Gov Watchdog Finds Geothermal Developers Lack Permitting Tools Oil and Gas Companies Already Have
Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report showing that companies trying to build geothermal power on public lands lack basic permitting tools that oil and gas companies already have and face confusing rules with no way to see where their permits stand, even as demand for geothermal development has grown more than fortyfold since 2020.
The watchdog report, requested by U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) found that the permitting process can be inconsistent and lacks transparency, creating uncertainty for geothermal developers and federal land managers. Oil and gas companies file permits online, track them through a dedicated system, and work from public handbooks, while geothermal developers submit permit applications in writing, wait on unpublished handbooks, and have no system tracking their permits.
The report comes as Congress has shown bipartisan interest in expanding geothermal energy development and private-sector interest in federal lands has grown significantly. According to GAO, nominations of federal lands for geothermal development increased from approximately 25,000 acres in 2020 to more than one million acres in 2025.
Despite this growing interest, geothermal developers reported to GAO inconsistent permitting decisions for exploration activities. BLM has developed handbooks intended to clarify terminology and provide consistent guidance, but those documents have remained in draft form since at least 2022.
GAO also found that BLM lacks a comprehensive mechanism for tracking geothermal permitting activity. BLM shut down its geothermal tracking system in 2021, and the system that took its place has no way to track geothermal permits. Oil and gas wells, however, are tracked in a dedicated system from initial permitting through final closure. As a result, BLM has limited visibility into permitting timelines and workloads, making planning more difficult for both developers and federal officials to anticipate project timelines and resource needs.
The House has already voted to address these problems. The bipartisan Geothermal Energy Advancement Act (H.R. 5631), which passed the House in June, includes legislation sponsored by Rep. Lee, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, and Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.). Rep. Ansari’s Geothermal Gold Book Development Act would require the Bureau to publish standard permitting procedures, in line with GAO’s recommendation.
Read the full report and recommendations here.
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