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Authorizing Legislation - Energy Policy Act of 2005

By National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program

Program Authorization

Creation of the National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program

Updates to the Authorizing Legislation - Energy Policy Act of 2005

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-58, Sec. 351) established the National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The NGGDPP was reauthorized in Section 7002 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Public Law 117-58) amended the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to the following goals:

  1. to archive geologic, geophysical, and engineering data, maps, well logs, and samples; 
  2. to provide a national catalog of such archival material;
  3. to provide technical and financial assistance related to the archival material; and
  4. to provide for preservation of samples to track geochemical signatures from critical mineral (as defined in section 7002(a) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a))) ore bodies for use in provenance tracking frameworks.

The act directs the Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), "to carry out a National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program" which comprises "State agencies that elect to be part of the system and agencies within the Department of the Interior that maintain geological and geophysical data and samples."