This bill, called the FREEDOM Act, adds new rules to speed and limit federal review of energy, mining, and geothermal projects. It requires project sponsors to submit an early notice of initiation and requires lead agencies to publish project schedules and identify "routine" and "complex" authorizations. Routine authorizations must get final agency decisions within 90 days of a completed notice; complex authorizations within 1 year; if an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is needed the deadline is 2 years. If agencies miss deadlines, the delay is treated as unlawful withholding and can be reviewed in court. Courts can approve private contractors to finish required analyses for projects when agencies miss deadlines; those contractor costs may be paid from a new Permitting Performance Fund (initial capitalization authorized at $50,000,000). The bill creates a judicial review process with expedited procedures and remedies, and it limits agency actions that stop or revoke most activities for projects that are "fully permitted" unless there is clear, immediate harm or the authorization is illegal.
Title II changes mining rules to allow multiple hardrock mill sites (each up to 5 acres) tied to approved plans of operations and creates an Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund to receive certain fee revenues for mine cleanup work under existing Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act rules.
Title III makes several geothermal-specific changes: it requires the Department of the Interior to continue processing geothermal lease-related applications even if related civil cases are pending (unless a court vacates or injunctively bars the lease or permit); it allows the Secretary to recover reasonable processing and inspection costs from geothermal applicants through September 30, 2033; it directs an update and periodic review of a "Gold Book" of standard procedures for geothermal operations; it creates a Geothermal Ombudsman and a Geothermal Permitting Task Force inside the Bureau of Land Management; it changes geothermal royalty rates on electricity to specified percentage ranges (1–2.5% for the first 10 years, 2–5% thereafter); and it updates certain NEPA-related references to include geothermal activities.
According to the bill text, Congress found that permit revocations, missed deadlines, and long permitting delays cause large financial losses, deter investment in energy infrastructure, weaken energy security and competitiveness, and raise costs for families and businesses. Proponents framed the bill as a way to reduce regulatory uncertainty by setting enforceable timelines, providing expedited judicial remedies, limiting actions that halt mostly permitted projects, and improving geothermal and mining permitting processes.
No publicly available information.