
Rory Day-Stirrat
61:15 - 61:42
"Since its establishment in 2019, Earth MRI has provided $78.6 million directly to state geological surveys. 46 States and Puerto Rico have been involved in Earth MRI."
“Since its establishment in 2019, Earth MRI has provided $78.6 million directly to state geological surveys. 46 States and Puerto Rico have been involved in Earth MRI.”
But also geothermal energy opportunity, hydrogen fuel prospecting, and infrastructure planning. Publicly available geologic data does broad public good. Since its establishment in 2019, Earth MRI has provided $78.6 million directly to state geological surveys. 46 States and Puerto Rico have been involved in Earth MRI. I cannot think of another program that has employed so many methods in so many states so quickly.
The federal geological mapping program that nearly doubled Alaska's publicly available subsurface data expires at year end. Two House bills heard Tuesday would reauthorize it through 2031 and layer quantum gravity sensing onto the effort, with Alaska's unmapped interior at the center of the case for both.

The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources heard testimony Tuesday on a bipartisan bill that would cut the FAST-41 permitting threshold from $200 million to $50 million, potentially opening the program to broadband, water, and small energy projects that rural and tribal communities depend on, but a former council director warned the bill cannot compel agencies to act in good faith.
