NEW MEXICO GOES GEOTHERMAL

Meeting looks at tapping the Jemez Mountains for geothermal power

Staci Matlock, June 2, 2015 (Santa Fe New Mexican)

“…The [U.S.] Forest Service has launched a years long process to determine where companies can explore and potentially build utility-scale geothermal power plants in [New Mexico’s] Jemez Mountains. The plants generate electricity by recirculating water heated by the earth’s core to turn turbines…Geothermal exploration will be excluded from some parts of the Jemez Mountains to protect endangered wildlife, hot springs and other protected resources…The Bureau of Land Management is in charge of the geothermal leases, but the Santa Fe National Forest has to first prepare an environmental assessment about the potential impacts of leasing the land for geothermal development…If the Forest Service approves the leasing plans, BLM will hold a competitive bid…Companies that win the leases will have to go back to the Forest Service to have individual geothermal projects approved…New Mexico has vast potential…” click here for more

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