The BLM administers leasing of all Federal geothermal resources nationwide.  
More than 12.7 million acres of BLM-managed lands and 17.7 million acres of National Forest lands in Idaho have potential for geothermal energy development.

Some scenarios estimate that by 2015, Idaho could have 1,670 megawatts of geothermal electric generation capacity, placing it third in the nation - behind California and Nevada - in geothermal potential.  Public lands in Utah also have notable geothermal potential.

The 2008 geothermal programmatic EIS identifies lands in seven Idaho BLM Field Offices (FOs) as areas with high geothermal potentail: Crane Creek-Cove Creek and other areas in the Four Rivers FO; the Raft River area and other sites in the Burley FO; Big Creek Hot Springs in the Salmon FO and Salmon-Challis National Forest; Rexburg and Willow Springs in the Upper Snake FO; China Cap in the Pocatello FO; and locations in the Jarbidge and Shoshone FOs.

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