GEOTHERMAL LEASING IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES, ALASKA, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, IDAHO, MONTANA, NEVADA, NEW MEXICO, OREGON, UTAH, WASHINGTON, AND WYOMING. [Part 2 of 5]
Dates
Year
2008
Citation
2008, GEOTHERMAL LEASING IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES, ALASKA, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, IDAHO, MONTANA, NEVADA, NEW MEXICO, OREGON, UTAH, WASHINGTON, AND WYOMING. [Part 2 of 5]: v. 2.
Summary
PURPOSE: The leasing of geothermal resources under lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in the western United States is proposed. Affected states are Alaska California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New, Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The proposed action would make geothermal leasing decisions on pending lease applications submitted prior to January 1, 2005 and to facilitate geothermal leasing decisions on other existing and future lease applications and nominations on the federal mineral estate in the western United States. Approximately 142 million acres of public lands administered by the BLM and 160 million acres of USFS lands overlay geothermal resources [...]
Summary
PURPOSE: The leasing of geothermal resources under lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in the western United States is proposed. Affected states are Alaska California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New, Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The proposed action would make geothermal leasing decisions on pending lease applications submitted prior to January 1, 2005 and to facilitate geothermal leasing decisions on other existing and future lease applications and nominations on the federal mineral estate in the western United States. Approximately 142 million acres of public lands administered by the BLM and 160 million acres of USFS lands overlay geothermal resources suitable for commercial electric generation and direct uses, such as heating. The BLM and the USFS are proposing to allocate approximately 117 million acres of public lands and 75 million acres of MFS lands as o[pen to geothermal leasing. To protect special resource values, the BLM and USFS have developed a comprehensive list of stipulations, conditions of approval, and best management practices. Under the proposed action, the BLM would amend 122 land use plans to adopt the allocations and the appropriate stipulations and the USFS would use this programmatic EIS (PEIS) to facilitate subsequent consent decisions for any leasing on USFS lands. An alternative to the proposed action would limit the lands available for geothermal leasing to those that were in close proximity to existing transmission lines or those already under development. The No Action Alternative would allow the processing of pending geothermal lease applications; however, lease applications would be evaluated on a case-by-case bases and each case would require environmental review. This PEIS also provides site-specific analysis for 19 pending lease applications submitted prior to January 1, 2005, that are located in seven geographical clusters throughout Alaska, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. POSITIVE IMPACTS: The proposed action would provide for an efficient, effective means of clearing the backlog of lease applications, thereby opening valuable geothermal resources for use in generating electricity and other more direct applications. Geothermal energy would provide a safe, environmentally neutral means of displacing the use of fossil fuels, reducing the nation's emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants. NEGATIVE IMPACTS: Development of geothermal resources would result in the long-term loss of vegetation and soils and the associated wildlife habitat as well as the sedimentation of streams in the affected watersheds. Recreational values, including visual aesthetics, would be degraded due to the destruction of vegetation and natural geologic and paleontological resource sites and the placement of power plants and transmission infrastructure. Other land uses, such as livestock grazing, would be displaced by geothermal exploitation facilities. LEGAL MANDATES: Energy Policy Act of 1992, Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), and National Forest Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.).
GEOTHERMAL LEASING IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES, ALASKA, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, IDAHO, MONTANA, NEVADA, NEW MEXICO, OREGON, UTAH, WASHINGTON, AND WYOMING