The hot, briny water far beneath Nevada’s public lands may be an indispensable solution to the climate crisis.

Geothermal plants, where hot water is pumped from the ground and later injected back into the aquifer, have been touted as a water-neutral and sustainable way to generate energy.

Though some remain concerned about how pumping may dry up springs and alter the flow of groundwater, Nevada law allows these projects to proceed without obtaining local water rights. That’s because the water use is considered “non-consumptive,” meaning that the water that’s pumped is returned back into the ground.

In a Thursday announcement, the Bureau of Land Management said it has proposed a so-called “categorical exclusion” to help speed up federal permitting processes to get such plants constructed. The announcement specifically named Nevada as having “some of the largest undeveloped geothermal potential in the country.”

The news follows a large-scale lease of about 217,000 acres of public lands in Nevada to geothermal companies in 64 parcels, generating more than $7.8 million in revenue for the federal agency, which has emphasized its goal of a carbon-pollution-free power sector by 2035.

“The BLM is committed to supporting the responsible growth of geothermal energy on public lands,” agency Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in a statement. “We need all the tools in the toolbox to reach a clean energy future, and this proposed categorical exclusion will be helpful in accelerating the process of locating new geothermal resources.”

Energy race heating up

So far, geothermal projects have drawn some controversy in the Silver State.

The Center for Biological Diversity raised concerns for a rare toad that would have been affected by geothermal exploration in Churchill County. Under an emergency order from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the toad was listed as an endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act, and further review by the BLM of the project’s environmental impact became necessary.

Ormat Technologies, the geothermal developer, filed a notice of intent to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2023 over its decision to list the Dixie Valley toad for protections, though the company has agreed to the additional environmental review since the listing.

The center, alongside the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, sued the BLM over the environmental review process in 2022, a bid that was rejected by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That lawsuit is on pause, pending an additional environmental review and new consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service, said Patrick Donnelly, the center’s Great Basin director.

Donnelly said the goal of the lawsuit was to try and prove the connection between groundwater pumping and subsequent injection for geothermal projects and the disruption of hot springs. It’s a consideration that was widely researched but hadn’t been considered by the BLM or environmentalists as an issue, he added.

“It gets into the definition of what is consumptive use,” Donnelly said. “They’re saying they’re non-consumptive, and that may be true, but they are reducing water availability.”

Both Donnelly and Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network, believe the BLM should use as much scrutiny as the law allows when evaluating environmental impact of geothermal plants, not less.

“The baseload needs for geothermal power are undeniable,” Roerink said. “But what’s also undeniable are the potential impacts to water resources. To have a federal agency not consider those in a thorough and meaningful analysis is negligent.”

___

©2024 Las Vegas Review-Journal. Visit reviewjournal.com.. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.