Colorado GT lease meeting likely the first of many more

In Colorado, the Bureau of Land Management held a geothermal lease-sale meeting last week in the Buena Vista. Greg Shoupe, the BLM’s Front Range district manager, re-iterated that the meeting was to provide information, not accept public comment. The agency’s national geothermal program manager Kermit Witherbee said that heat is classified as a mineral resource – which forms the basis for the lease-sale – and that each phase of geothermal development requires an environmental study under the National Environmental Policy Act. He added that the issuance of a lease does not authorize any activity. While local residents left with their questions unanswered, Shoupe emphasized that the agency is “here as long as you guys want us to be here.”