Developers in the geothermal industry report a common challenge: they often must wait years for permits before they can even determine whether a site is worth the trouble. Something must be done to address this grueling Catch-22, the industry has been saying for years. The Energy Department’s Geothermal Technologies Office and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have also identified permitting as a major barrier to geothermal development in the U.S.