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The draft programmatic environmental impact statement, or PEIS, will pinpoint for the first time sites across 192 million acres of public lands from the Mojave Desert to the Rocky Mountains where leases for geothermal activity are suitable. While national parks, including Yellowstone in Montana, remain off-limits, applicants in the approved areas can be granted leases without undergoing the years-long environmental regulatory review process that government officials and industry leaders say has hampered development of the country's geothermal energy resources.

Led by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, the impact statement will cover public lands in those states that are managed by the two agencies and that are estimated to have "moderate to high" geothermal potential.

The impact statement has a dual purpose. On the one hand, it is intended to identify potential repercussions to habitat and air and water quality and recommend steps to mitigate damage. On the other, it is meant to streamline the environmental regulatory process for leasing public lands so that the more than 100 pending geothermal applications for development on public land can move forward, according to federal officials.

Efforts to streamline the process have earned praise from industry leaders. "This is a perfect example of the federal government getting out of its own way," said John McCaull, Western state representative with the Geothermal Energy Association, an industry trade group. "If you really want to promote alternative energy, you've got to look at expansion, and to do that, you can't let your own environmental laws get in the way."

Added Paul Thomsen, a spokesman for Ormat Technologies, one of the largest geothermal power plant builders in the country: "You still can't just go out and drill anywhere. But this will allow us to keep the pristine lands pristine while at the same time allowing us to develop our baseload resources where we should be developing our baseload resources."

The publication of the draft impact statement will kick off a 90-day public comment period, highlighted by a series of public hearings in 14 cities within the study area, from Anchorage to Sacramento to Reno. The impact statement will not be finalized until at least November, said Tracy Parker, a Forest Service geologist and the agency's project manager on the PEIS project.

McCaull said estimates are that the geothermal resources under public lands in the 12-state region covered by the PEIS contain enough geothermal energy to help power 37.5 million households a year.

"The potential is great," said Parker, the Forest Service geologist.

But some worry that geothermal power plants and the maze of pipelines and transmission lines that accompanies them will diminish the aesthetic appeal of the pristine lands they love. And several groups representing off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreational activities have expressed concern that geothermal plants will restrict access to treasured sites. This is already happening in Southern California, where BLM is considering leasing 14,731 acres of public lands for geothermal exploration and development in the Truckhaven area in Imperial County, a popular OHV destination for more than two decades.

"We understand the need for renewable energy sources, and that should be a priority for our government," said Megan Grossglass, a spokeswoman for the Bakersfield, Calif.-based Off-Road Business Association, which is fighting the Truckhaven lease plan. "But maybe, if they take away one public area, they can design some new trails for us. Something that just compensates us for our loss of recreation areas."

How much is out there?

Tapping geothermal energy involves extracting water from deep underground -- as far as 5,000 feet -- that is heated by the earth's core. The water, as hot as 400 degrees Fahrenheit, vaporizes to steam, which drives turbines that power electric generators. Vast flows of super-heated water have been found in the western United States at depths as shallow as several hundred feet to 2,000 feet -- easily within reach of current technology.

Geologists have long known that the 12 Western states that are the focus of the PEIS -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, along with Alaska -- contain the most abundant geothermal resources in the United States, which is already the world's largest producer of geothermal energy. Backed by a federal production tax credit, more than a dozen projects are currently under way on private parcels that promise to double the nation's geothermal energy output, according to a recent study by the Geothermal Energy Association.

But most of the country's potential geothermal resources sit untapped under the millions of acres of public lands that dominate the western United States, though people in North America have tapped into geothermal energy for at least 10,000 years, according to the Energy Department's Geothermal Technologies Program.

Congress in 1970 enacted the Geothermal Steam Act, giving Interior's secretary the authority to lease public lands for geothermal exploration and development. The energy crunch of the 1970s kicked off a period of intense research into geothermal technologies in the United States. But as oil prices came down in the early 1980s, so did the urgency to develop alternative energy sources.

Surging energy prices have once again pushed alternative energy to the forefront. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 required BLM and the Forest Service to promote development of renewable energy on public lands and national forests.

But how much potential geothermal energy is out there?

The answer is that no one really knows for sure. The last comprehensive inventory of the country's geothermal resources was conducted in 1978. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated at the time that enough geothermal energy existed nationwide to aid in the production of as much as 150,000 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power more than 100 million homes. Most geologists agree today that the 1978 estimate was probably low, due in part to significant advances in technology since then that make it easier and much less expensive to extract the super-heated water.

The Geological Survey is currently working to update that 30-year-old inventory. The agency will review every site that has been identified as a geothermal resource, add up the estimated megawatts each could be expected to produce and provide totals for each state and nationwide, said Marshall Reed, a USGS geologist. A first draft should be done by Oct. 1, he said.

Until then, all anyone can do is make an educated guess. A Western Governors' Association task force in January 2006 identified at least 100 sites capable of producing 13,000 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power nearly 10 million homes. But in Utah, which is considered to have the greatest geothermal potential in the country, power from this source in the next two decades is not expected to provide more than about 300 megawatts of electricity a year, said Robert Blackett, a geologist with the Utah Geological Survey.

Is geothermal energy good for the environment?

There are numerous environmental advantages to geothermal energy. The most obvious is that a geothermal plant is small relative to the giant wind farms in West Texas, which can cover many acres, or the giant arrays of solar panels planned in Arizona and Nevada, according to a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That study, released last year, also noted that another advantage is that a geothermal power plant emits virtually no carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas linked to global climate change.

Geothermal plants can also operate day or night and regardless of wind activity. And advocates note that many geothermal sources are relatively close to existing power transmission lines -- arguably the biggest obstacle to wind power, which requires billions of dollars in transmission infrastructure investment to bring wind-generated power to energy-hungry population centers.

But geothermal sources can be hard to find, in part because they are so far underground. "It's high-risk, because drilling test wells costs money, and you might not find the temperature and flow rates you need for a proposed development," Blackett said. "You may find sources that are hot enough, but the rock is too thick. Or you may find lots of fluid, but it's not hot enough."

That is why a PEIS identifying public lands suitable for federal lease is so important. Having a lease in hand allows energy companies to obtain financing to drill exploratory wells and to develop the technology.

"I think this [PEIS] is a clear signal that the federal government considers geothermal energy to be a priority," said Thomsen, the Ormat Technologies spokesman. "It's a very good sign for the industry and the country in that regard. For too long, we've been completely forgotten."

Scott Streater is a freelance reporter based in Colorado Springs, Colo.

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