Alaska has the most earthquakes. The program that watches them expired in 2023.

The federal program that coordinates earthquake monitoring, building codes, and warning systems has been running on expired authorization for three years. A House committee voted Tuesday to renew it — housekeeping in most of the country, closer to infrastructure here.

No state shakes like this one. Alaska sees a magnitude 7.0 in most years and a magnitude 8.0 roughly every 13, and it holds the record for the largest earthquake ever measured in North America, the 9.2 that tore up Southcentral in 1964. "Alaska is the most earthquake-prone state in the country," Rep. Nick Begich said during the markup.

The reauthorization would lock in at least $30 million a year through 2030 for the national seismic monitoring network. For the first time, it also gives tribal governments a seat in the program's advisory structure, which carries weight in a state with 229 federally recognized tribes.

The committee advanced a second bill that could matter more in rural Alaska than anywhere else. The GeoPOWER Act would fund geothermal demonstration projects in hard-to-drill rock, up to $150 million a year through 2031, with priority for projects on or near Indian land. Begich pointed to Unalaska and Akutan, both sitting beside active volcanoes, where a working project could displace the diesel that villages now barge and fly in. "Less diesel dependence, less supply chain vulnerability, and less energy poverty," he said.

One member objected that the Energy Department already holds demonstration authority and that the funding is more than seven times the old program's level. Both bills head to the full House, with no floor date set.