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Geothermal: Stanley hosts the BLM Energy Conference

A BLM Energy Conference begins with guest speaker, Stanley, a robot with a yellow hard hat. A BLM employee invites everyone, "Come on in and join the meeting! The presentation is about to begin." Stanley the robot points to the presentation screen:.

BLM Energy Conference

Guest Speaker Stanley

The scene zooms in on the slide show. Stanley points to the slide show and says, "Here is the problem." Stanley points to a chart. On a graph, a line showing energy demand rises, as the line showing available energy goes down - until the two lines collide.

Seconds later the power goes out. Stanley says, "Uh oh, looks like we lost power. Here, let me help." and takes off his hard hat to reveal a light bulb. He flicks a switch to turn on the light bulb. He continues the conference saying, "Now let's see what we can do." The next slide says:

One Solution: Geothermal

Steam from the earth turns turbine generators to produce electricity

Renewable energy source

Clean - no fuel is burned/no smoky emissions

To symbolize the solution, a tea kettle appears demonstrating how steam comes from boiling water. Stanley approaches the kettle and says, "Hey, you look familiar, do I know you?"

In the next slide of the presentation, a scenic landscape shows a stream, mountains, and steam coming out of hot springs in the background. Stanley and the BLM employee point at a statement on the slide: Geothermal Resources are available on your Public Lands. Seconds later the BLM employee thinks, "Great Idea!" in reference to the availability of geothermal resources. Scene fades to black into another slide:

Minimal Impact

Clean Energy

Everybody likes it...

...as you will see....

A hunter positions his rifle and focuses on a deer. A source of steam is between them, and suddenly a geothermal cap erupts from the ground, getting in the way of the hunter, giving the deer a chance to escape, and leaving the hunter shaking his fist in anger.

All is peaceful in the outdoors overlooking a beautiful landscape, when suddenly a drill rig appears to drill a geothermal well, upsetting the habitat in the area. After a while the drill rig is removed, the well is capped, and vegetation grows around the pipes used to transfer the geothermal energy to a processing plant. As time goes on, most of the habitat is restored.

A man and a woman relax and chat on the deck of a private residence. Moments later a geothermal plant appears in the horizon, impacting the beautiful landscape. The woman faints and the man is left in a state of shock and confusion.

We return to the presentation at the BLM Energy Conference; the Minimal Impact presentation slide is on the screen with the BLM employee looking frustrated. The "Everybody likes it..." point on the slide changed to red symbolizing that more work needs to be done. Stanley, the guest speaker walks off screen with a disappointed look. Meanwhile the BLM employee thinks to himself, "Back to the drawing board!"

At a new BLM public meeting, the facilitator is kicking off the session and points out three meeting rules:

#1 Public Participation

#2 Consider All Views

#3 Cooperation

Not the End.

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