| 1/16/2010 11:05:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Geothermal lease meeting draws standing room crowd
By Joe Stone Special to The Mail
The geothermal lease-sale meeting Thursday night drew a standing-room-only crowd to the Buena Vista Community Center.
Greg Shoupe, U.S. Bureau of Land Management Front Range district manager, opened the meeting by explaining the meeting was to provide information, not accept public comment.
He said this is the first time the process has occurred in Colorado because of changes initiated by the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
He said, "We want you to understand what it's all about. We're here as long as you guys want us to be here."
Shoupe encouraged anyone with comments, especially negative comments, to include specific facts or data the bureau can consider because new information from public comments can give the bureau reasons to change leasing decisions.
"This process is a long way from over," Shoupe said.
He added it is impossible to provide information about how the resource will be developed because the lease does not guarantee development.
Several members of the audience expressed impatience and disappointment before Shoupe yielded the floor for presentations.
Matt Sares, deputy director of the Colorado Geological Survey, presented geothermal information about geothermal technology and geothermal features of Colorado and Chaffee County.
His report, "Geothermal Energy in the Heart of the Rockies," is available at www.chaffeecounty-energyplan.com under "2009 Sustainability Summit."
Sares indicated the Mount Princeton location is suited to binary-cycle technology such as is in use in Steamboat, Nev., and in Alaska, where plants are generating electricity with 165-degree water.
He described benefits of a binary-cycle power plant, including no mining of fossil fuel, no transportation of fuel and no atmospheric emissions.
Binary-cycle plants, he explained, require high heat and high water flow, but don't consume any water like natural gas and coal-powered plants.
Sares indicated a 10-megawatt plant would require about 5 acres with an additional 3 acres for piping.
National geothermal program manager Kermit Witherbee of the Bureau of Land Management, explained heat is classified as a mineral resource, which is the basis for the lease-sale.
He also said 25 percent of leasing royalties go directly to the county under new rules developed because of the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
Witherbee explained each phase of geothermal development - exploration, drilling, use and abandonment-reclamation - requires an environmental study under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Witherbee reiterated that issuance of a lease does not authorize any activity.
"Any subsequent activity requires a permit," he said.
Assistant state engineer Kevin Rein of the Colorado Division of Water Resources, described how state water regulations affect geothermal resources and protect water rights.
Before a permit can be issued, he said, the developer must demonstrate no reduction in quantity or quality of the water rights of anyone else.
Shoupe indicated residents with questions about the mineral rights associated with their property should have a legal description of their property available before contacting the Bureau of Land Management.
After the three presentations, state and federal officials fielded questions within their respective areas of expertise, a process that lasted after 10:30 p.m.
Meeting attendees included Chaffee County commissioners Frank Holman and Dennis Giese, Matt Sugar representing U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, water commissioner Bruce Smith of the Colorado Division of Water Resources and Colorado Sen. Gail Schwartz.
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