Permit/Review
Responsible Agency/Bureau
Project Type
Geothermal
Activity/Trigger
Geothermal leases are offered through on-line competitive lease sales. A lease is issued to the highest bidder of a parcel. Parcels that do not receive a bid at a competitive lease sale are available non-competitively for two years. Non-competitive leases are also available to mining claimants with approved mining plans of operation to overly the mining claim and to lessees of producing oil and gas leases to overly the oil and gas lease. Lands are identified as open to geothermal leasing through the land use planning process.
Description
A geothermal lease confers te right to explore for, drill, produce and utilize geothermal resources on federal lands with limitations. Subsequent permits required prior to any surface disturbing activities. Geothermal leases have a primary term of ten years. A lessee that has not developed a well capable of producing geothermal resources in commercial quantities by the end of the ten- year primary term can apply for an initial five-year extension and an additional five-year extension by meeting diligent exploration expenditure requirements. Lease rental rates increase for each additional term. BLM will grant a production extension of up to 35 years to lessees that produce or utilize geothermal resources in commercial quantities.
Statute/Regulations
Geothermal Steam Act (30 USC 1001 et seq.); Federal Land Policy Management Act (43 USC 1701 et seq.); Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109‐58); 43 CFR 3200
Editorial Category