On October 22, 2008 a plan was announced to include over 190 million acres of Federal land in 12 Western States including Utah available for development of geothermal energy resources, This initiative could increase electric generation capacity from geothermal resources more than ten times.
90 percent fo our nations geothermal resources are found on Federal lands and the clean energy is needed for our homes and businesses.
The total eventual supply will be enough to power more than 12 million homes.
Geothermal leasing revenues and royalties are allocated with 50 percent going to the State, 25 percent to the county and 25 percent to the Geothermal Royalty Fund of the Bureau of Land Management for further geothermal planning.
Some lands are closed to geothermal leasing and will remain so. One example is Yellowstone National Park
The final version of a plan will be in the Federal Register on Friday, October 24, 2008 and available at
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/geothermal/geothermal_nationwide/Documents/Final_PEIS.html
There are 29 geothermal power plants currently operating on Bureau of Land Management lands in California, Nevada and Utah. The generating capacity is enough to supply the needs for 1.2 million homes.
Vernal, Utah's Real Estate Market is busy and postive. We look to all new developments to keep our area growing and vital.
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