Federal Government Makes Land Available for Geothermal Power Plants

On October 22, 2008, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced the Final Geothermal Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, a plan to dedicate 190 million acres of federal land in 12 western states to geothermal energy production. Secretary Kempthorne stated, "Geothermal energy will play a key role in powering America’s energy future and 90 percent of our nation’s geothermal resources are found on Federal lands." Under the plan, the Department of Interior estimates that enough geothermal energy will be produced to cover the power needs of 5.5 million homes by 2015 and more than 12 million homes by 2025. To learn more about the plan, please visit the U.S. Department of Interior’s website .