| Contacts: | Contact: Cass Cairns, (719)269-8553 | |||
| Jim Sample, (303)239-3861 | ||||
BLM to Hold Geothermal Community Information Meeting in Buena Vista
Canon City, Colo.—The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources will hold a joint public information meeting on Thursday, January 14, 2010, 7:30-10 p.m., concerning a planned BLM lease sale in February of a Federal geothermal lease parcel in Chaffee County near Buena Vista. This meeting is for informational purposes only
and will not be an opportunity for the submission of public comments for the
record.
The meeting will be held at the Buena Vista Community Center, 715 E. Main St., Buena Vista, Colorado, 81211,
“This meeting will be an opportunity for the Colorado BLM and the state to share information and answer questions from the local community on geothermal leasing,” said Lynn Rust, BLM Colorado Deputy State Director for Minerals and Lands.
The format of the meeting will include presentations by the BLM and the state, followed by informal discussion and information sessions between Federal and state officials and the public. This meeting is for informational purposes only and will not be an opportunity for the submission of public comments for the record.
The BLM announced the pending geothermal lease sale last month as a part of its regularly scheduled quarterly oil and gas lease sale. This will be the first federal geothermal lease sale in Colorado.
A number of other Western states, including California and Nevada, have had active BLM geothermal leasing for several years. Developers who operate on those leases capture geothermal renewable energy for a wide variety of uses, from heating residential and commercial buildings to operating power plants that supply electricity to local utility companies.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
3028 E Main Street Canon City, CO 81212