Wind Farms to Replace Wild Horses in Ely, Nevada

Wind farm project could start construction in 2010
By RUDY HERNDON
Ely Times Reporter
Construction activity at White Pine County's first commercial wind turbine farm could begin as early as next summer, bringing up to 200 workers to the area.
At last count, the BLM's Ely's office had received applications for 17 wind projects -- most of which would be located on public lands inside the county.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is currently finalizing Pattern Energy's plan of development for its Spring Valley wind project, and the Houston-based developer is hoping to start construction of the 160-megawatt wind farm in late summer or early fall of 2010. The project could be completed by the second quarter of 2011, according to Wells McGiffert, the Ely BLM's renewable energy project manager.

The company has hired international contractor Mortenson Construction to assemble the 66 or so turbines.

While the influx of 150 to 200 construction workers from outside the area could provide a good boost to the county's food and lodging sector, McGiffert said the BLM is working to create short-term opportunities for county residents, as well.

"We're certainly trying to push the developer (to hire local workers)," he told county commissioners Oct. 14.

If you've been following the news about the Spring Valley project, the developer's name might not ring a bell. That's because Pattern Energy has only been around since June, when Riverstone Holdings, LLC teamed up with Babcock & Brown's North American Energy Group to purchase the latter company's wind development portfolio, including the Spring Valley project.

Despite the change of management, the right-of-way grant for the proposal remains the same: the project covers roughly 8,600 acres of BLM-administered lands between State Route 893 and U.S. Highway 50, as it veers north toward Sacramento Pass.

During the construction phase, just under 10 percent of that land would be disturbed. Over the long-term, though, the project's footprint would shrink, covering 1 to 3 percent of the land, McGiffert said.

If the BLM signs off on the lease, the agreement would cover a 30-year period.

At least 25 percent of that lease money could stay within the county, pending the passage of federal legislation.

According to McGiffert, Nevada's two U.S. senators are working to split revenues from renewable energy project leases between the BLM, the state and local government entities.

In addition to monies from the lease, the project is also expected to generate a steady stream of tax revenues.

Those figures and other details should be announced within the next month, when the BLM releases its draft Environmental Assessment on the project.

The Spring Valley project could be the first of many renewable energy projects in the area.

At last count, the BLM's Ely's office had received applications for 17 wind projects -- most of which would be located on public lands inside the county.

"We've got a lot of exciting things happening here," McGiffert said. "(I think) we will see quite a few of these wind projects going forward."

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Nevada Makes 28.2 Mil in Sale of Public Lands 8/08

Geothermal Development Planned for Western Public Lands

PHOENIX, Arizona, October 22, 2008 (ENS) - More than 190 million acres of federal land in 12 western states will be opened for development of geothermal energy resources, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced today.

"Geothermal energy will play a key role in powering America's energy future," Kempthorne said, "and 90 percent of our nation's geothermal resources are found on federal lands."

The plan would identify about 118 million acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and 79 million acres of National Forest Service lands for future geothermal leasing.

"Facilitating their leasing and development under environmentally sound regulations is crucial to supplying the secure, clean energy American homes and businesses need," the secretary said in Phoenix where he has been attending the annual convention of the National Congress of American Indians.

There are 29 geothermal power plants currently operating on Bureau of Land Management lands in California, Nevada and Utah, with a total generating capacity of 1,250 megawatts, enough to supply the electricity needs of 1.2 million homes.

Calpine geothermal power plant at The Geysers near Calistoga, California. (Photo by Lewis Stewart courtesy NREL)

The largest group of geothermal power plants in the world is located in The Geysers, a geothermal field in California. Currently, geothermal power supplies less than one percent of the world's energy.

Under the plan announced today, known as the Final Geothermal Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, 5,540 megawatts of new electric generation capacity from geothermal resources could be in place by 2015.

One megawatt of geothermal energy powers more than 1,000 homes, so if the newly announced plan is implemented, new geothermal energy could meet the needs of 5.5 million homes.

In addition, the plan estimates an additional 6,600 megawatts by 2025 for a total of 12,100 megawatts - enough to power more than 12 million homes.

Kempthorne points to growing interest in developing these resources shown by the results of recent Bureau of Land Management geothermal lease sales in areas where current Resource Management Plans already allow geothermal development.

An August 2007 sale drew the highest ever per-acre bid for a lease in The Geysers field. And a sale of leases in Nevada brought a record-breaking $28.2 million in August 2008.

Kempthorne noted the strong interest states, local communities, industry and environmental groups took in the development of this plan.

"This process has benefited greatly from the involvement of both governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders, and from the clear direction Congress gave in the 2005 Energy Policy Act," the secretary said.

Geothermal resources range from heat found just under the ground to hot water and rock miles below the Earth's surface. Wells over a mile deep can be drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that can be brought to the surface to generate electricity.

There are environmental concerns around geothermal energy. Dry steam and flash steam power plants emit low levels of carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, and sulphur, although at roughly five percent of the levels emitted by fossil fuel power plants.

To resolve these concerns, geothermal plants can be built with systems that can inject these substances back into the Earth, reducing carbon emissions to less than 0.1 percent of those from fossil fuel power plants.

Hot water from geothermal sources will contain trace amounts of toxics such as mercury and arsenic, which if discharged into rivers can make the water unsafe to drink.

To protect special resource values, the plan announced today identifies a comprehensive list of stipulations, conditions of approval and best management practices required for approval of future geothermal leases.

Lands closed to geothermal leasing will remain closed. Lands within a unit of the National Park System, such as Yellowstone National Park, for instance,will continue to be unavailable for leasing. The plan also excludes wilderness areas and wilderness study areas from geothermal development.

It will allow discretionary closure of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern where the BLM determines that this is appropriate. The BLM may also implement discretionary closures of units of the National Landscape Conservation System.

The Forest Service will use information in the plan to facilitate leasing analysis to determine whether or not geothermal leasing is appropriate and to evaluate its land use plans and amend them as needed through a separate environmental review process.

The plan also provides site-specific environmental analysis of 19 pending geothermal lease applications in seven locations.

These leases were filed before January 1, 2005 for specific lands in Alaska, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington managed by the Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management. Decisions on these 19 leases could proceed as soon as the Record of Decision is signed on the Final Geothermal Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.

The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service will publish the final version of the plan in the Federal Register on Friday, October 24, 2008. It will be available online at http://www.blm.gov/Geothermal_EIS.

The governors of the 12 states in the plan's project area each will have the opportunity to review the final document to ensure consistency with state plans, programs, and policies.

The Bureau of Land Management will wait until the end of the Governor's consistency review period before signing and issuing the Record of Decision approving the land use plan amendments. Kempthorne says any inconsistencies will be resolved before a Record of Decision is issued.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.