Geothermal Leasing on Federal Lands

The Bureau Of Land Management (BLM) is the agency  responsible for managing geothermal leases on all federal lands. Not all federal lands are open to geothermal leasing. For example, geothermal exploration cannot occur in Wilderness Areas, wilderness study areas (WSA's), or areas of critical environmental concern (ACEC's). Once a geothermal lease has been submitted, the case is handled by the local BLM field office in which the lease occurs. A fairly lengthy review process is required before a geothermal lease is approved.

BLM Geothermal Lease Nomination Form

Go to national BLM  Web Site

View the new BLM Geothermal Lease Regulations

John Rishel Geothermal Steam Act Amendments of 2005

Nevada BLM Web Site

Forms for Geothermal Exploration in Nevada

View Current BLM Geothermal Lease Data, using our interactive map

Questions: Call Rich Hoops, BLM Fluid Minerals Team Lead, at 775.861.6568 or email rhoops@nv.blm.gov

Shapefile of Geothermal Leases in the Great Basin

The Great Basin Center has created a GIS shapefile showing the location of most sections containing Federal geothermal leases. It was created by joining a list of geothermal leases with a TRS/Cadastral shapefile of the Great Basin. Because of this, only whole sections are shown even though only fractions within the section are leased. Also, if a section contains multiple lease fractions, only one will be shown. This shapefile is our best estimate of the location of the sections containing geothermal leases, BUT TO BE CERTAIN, CONTACT THE BLM. Click here for a copy of this shapefile, in our native Lambert projection.

BLM FIELD OFFICES

CLICK ON THE MAP ABOVE TO CONTACT THE LOCAL BLM FIELD OFFICE