National
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Geothermal Energy
In May 2007, the Department of the Interior published final regulations on geothermal energy production on public lands requiring more competitive leasing, offering simplified royalty calculations, and sharing $4 million per year in current royalties with counties where production occurs. A Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) relating to the authorization of geothermal leasing was completed in October 2008 and the Record of Decision was signed in December 2008. The Record of Decision amended 114 Bureau of Land Management resource management plans and allocated about 111 million acres of Bureau-managed public lands as open for leasing. An additional 79 million acres of National Forest System lands are also legally open for leasing. Fact sheet and map: Renewable Energy and the BLM: GEOTHERMAL (pdf) Geothermal Leasing and Operations on Federal LandsNew geothermal regulations published in the Federal Register on May 2, 2007 became effective on June 1, 2007. To read or download them, click here. Five competitive lease sales have been held under the new regulations.
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October 2008: The BLM and the Forest Service have completed a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for leasing geothermal resources on lands they manage. The Final PEIS was published on October 24, 2008. View or download the Final PEIS and visit the PEIS project website for more details.
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The BLM has the delegated authority for leasing 247 million acres of public lands (including 104 million acres of National Forest managed by the U.S. Forest Service) with geothermal potential in 11 western States and Alaska. The BLM presently manages 530 geothermal leases, with 58 leases in producing status generating about 1,275 megawatts of installed geothermal energy on public lands. This amounts to about 50 percent of U.S. geothermal energy capacity and supplies the electrical needs of about 1.2 million homes.