Geothermal energy produced in Utah is reliable, cost-effective and could help address increasing energy demand nationwide. But, according to Rep. Celeste Maloy, the federal government is getting in the way.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, including Maloy, met Monday in Cedar City to discuss geothermal energy and barriers to its development on federal land.

“For far too long, the promise of geothermal energy has gone underappreciated and underutilized in our national energy conversation,” Maloy said at the hearing. “Despite its incredible potential, geothermal faces regulatory delays, permitting hurdles, and a lack of investment that doesn’t match the scale of the opportunity.”

“Geothermal offers exactly that resilient American energy that we can count on day and night,” she continued. “Utah’s leading the way in showing what’s possible.”

Geothermal energy captures heat within the earth, a renewable resource, in the form of steam. Utah has been at the forefront of emerging geothermal technology because of the state’s geology.

Earlier on Monday, Maloy and her colleagues — Republican Reps. Pete Stauber from Minnesota and Nick Begich from Alaska — toured Fervo Energy’s Cape Station geothermal plant in Beaver County.

“Without question, Utah leads in geothermal,” Stauber said during the hearing.

“Unfortunately, cumbersome leasing and permitting practices on federal lands have prolonged project timelines and increased cost for geothermal developers,” he said. “I’m proud to say that House Republicans are leading the charge to end these inefficiencies and unleash geothermal energy on federal lands.”

The Cape Station plant plans to deliver the clean energy to the grid next year, though most of it will power homes in southern California. Fervo Energy, based in Houston, claims Cape Station is “the most productive enhanced geothermal system in history” and will generate 400 megawatts; for reference, one megawatt can power over 600 Utah homes, according to the state’s Utah Office of Energy Development.

Tim Latimer, the company’s CEO, told the committee that the vast majority of geothermal resources lie underneath public land, “but permitting can take up to a decade, much longer than equivalent wind, solar, oil or gas projects.”

“That needs to change,” Latimer added.

Maloy has introduced legislation to speed up geothermal permitting on federal land and allow developers to more easily explore for geothermal resources.

The Bureau of Land Management announced last month that it leased over 50,000 acres of public land — generating $5.5 million — in Beaver, Iron and Sevier counties for geothermal projects.

The leased land averaged about $111 per acre, “the most per acre revenue of any previous geothermal lease sale on BLM public lands in Utah in recent history,” the agency said.

Outside the hearing, some protesters gathered to condemn Rep. Maloy’s move to sell off thousands of acres of Utah’s BLM land last week.

Bill Gervais, a Hurricane resident, sat outside the hearing at a table with a sign that read “shame on Maloy.”

“We say ‘shame on Maloy’ because she is not representing the majority her constituents, or most of the country,” he said, “by supporting the current administration’s position to sell off our public lands.”

Tribune reporter Mark Eddington contributed to this article.