Subject to the provisions of section 1014 of this title, the Secretary of the Interior may issue leases for the development and utilization of geothermal resources (1) in lands administered by him, including public, withdrawn, and acquired lands, (2) in any national forest or other lands administered by the Department of Agriculture through the Forest Service, including public, withdrawn, and acquired lands, and (3) in lands which have been conveyed by the United States subject to a reservation to the United States of the geothermal resources therein.

A geothermal lease shall embrace a reasonably compact area of not more than 5,120 acres, except where a departure therefrom is occasioned by an irregular subdivision or subdivisions. No person, association, or corporation, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, shall take, hold, own, or control at one time, whether acquired directly from the Secretary under this chapter or otherwise, any direct or indirect interest in Federal geothermal leases in any one State exceeding 51,200 acres, including leases acquired under the provisions of section 1003 of this title.

If the production, use, or conversion of geothermal steam is susceptible of producing a valuable byproduct or byproducts, including commercially demineralized water for beneficial uses in accordance with applicable State water laws, the Secretary shall require substantial beneficial production or use thereof unless, in individual circumstances he modifies or waives this requirement in the interest of conservation of natural resources or for other reasons satisfactory to him. However, the production or use of such byproducts shall be subject to the rights of the holders of preexisting leases, claims, or permits covering the same land or the same minerals, if any.

The holder of any geothermal lease at any time may make and file in the appropriate land office a written relinquishment of all rights under such lease or of any legal subdivision of the area covered by such lease. Such relinquishment shall be effective as of the date of its filing. Thereupon the lessee shall be released of all obligations thereafter accruing under said lease with respect to the lands relinquished, but no such relinquishment shall release such lessee, or his surety or bond, from any liability for breach of any obligation of the lease, other than an obligation to drill, accrued at the date of the relinquishment, or from the continued obligation, in accordance with the applicable lease terms and regulations, (1) to make payment of all accrued rentals and royalties, (2) to place all wells on the relinquished lands in condition for suspension or abandonment, and (3) to protect or restore substantially the surface and surface resources.

The Secretary, upon application by the lessee, may authorize the lessee to suspend operations and production on a producing lease and he may, on his own motion, in the interest of conservation suspend operations on any lease but in either case he may extend the lease term for the period of any suspension, and he may waive, suspend, or reduce the rental or royalty required in such lease.

Leases may be terminated by the Secretary for any violation of the regulations or lease terms after thirty days notice provided that such violation is not corrected within the notice period, or in the event the violation is such that it cannot be corrected within the notice period then provided that lessee has not commenced in good faith within said notice period to correct such violation and thereafter to proceed diligently to correct such violation. Lessee shall be entitled to a hearing on the matter of such claimed violation or proposed termination of lease if request for a hearing is made to the Secretary within the thirty-day period after notice. The period for correction of violation or commencement to correct such violation of regulations or of lease terms, as aforesaid, shall be extended to thirty days after the Secretary’s decision after such hearing if the Secretary shall find that a violation exists.

The Secretary may waive, suspend, or reduce the rental or royalty for any lease or portion thereof in the interests of conservation and to encourage the greatest ultimate recovery of geothermal resources, if he determines that this is necessary to promote development or that the lease cannot be successfully operated under the lease terms.

Subject to the other provisions of this chapter, a lessee shall be entitled to use so much of the surface of the land covered by his geothermal lease as may be found by the Secretary to be necessary for the production, utilization, and conservation of geothermal resources.

Leases under this chapter may be issued only to citizens of the United States, associations of such citizens, corporations organized under the laws of the United States or of any State or the District of Columbia, or governmental units, including, without limitation, municipalities.

Administration of this chapter shall be under the principles of multiple use of lands and resources, and geothermal leases shall, insofar as feasible, allow for coexistence of other leases of the same lands for deposits of minerals under the laws applicable to them, for the location and production of claims under the mining laws, and for other uses of the areas covered by them. Operations under such other leases or for such other uses, however, shall not unreasonably interfere with or endanger operations under any lease issued pursuant to this chapter, nor shall operations under leases so issued unreasonably interfere with or endanger operations under any lease, license, claim, or permit issued pursuant to the provisions of any other Act.

Upon request of the Secretary, other Federal departments and agencies shall furnish him with any relevant data then in their possession or knowledge concerning or having bearing upon fair and adequate charges to be made for geothermal steam produced or to be produced for conversion to electric power or other purposes. Data given to any department or agency as confidential under law shall not be furnished in any fashion which identifies or tends to identify the business entity whose activities are the subject of such data or the person or persons who furnished such information.

Geothermal resources in lands the surface of which has passed from Federal ownership but in which the minerals have been reserved to the United States shall not be developed or produced except under geothermal leases made pursuant to this chapter. If the Secretary of the Interior finds that such development is imminent, or that production from a well heretofore drilled on such lands is imminent, he shall so report to the Attorney General, and the Attorney General is authorized and directed to institute an appropriate proceeding in the United States district court of the district in which such lands are located, to quiet the title of the United States in such resources, and if the court determines that the reservation of minerals to the United States in the lands involved included the geothermal resources, to enjoin their production otherwise than under the terms of this chapter: Provided, That upon an authoritative judicial determination that Federal mineral reservation does not include geothermal resources the duties of the Secretary of the Interior to report and of the Attorney General to institute proceedings, as hereinbefore set forth, shall cease.

Nothing in this chapter shall constitute an express or implied claim or denial on the part of the Federal Government as to its exemption from State water laws.

The Secretary shall prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem appropriate to carry out the provisions of this chapter. Such regulations may include, without limitation, provisions for (a) the prevention of waste, (b) development and conservation of geothermal and other natural resources, (c) the protection of the public interest, (d) assignment, segregation, extension of terms, relinquishment of leases, development contracts, unitization, pooling, and drilling agreements, (e) compensatory royalty agreements, suspension of operations or production, and suspension or reduction of rentals or royalties, (f) the filing of surety bonds to assure compliance with the terms of the lease and to protect surface use and resources, (g) use of the surface by a lessee of the lands embraced in his lease, (h) the maintenance by the lessee of an active development program, and (i) protection of water quality and other environmental qualities.

As to any land subject to geothermal leasing under section 1002 of this title, all laws which either (a) provide for the disposal of land by patent or other form of conveyance or by grant or by operation of law subject to a reservation of any mineral or (b) prevent or restrict the disposal of such land because of the mineral character of the land, shall hereafter be deemed to embrace geothermal resources as a substance which either must be reserved or must prevent or restrict the disposal of such land, as the case may be. This section shall not be construed to affect grants, patents, or other forms of conveyances made prior to December 24, 1970.

The United States reserves the ownership of and the right to extract under such rules and regulations as the Secretary may prescribe oil, hydrocarbon gas, and helium from all geothermal resources produced from lands leased under this chapter in accordance with presently applicable laws: Provided, That whenever the right to extract oil, hydrocarbon gas, and helium from geothermal resources produced from such lands is exercised pursuant to this section, it shall be exercised so as to cause no substantial interference with the production of geothermal resources from such lands.

The Secretary shall not issue any lease under this chapter on those lands subject to the prohibition provided under section 226–3 of this title.