119-HR-5638 Journalist Public Summary

Headline Summary

H.R. 5638 makes geothermal companies pay royalties based on the electricity produced at each separate power plant that uses a federal lease, rather than treating the lease as a single unit. [1]Congress.gov — Text - H.R.5638 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Geothermal Royalty…

What It Does

Today, federal law sets geothermal royalties as a small percentage of the money earned from selling electricity made with geothermal resources, with lower rates in the first 10 years and slightly higher rates after that; federal rules spell out how companies calculate those payments. H.R. 5638 doesn’t change the percentages—it adds a new requirement to calculate and pay the royalty separately for each electric‑generating facility tied to a lease. In plain terms: if multiple plants tap the same geothermal lease, each plant’s output would be royalty‑accounted on its own. [3]FindLaw — 30 U.S.C. § 1004 — Rents and royalties under the Geothermal Steam Act[4]Legal Information Institute (Cornell) — 30 CFR § 1206.352 — Calculating geother…[1]Congress.gov — Text - H.R.5638 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Geothermal Royalty…

Why it matters: Royalties from geothermal projects are shared among governments—for example, BLM notes that receipts from Utah geothermal leases are split among the state (50%), county (25%), and U.S. Treasury (25%). Changing how royalties are calculated could shift what operators owe and, in turn, what states and counties receive. [5]Bureau of Land Management — BLM to hold April 2025 geothermal lease sale in Uta…

Who’s For It

• Rep. Mike Kennedy (R‑UT), the sponsor, frames this and related energy bills as efforts to modernize policy, cut red tape, and unlock investment in domestic energy. [6]Congress.gov — All Information (Except Text) – H.R.5638 (sponsor, actions)[7]House.gov — Rep. Mike Kennedy press release (Sept. 30, 2025) introducing energy…
• Formal backers so far: Congress.gov lists zero cosponsors as of December 10, 2025. [8]Congress.gov — Cosponsors – H.R.5638 (119th)

Who’s Against It

• No organized opposition is visible yet on official bill pages (there’s no committee summary and no listed cosponsors as of now); opposing views may surface at the upcoming hearing. [6]Congress.gov — All Information (Except Text) – H.R.5638 (sponsor, actions)[8]Congress.gov — Cosponsors – H.R.5638 (119th)[2]Congress.gov — House Natural Resources Subcommittee (EMR) legislative hearing i…
• Potential concern (inference): Calculating royalties for each facility could add reporting and auditing complexity for operators and the government, which already follow detailed valuation rules. [4]Legal Information Institute (Cornell) — 30 CFR § 1206.352 — Calculating geother…

What’s Next

Status: Introduced on September 30, 2025 and referred to the House Natural Resources Committee. A legislative hearing in the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources is scheduled for December 16, 2025 at 10:15 a.m. If advanced, the bill would next face a full committee markup, possible House floor consideration, and then the Senate. [6]Congress.gov — All Information (Except Text) – H.R.5638 (sponsor, actions)[2]Congress.gov — House Natural Resources Subcommittee (EMR) legislative hearing i…