Interior opens additional lands in the Cascades
The U.S. Dept. of Interior has moved forward with opening additional lands for geothermal development in the Cascades. The action follows on a multi year EIS conducted by Interior. Lands available for leasing will NOT include Wilderness areas and National Parks. Initial lease sales will take place in December, 2008 for properties on the eastern slope of the Southern Cascades in Central Oregon and Idaho. Additional properties throughout the Western United States, and Washington can be nominated by geothermal developers.
A link to the Dept. of Interior report is here.
From the Interior Press Release
….the initiative could produce 5,540 megawatts of new electric generation capacity from geothermal resources by 2015. That’s enough to meet the power needs of 5.5 million homes. The plan also estimates an additional 6,600 megawatts by 2025 for a total of 12,100 megawatts – enough to power more than 12 million homes.
When put into action by a Record of Decision, the plan would identify 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….
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