October 23rd, 2008 · No Comments

By Tom Kessler

When it comes to energy, everyone knows the U.S. is in hot water. Now the federal government intends to do something about it.

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne yesterday announced a plan to make more than 190 million acres of federal land in 12 western states available for development of geothermal energy resources, an initiative that “could increase electric generation capacity from geothermal resources ten times over.”

The plan could produce 5,540 megawatts of new electric generation capacity from geothermal resources by 2015 — enough to power 5.5 million homes. The plan, known as the Final Geothermal Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), also estimates an additional 6,600 megawatts by 2025 for a total of 12,100 megawatts – enough to power more than 12 million homes.

“Geothermal energy will play a key role in powering America’s energy future,” Kempthorne said in a statement, “and 90 percent of our nation’s geothermal resources are found on federal lands. Facilitating their leasing and development under environmentally sound regulations is crucial to supplying the secure, clean energy American homes and businesses need.”

The plan identifies about 118 million acres of Bureau of Land Management-managed public lands and 79 million acres of National Forest System lands for future geothermal leasing. It would provide a list of appropriate stipulations to be applied to leases and amend 122 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land use plans to allow for geothermal development.

The United States is the world leader in generating electricity using geothermal energy, with about 16,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity generated in 2005. Almost half of this production and 90 percent of U.S. geothermal resources occur on federal lands.

Replenished by heat sources deep in the earth, geothermal energy is a renewable resource that generates electricity with minimal carbon emissions. Direct use of geothermal energy supplies heat for buildings, greenhouses, aquaculture, and other activities. It offers additional possibilities for reducing the need for conventional energy sources. As many as 270 western communities could benefit from such direct uses, according to the Interior Department.

Growing interest in developing these resources is seen in the results of recent Bureau of Land Management geothermal lease sales in areas already allocated for such use. An August 2007 sale drew the highest-ever per-acre bid for a lease in California’s famed Geysers field. And a sale of leases in Nevada brought a record-breaking $28.2 million in August 2008.

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