08-04-2016, 02:57 PM
The Energy Policy Act of 2016 has been passed. In it, the Congress is directing the President and Department of Energy to increase geothermal energy development as quickly as possible.
It is now law to develop geothermal energy. It will take awhile to come down the chain but it looks like a major issue for the next Hawaii legislature. The Act directs at least 10 Gigawatts be developed on public land. The various clauses of the act invalidate the entire chapter on geothermal in the Hawaii county code. There should be an action to have that section deleted.
Summary of the geothermal development act:
* direct the Secretary of Interior to increase geothermal energy on public lands and directs the USGS to identify sites capable of generating 50,000-MW of geothermal power;
* direct federal agencies to identify priority areas for geothermal development and to facilitate that development;
* allow federal oil and gas lease holders to utilize coproduced geothermal fluids to generate power -- today 25 billion barrels of hot water are produced annually from oil and gas wells within the United States much of which cannot be used due to leasing technicalities;
* facilitate new geothermal discoveries by allowing the limited non-competitive leasing of adjacent lands to support development where a new discovery has been made;
* expedite geothermal exploration for new test projects by providing a limited categorical exclusion; and,
* direct the BLM to prepare a new, supplemental Programmatic EIS for geothermal energy
There is a link to the complete Energy Policy 2016 bill here. It is a 550 page download.
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/sum...policy-act
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
It is now law to develop geothermal energy. It will take awhile to come down the chain but it looks like a major issue for the next Hawaii legislature. The Act directs at least 10 Gigawatts be developed on public land. The various clauses of the act invalidate the entire chapter on geothermal in the Hawaii county code. There should be an action to have that section deleted.
Summary of the geothermal development act:
* direct the Secretary of Interior to increase geothermal energy on public lands and directs the USGS to identify sites capable of generating 50,000-MW of geothermal power;
* direct federal agencies to identify priority areas for geothermal development and to facilitate that development;
* allow federal oil and gas lease holders to utilize coproduced geothermal fluids to generate power -- today 25 billion barrels of hot water are produced annually from oil and gas wells within the United States much of which cannot be used due to leasing technicalities;
* facilitate new geothermal discoveries by allowing the limited non-competitive leasing of adjacent lands to support development where a new discovery has been made;
* expedite geothermal exploration for new test projects by providing a limited categorical exclusion; and,
* direct the BLM to prepare a new, supplemental Programmatic EIS for geothermal energy
There is a link to the complete Energy Policy 2016 bill here. It is a 550 page download.
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/sum...policy-act
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*