bill's enactment, Interior must submit to Congress a report that includes an assessment of how the fees affect Interior's geothermal leasing program and any recommendations for updates to the fees and the program.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Alexandria Ocasio-CortezD-NY-14Sponsor

No cosponsors.

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jan 14, 2025Introduced in House
  2. Jan 14, 2025Introduced in House
  3. Jan 14, 2025 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
  4. Dec 9, 2025 · HouseReferred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
  5. Dec 16, 2025 · HouseSubcommittee Hearings Held
  6. Mar 5, 2026 · HouseSubcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Discharged
  7. Mar 5, 2026 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  8. Mar 5, 2026 · HouseOrdered to be Reported by Unanimous Consent.
  9. May 20, 2026Reported by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 119-655.
  10. May 20, 2026 · HouseReported by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 119-655.
  11. May 20, 2026 · HousePlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 569.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. FERVO ENERGY COMPANY7 reports
    $840K reported (all issues)
  2. Chevron U.S.A. Inc.1 report
    $1.7M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: CHEVRON U.S.A. INC$713.4K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.