The program mapping Alaska's subsurface runs out at the end of the year

The federal program that has nearly doubled Alaska's public subsurface geologic data loses its authorization this year. The bill that would extend it gets a hearing Wednesday as one of more than two dozen items on a Senate committee's agenda, and no vote is scheduled.

Earth MRI is a U.S. Geological Survey effort to map critical minerals and other underground resources. In a state of 365 million acres, most of it federally managed, with interior regions that have never been surveyed by modern methods, it has been the main source of new public information about what is down there.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski's bill, introduced in June with Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, runs two pages. It would reauthorize the program through 2031 and broaden what it covers, adding modern sensing, advanced geochemistry, near-real-time data collection and analytical methods aimed at geothermal, natural hydrogen and other subsurface systems alongside critical minerals.

Wednesday's hearing before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee is a step toward action rather than action itself. It builds a record. What happens after that is unscheduled.