§1003 Leasing Procedures

Summary

The Secretary must accept nominations from qualified companies or people at any time. Most public land for geothermal leasing must be sold in a competitive auction to the highest qualified bidder, and the Secretary must hold a competitive sale at least once every 2 years in any State with nominations if the land can be leased. Land tied to an approved mining plan may be offered without competition to the mining claimant. Land already under an oil and gas lease with an approved drilling permit and producing oil or gas may be offered without competition to that leaseholder if the Secretary finds geothermal can be produced from the well or to allow coproduction. If a tract goes up for competitive sale and no one bids, it must be offered for noncompetitive leasing for 2 years. Applications pending on August 8, 2005 must be processed quickly, and future forest and land plans in high geothermal areas must consider leasing. Those pending applications and resulting leases follow the rules in effect the day before August 8, 2005 unless the applicant chooses the rules in effect on August 8, 2005. Parcels that sit over the same geothermal resource may be sold together as a block. For leases only for direct use (not for power sales), the Secretary can lease without competition if a notice is published at least 90 days before issuance, no nomination is filed in that 90-day period, and there is no competitive interest; such leases cover only the acreage reasonably needed and cannot exceed the limits in section 1006.