California bill to expedite geothermal approvals gets Governor’s approval

Source:ThinkGeoEnergy – Geothermal Energy News
Original URL:https://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/california-bill-to-expedite-geothermal-approvals-gets-governors-approval/

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a new bill that seeks to streamline approval processes for geothermal exploratory drilling projects in the State. The bill proposes that counties act as lead agencies for the environmental review of such projects, clearing a major bottleneck in the current system.

Assembly Bill (AB) 1359, authored by Assemblymember Diane Papan, had been approved by the State Legislature only about a month ago. 

Before the bill, the drilling of exploratory wells for geothermal projects had to go through an environmental review with the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) designated as the lead agency. The flaw with this system is that CalGEM was an understaffed division that did not have the capacity to process these projects at an acceptable pace.

With the new regulation in place, county planning departments can now take the lead in conducting environmental reviews of proposed exploratory drilling projects for geothermal. “This is absolutely vital to fill up that renewable portfolio, underneath solar and wind, which are weather dependent,” said Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore, who was in support of the proposal.

Sonoma County is particularly well-positioned to benefit from this new law. In 2023, Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) gave the approval for three geothermal pilot projects in the Geothermal Opportunity Zone (GeoZone) spanning the Sonoma and Mendocino counties. The projects will be carried out by Eavor Inc., Cyrq Energy, and Chevron New Energies.

“This feels like a bureaucratic technicality,” commented Lynda Hopkins, Sonoma County Supervisor and Chairwoman of the Sonoma Clean Power board of directors.

“It is not a seismic shift in governance, but it’s a huge deal for our geothermal effort, expediting the permits. There is currently a multiyear backup in the state agency who would otherwise process these applications, and so we feel like this is a great partnership with the state.”

The plan going forward would be for Permit Sonoma to accept permit applications for geothermal and begin the environmental review. Permit Sonoma is already the lead agency conducting environmental reviews for above-ground geothermal infrastructure.

“We’ve got the specialists in-house to be able to evaluate this work,” said Tennis Wick, Department Director at Permit Sonoma. “We’ve worked 10 years to be able to build a natural resource division with foresters and hydrologists and geologists and botanists, so now we’ve got the right team in place.”

Source: The Press Democrat