The Congress hereby finds that -

(1)

the Nation is currently suffering a critical shortage of environmentally acceptable forms of energy;

(2)

the inadequate organizational structures and levels of funding for energy research have limited the Nation's current and future options for meeting energy needs;

(3)

electric energy is a clean and convenient form of energy at the location of its use and is the only practicable form of energy in some modern applications, but the demand for electric energy in every region of the United States is taxing all of the alternative energy sources presently available and is projected to increase; some of the sources available for electric power generation are already in short supply, and the development and use of other sources presently involve undesirable environmental impacts;

(4)

the Nation's critical energy problems can be solved only if a national commitment is made to dedicate the necessary financial resources, and enlist the cooperation of the private and public sectors, in developing geothermal resources and other nonconventional sources of energy;

(5)

the conventional geothermal resources which are presently being used have limited total potential; but geothermal resources which are different from those presently being used, and which have extremely large energy content, are known to exist;

(6)

some geothermal resources contain energy in forms other than heat; examples are methane and extremely high pressures available upon release as kinetic energy;

(7)

some geothermal resources contain valuable byproducts such as potable water and mineral compounds which should be processed and recovered as national resources;

(8)

technologies are not presently available for the development of most of these geothermal resources, but technologies for the generation of electric energy from geothermal resources are potentially economical and environmentally desirable, and the development of geothermal resources offers possibilities of process energy and other nonelectric applications;

(9)

much of the known geothermal resources exist on the public lands;

(10)

Federal financial assistance is necessary to encourage the extensive exploration, research, and development in geothermal resources which will bring these technologies to the point of commercial application;

(11)

the advancement of technology with the cooperation of private industry for the production of useful forms of energy from geothermal resources is important with respect to the Federal responsibility for the general welfare, to facilitate commerce, to encourage productive harmony between man and his environment, and to protect the public interest; and

(12)

the Federal Government should encourage and assist private industry through Federal assistance for the development and demonstration of practicable means to produce useful energy from geothermal resources with environmentally acceptable processes