BLM auctions 17 Utah, four Idaho geothermal parcels

In Utah, the Bureau of Land Management Utah held a geothermal lease sale at the BLM Utah State Office in Salt Lake City in the ever increasing effort to open up more land to geothermal development. Included in the sale were 17 parcels in Utah and ten parcels in Idaho. The BLM sold all 17 of the Utah parcels on over 60,000 acres and four of the Idaho parcels on over 10,500 acres, all on federal land. During the oral auction, BLM received $212,274.00 in bonus bids for the geothermal lease rights. In addition to the bonus bids, the sale netted $120,654.00 in rental fees and $2,465.00 administrative fees, for $335,393.00 in total revenues from this lease sale. Ormat Nevada submitted the highest total bid per parcel and acre, which was $11 on parcel number 7 containing 5,094 acres.