HEATS Act

Enumerated powers · passes

Congress acts within Article I, Section 8 authority and Article IV, Section 3 authority over federal property by limiting, rather than expanding, federal regulation. The Property Clause in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 governs federal land; where the surface is nonfederal and the federal subsurface interest is under 50 percent, Congress may decline to require Geothermal Steam Act permits and decline to treat the activity as a major federal action. No reliance on an expansive reading of the Commerce Clause in Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 to regulate wholly state and private land activity.

Bill of Rights · passes

No provision of the first ten Amendments is infringed. The bill does not restrict speech, religion, press, assembly under the First Amendment, does not touch arms under the Second Amendment, and authorizes no search, seizure, or surveillance implicating the Fourth Amendment. It creates no compelled testimony implicating the Fifth Amendment self-incrimination clause. By leaving state historic-preservation and permitting law in place, it respects the Tenth Amendment reservation of powers to the states.

Individual liberty · passes

The bill expands individual sovereignty by removing federal permit and review barriers to productive use of private property, labor, and contract on state and private lands, consistent with the Ninth Amendment and Tenth Amendment. The burden on the federal government to justify restricting surface owners and operators on nonfederal land is not met where the federal interest is minor, so withdrawal of the restriction is constitutionally favored.

Decentralization · passes

The bill moves decision-making downward, satisfying the Tenth Amendment. Private operators with state permits can conduct geothermal work without federal permits: (1) individuals, families and private firms can contract for and conduct energy development subject to state law; (2) local communities and counties can address land-use and nuisance effects through local law; (3) states can fully handle permitting, environmental review, and historic-property protection on nonfederal surface estates; (4) the bill does not consolidate power upward, it removes federal permit, NEPA, Endangered Species Act consultation, and National Historic Preservation Act layers where the United States owns less than 50 percent of the subsurface estate.

Due process and takings · passes

No deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process under the Fifth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment Section 1, and no taking without just compensation under the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause. The bill reduces federal restraint on use of nonfederal surface estates and does not seize property, impose fines, or create presumptions of guilt. State permit requirements remain, preserving notice and hearing through state process.