BLM Nevada Defers Parcels due to Sage-Grouse Concerns for Competitive Geothermal Lease Sale
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Nevada is holding a competitive geothermal lease sale on Tuesday, Jan. 24. The sale room opens at 8 a.m. for registration and bidding numbers and the sale begins at 9 a.m. The sale will be held at BLM State Office, 1340 Financial Blvd., in Reno.
To comply with the BLM's Greater Sage-Grouse Interim Management Policies and Procedures, Instruction Memorandum No. 2012-043, the BLM Nevada collaborated with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. As a result, one parcel is deferred and two parcels are partially deferred because those areas are within sage-grouse population management units and overlap priority habitat area. Additionally, there are active sage-grouse leks in or in very close proximity to these parcels. Another parcel was reconfigured due to a boundary of a Wilderness Study Area that was not well defined at the time the sale notice was posted. The boundary has since been surveyed and the boundary defined resulting in the reconfiguration. Accordingly, an amendment to the sales notice reduces the number of parcels from 34 to 33 and reduces the number of acres from 99,469 to 94,829 acres. The parcels offered are located around the state: eight in the Carson City District; two in the Battle Mountain District; two in the Elko District; and 21 in the Winnemucca District.
The notice, a parcel list, associated stipulations, and amendment are available in the Information Access Center at the BLM Nevada State Office at 1340 Financial Blvd., and online at the BLM Nevada website at: www.blm.gov/nv. The website also provides a Geographic Information System shapefile of the parcels.
Geothermal leases are for a 10-year period. Annual rental for a competitive lease is $2 per acre for the first year, and $3 per acre for lease years 2-10. Annual rental for a noncompetitive lease is $1 per acre for lease years 1-10. Additional environmental analysis would need to be conducted to receive permits to drill or build a facility to develop the energy from the geothermal source.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.