SCH Number 2008064005

Project Info

Title

Progammatic Environmental Impact Statement for Geothermal Leasing in the Western United States

Description

The Proposed Action, the BLM and FS have identified ~117 million acres of BLM administered public lands and 75 million acres of NFS lands as open to geothermal leasing subject to existing laws, regulations, formal orders, stipulations attached to the lease form, and terms and conditions of the standard lease form. To protect special resource values, the BLM and FS have developed a comprehensive list of stipulations, best management practices, and procedures. The BLM is proposing to amend 122 land use plans to adopt the allocations and the appropriate stipulations, and the FS would use the PEIS to facilitate subsequent consent decisions for any leasing on NFS lands. An alternative to the proposed action limits the lands available for geothermal leasing to those that are in close proximity to existing transmission lines or those under development. The no action alternative would allow the processing of pending geothermal lease applications; however, they would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and would require additional environmental review.

2 documents in project