GTH Mentioned - Idaho Bill to Speed up DrillingFound this article about a recent Idaho bill to cross congress; good possibility to pass & significantly reduce the time and money to drill test holes!
Keep it moist,
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BOISE - Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador is pushing legislation inCongress to ease restrictions on geothermal exploration on federallands, a move experts say could lead to more development of a “green”energy source for which the United States is the world’s leadingproducer.
The bill, H.R. 2171, cleared a House committee on abipartisan, 26-16 vote this week, and is now headed to the full Housefor a vote, likely in the fall.
“What it allows them to do is getout there quickly and drill what are called ‘slim holes,’” said WalterSnyder, a geosciences professor at Boise State University and directorof the Intermountain West Geothermal Consortium. Those test holes, hesaid, are “not really a well … for production.” They’re just big enoughfor developers to drop thermometers down to determine the temperature ofthe underground natural hot water, and do other evaluation to see ifit’s worth drilling production wells in the area.
The measurewould exempt those test wells on federal lands, under existing federalleases, from the requirement for an additional environmental impactstatement under the National Environmental Policy Act. Developersalready submit environmental assessments for their leases; fullenvironmental impact statements still would be required before drillingproduction wells.
Snyder said, “One of the longstanding issues ingeothermal development is it takes time to get permits and get thingslined up.” Drilling a production well for geothermal energy typicallycosts $5 million, he said.
Douglas Glaspey, chief operatingofficer for U.S. Geothermal, the operator of Idaho’s only commercialgeothermal generating plant at Raft River, said, “It’s not unusual forus to see nine months to a year to get a permit to drill one of thosesmall holes. So if we could shorten that time frame, that is importantto us, yes.”
The Geothermal Energy Association, of which U.S.Geothermal is a member, testified in favor of Labrador’s bill when itcame up for its hearing in the House Committee on Natural Resources onWednesday.
In addition to operating Raft River, U.S. Geothermalis developing the Neal Hot Springs geothermal generating plant ineastern Oregon, near Vale, about 25 miles from the Idaho line; when thatcomes on line, it’ll be the first commercial geothermal plant inOregon.
“I think that anything that accelerates geothermaldevelopment is good for the United States,” Glaspey said. “Geothermalpower generation is baseload power and it provides us with energysecurity and all those good, green things. It’s clean, it’s green, it’srenewable and it’s on 24 hours a day, which is the only renewable energysource that is.”
Idaho has a long history of small-scale use ofgeothermal power; natural hot water heats the state Capitol and numerousdowntown Boise buildings, including homes and office buildings. Studiessuggest Idaho could have the third-biggest geothermal energy resourcein the nation, though little has yet been developed.
Snyder saidafter reading Labrador’s bill, he was impressed with its limits - to beexempt from the permit requirement, test wells would be limited in size,site disturbance would be strictly limited and the drill site wouldhave to be restored to its previous condition within 45 days. “I wassurprised at how reasonable the restrictions are,” he said.
Labrador said, “I am pleased that this necessary piece of legislation,and one that is particularly good for the state of Idaho, is gainingtraction in the House.”
The freshman Republican is the leadsponsor of the bill, and has 11 co-sponsors, including Rep. DocHastings, R-Wash. In the House committee vote on the bill, allRepublicans on the committee plus two of the panel’s Democrats voted forit.
Said Labrador, “We need to harness this clean, renewablebase load form of energy, which is readily available in several westernstates.”
The measure is the second that Labrador has introducedin his first year in Congress; the first was H.R. 846, to ban thepresident from creating national parks or monuments in Idaho except byexpress authorization of Congress; that bill hasn’t had a hearing andhas no co-sponsors.