Sponsored by Rep. Joseph Orgeron, R-Golden Meadow, the resolution recognizes that many of the workers, skills, infrastructure, and subsurface expertise that geothermal needs are already in place because of Louisiana’s rich oil and gas heritage.
HR 279 declares that Louisiana will pursue “the legal and regulatory conditions necessary to make geothermal electricity, industrial heat, and cooling projects permittable, financeable, and replicable across the state.”
Why Louisiana
Louisiana’s workforce already has the drilling, well-integrity, and reservoir-management skills geothermal development requires, and the state’s well inventory, subsurface data, and supply chains overlap with what a geothermal industry would need. The resolution also cites La. R.S. 30:800, which since 1975 has declared state policy in favor of “rapid and orderly” geothermal development, while noting that the definitions and property law built around that 1975 statute don’t reflect the next-generation geothermal technology which can scale in Louisiana.
HR 279 addresses that gap. The resolution calls for a policy framework that can support projects beyond one-off demonstrations and urges state agencies to use forthcoming research on Louisiana’s geothermal potential to identify the legal, regulatory, and permitting barriers that still stand in the way.
On the demand side, the resolution points to Louisiana’s petrochemical, refining, and fertilizer sectors, which could use geothermal process heat directly, and to growing electricity demand from data centers and LNG terminals. “Geothermal draws on the same skills, the same workers, and the same infrastructure that made Louisiana an energy leader,” Orgeron said. “This resolution is the Legislature saying: we see the opportunity and we see the benefits for our workers and economy so let’s get the policies right to tap into this resource.”
Part of a pattern in statehouses
Louisiana is not alone. Arizona lawmakers approved a geothermal resolution without a single “no” vote in either chamber this year, while Colorado enacted bipartisan legislation creating new pathways for geothermal projects, including utility solicitations and expanded thermal energy networks. Texas lawmakers have moved several geothermal-specific bills through overwhelming bipartisan votes over the last few sessions.
These measures are different, but the voting margins point to broad interest in geothermal across states with very different politics, electricity systems, and resource bases.
What comes next
HR 279 does not amend R.S. 30:800, create a permitting timeline, or appropriate money. Its “be it resolved” clauses ask agencies to act but don’t compel action by any date. A House resolution doesn’t carry the force of an act signed by the governor.
What it does do is establish a clear starting point: 93 members of a 105-seat chamber, from both parties, on file in support of scaling geothermal and rewriting the state’s geothermal permitting rules. That is the kind of margin a bill sponsor can point to heading into the 2027 session, when an actual statute rewrite would have to happen.