US Bureau of Land Management removes ‘obsolete’ regulations to help geothermal projects

The US Bureau of Land Management is moving forward with a suite of direct final rules meant to accelerate geothermal power development by rescinding regulations it deemed obsolete.

The agency published the rules in the July 17 edition of the Federal Register, stating they will become final in 60 days unless they receives significant opposition within 30 days of publication.

The direct final rules remove regulations governing competitive and noncompetitive leases, royalty terms for leases, and rules for amending operation plans and drilling permits, according to pre-publication copies of the rules.

The rule changes follow the agency's July 16 approval of a construction permit for the 30-MW Crescent Valley geothermal energy production facility in Nevada. BLM said geothermal projects support domestic energy production in line with President Donald Trump's Jan. 20 "Unleashing American Energy" executive order.

The agency plans to hold its next competitive geothermal lease sale on Aug. 26 in California, including 13 parcels across 23,000 acres in three counties. A second lease sale of comparable size will follow in Idaho in September, according to the agency.

Designed to reduce uncertainty

The regulation rescissions are designed to reduce uncertainty for geothermal lessees and enhance efficiency in managing the land resource, BLM said.

"These regulations manage the use of the public lands and the federal mineral estate for geothermal resources leasing and development under the Geothermal Steam Act," according to a BLM notice.

BLM said it reviewed specific regulations for resource leasing and found three sections to be "obsolete and no longer relevant."

The three provisions applied to lease applications that were pending before the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was enacted. The agency is also eliminating rules based on "outdated" and "no longer relevant" 2007 regulations.

The BLM, which is part of the Interior Department, said it had also determined that some of its requirements governing drilling permits and operational plans are now redundant. The regulations require geothermal operators to notify BLM of any change to operations or drilling activities. The agency said it found these requirements unnecessary.

No big economic harm seen

BLM said the recissions were primarily procedural and would not cause significant economic harm, so the agency is justified in issuing the changes without taking public comment.

The Administrative Procedure Act requires agencies to submit proposed actions for comment before making them final, but BLM said the law provides an exception if the agency determines that notice and comment are "impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest."

The agency said the direct final rule "is unlikely to receive any significant adverse comments." Opponents of the rule would have to detail reasons why the rescission is inappropriate, challenge the rescission's underlying premise, or discuss serious unintended consequences of the rescission.

Other federal agencies have been employing direct final rules under the current administration to advance portions of the president's energy agenda. For example, the Department of Energy issued a direct final rule rescinding the need for a presidential permit to build transmission facilities along the border to ship electricity to Mexico and Canada.

The agency said removing the permit requirement would speed development of electric transmission lines, enabling the US to sell more of its power into foreign markets.