The Bureau of Land Management is seeking input for the proposed geothermal leasing of eight parcels totalling 20,000 acres in Elmore and Washington counties.
For each parcel leased, 25% of the bid, rental receipts and royalties will go to the US Treasury, 25% will go to the county where the lease is located, and the remaining 50% will go to the state of Idaho. The State will then allocate 90% of that into Idaho’s renewable energy resource fund, and 10% to the counties where the leases are located for construction and maintenance of public roads and schools.
The geothermal lease sales support domestic energy production and energy independence within the US, positioning the nation as a global energy leader. The leasing of these parcels will allow the lessee to explore the potential for future geothermal development.
BLM has the authority to manage geothermal resource leasing, exploration and development of approximately 245 million surface acres of public lands and the 700 million acres where the US owns the subsurface mineral estate.