1) Bureau of Land Management eases path for geothermal exploration
A new federal policy seeks to ease geothermal exploration on federal land, allowing an array of survey activities without first requiring a permit. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently issued a memorandum to local state offices that gives guidance to officials on what qualifies as “casual use geothermal exploration,” and therefore can be processed and approved without a permit in less than 15 calendar days.
“This guidance streamlines low‑impact geothermal exploration such as hand sampling, mapping, and small surveys because these activities don’t typically disturb public lands,” a BLM spokesperson said in a statement. “Public lands remain fully protected. Casual use only applies to activities with no meaningful disturbance, and any exploration with potential impacts still requires full review.”
The move is the latest by BLM to ease energy development on public lands, which has also included speedier environmental analyses and an order by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to fast-track historic preservation reviews.
2) Texas Governor Greg Abbott puts halt on Texas data center permits
The Republican governor directed state environmental regulators to stop issuing permits to data centers while an electricity audit is ongoing. The governor has now cut off major state-level approvals for data centers, blocking them from getting environmental permits or connecting to Texas’ main power grid.
“Simply put, Texans must come first,” Abbott said recently. “Data centers must pay their own way, protect our grid and water, and complete the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and water board audits.”
The tightening marks Abbott’s latest effort to tamp down anger over data center development ahead of a tight election in November. He also proposed working with state lawmakers next year to eliminate financial incentives for data centers. He has pivoted in recent months after previously calling for Texas to be the “epicenter” of artificial intelligence development. Abbott said state environmental regulators would halt approvals until they receive the results of an audit of data centers’ electricity use from the ERCOT, the state’s main power grid operator.
3) Coal continues under the Trump Administration
Energy Secretary Chris Wright recently extended an emergency order to keep open a Colorado coal plant that had been slated for retirement last year – in defiance of a recent federal court ruling finding that such orders are overreaching.
The order will keep open Unit 1 at Craig Station in Craig, Colorado, which was meant to retire at the end of 2025. This is the fourth such order to keep this particular plant on as the Department of Energy (DOE) continues to cite emergency powers and grid reliability issues in its efforts to force retiring coal plants to stay online.
In a press release, DOE said the Trump administration had “saved” 17 gigawatts of coal power from going offline since 2025.
“The Trump Administration will continue taking action to ensure we don’t lose critical generation sources,” Wright said in the release. “Americans deserve access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy to power their homes all the time, regardless of whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.”
His comments refer to the administration’s philosophy of prioritizing power sources with greater “energy density.” Still, the order follows a federal appeals court ruling which found the department had overstepped its authority with similar orders to keep open a coal plant in western Michigan. The latest order for the Colorado plant, issued on the same overturned grounds, runs through December 25, 2026.
4) Grid funding coming to 26 states
The Energy Department announced last week $1.9 billion in federal funding that would go to support 31 grid improvement projects across 26 states. The recipients will be required to provide $3.4 billion in cost-share funding.
The funding was provided through a program known by its acronym, SPARK, created by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. The grants would go to 27 utilities and energy companies, and four state regulators. The department estimated that the awards would create 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity in total.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement that the investments “will get more out of the infrastructure we already have, move more electricity across the grid, and help deliver affordable, reliable, and secure power that will fuel American prosperity for decades to come.”
5) IADC advocates for reauthorization of the Legacy Restoration Fund
IADC joined a broad coalition of 16 organizations in urging the U.S. Congress to reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF), a bipartisan conservation program that directs up to $1.9 billion annually from energy production revenue on multi use public lands and waters toward repairing and maintaining America’s public lands, the LRF is funded primarily from federal oil and gas revenues, onshore and offshore. In a September 10th letter to House and Senate Congressional Leaders, the coalition highlighted the growing maintenance backlog across national parks and public lands, recent damage from floods, wildfires, and other disasters, and the importance of ensuring land managers have the resources needed to restore critical infrastructure and protect public access. IADC supported the effort as part of the industry’s longstanding commitment to responsible stewardship of public lands and the communities that depend on them.
