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S. 456: STEAM Act
119th Congress · introduced 2025-02-06 · Energy · Latest: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearings held.
federal
Official title
STEAM Act
Plain summary
Streamlining Thermal Energy through Advanced Mechanisms Act or the STEAM Act This bill expedites the environmental review of certain geothermal energy activities under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). Specifically, the bill expands the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to include certain geothermal exploration or development activities in an existing categorical exclusion from NEPA for certain oil or gas activities. A categorical exclusion applies to a class of actions that do not require an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement under NEPA. The categorical exclusion established by the bill applies to drilling a geothermal well (1) in an area where drilling has occurred previously within the five years prior to the date when drilling begins; or (2) within a developed field for which an approved land use plan or environmental document prepared under NEPA determined drilling to be a reasonably foreseeable activity, so long as the plan or document was approved within the five years prior to the date when drilling begins.
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.
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Officials and money
Sponsor: Sen. Cortez Masto, Catherine [D-NV] · 3 cosponsors
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Words on this page, explained (1)
- Bill
- A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-119s456.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/s>
Record fed-us-cong119-s456 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong119 · updated 2026-11-03 by psicol fed-bills