S. 822

Geothermal Production Expansion Act of 2015

This bill amends the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to allow the Department of the Interior to award noncompetitive leases on up to 640 acres of federal land for geothermal development if: (1) the land is available for leasing and not already leased or nominated to be leased, (2) the lessee has a legal right to develop geothermal resources on land adjacent to the federal land that will be leased, (3) sufficient data was submitted to Interior to show there is a valid discovery of geothermal resources on the adjacent land and that the thermal feature extends into the adjoining federal land, and (4) the lessee has not previously received a noncompetitive lease for the discovery.

Interior must lease the land at fair market value, publish a notice of any lease requests, and provide review of the final determination of fair market value.

Lessees must make annual rental payments equal to those required for lands that are leased competitively.