Next up: Alaska comes in out of the cold while Colorado looks to get up to speed

Less than a week has passed since GD noted that it had been 50 years since the first commercial geothermal power plant in the U.S. had been built. This week we highlight why it seems that 50 years is simply not enough and that public officials remain in the dark about potential geothermal power resources.

In Alaska and Colorado, officials are either finally getting around to setting regulations in place (Alaska) or bringing the public up to speed (Colorado).

In the category of least and most surprising, the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office has put together a workshop scheduled for Sept. 8 in Glenwood Springs. And all indications are that the attempt will be to convince residents that they can use their local resource for heat.

The state has in hand a 2009 study by Dr. John Lund of the Oregon Institute of Technology that showed that a a geothermal district heating program could provide heat to whole sections of the town. Why anyone would need convincing to use the resource in such a benign way is difficult to understand. Perhaps the town could make a trip en masse to Boise Idaho.

In Alaska, the states Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has published regulations to deal with an upcoming geothermal boom in the state. The regulations will go into effect September 30. The state’s Legislature gave the commission authority over geothermal drilling earlier this year, and a re a natural outgrowth of oil and gas drilling.

The new regulations effectively add geothermal resources to oil and gas, and covers such items as authority (Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission), applicability of regulations, variances, estimated regulatory cost charges for geothermal wells (drilling fees, payment and timing) and supplemental appropriations.

The regulations even change the meaning of the term well, which is now defined as a means a hole penetrating the earth, usually cased with steel pipe, and from which oil or gas, or both, or geothermal resources, is obtained or obtainable; or that is made for the purpose of finding or obtaining oil, gas or geothermal resources, or of supporting oil, gas, or geothermal resources production; and includes a well with multiple well branches drilled to different bottom-hole locations. Alaska would appear to be ready go after its geothermal resources.

Finally in a state that understands geothermal, County Commissioners in Churchill County, Nevada, approved the allocation of reimbursed geothermal rents and royalties. In late July the U.S. House of Representatives restored geothermal money and ensured 50% of the royalties go to the state, 25%$ to the counties and 25% to the federal government. However, the story is n’t over yet as evidently the return of money is for but one year.

Comptroller AlanKalt said the county had $1.7 million budgeted funding from rents and royalties for the 2009-10 fiscal year. The is expected to be higher because the Bureau of Land Management conducted two geothermal lease sales during the period. Among other things, the funds will be used to decrease the required employee furlough days from 10 to seven a year.

Other areas that will see money are the Stabilization of Operations Fund, the Compensated Absence Fund, the Road Equipment Replacement Plan, the Risk Management Fund, the Building Reserve Fund and the Water Resource Fund.