News

BLM to hold lease sale for a parcel at Mount Princeton/ Colorado November 12, 2009

Alexander Richter 5 Nov 2009

The Bureau of Land Management will hold a competitive lease sale on Thursday, Nov. 12, for a parcel of land consisting of 799.2 acres near the Mount Princeton hot springs area in Colorado.

Reported locally, “The Bureau of Land Management will hold a competitive lease sale on Thursday, Nov. 12, for a parcel of land consisting of 799.2 acres near the Mount Princeton hot springs area that is identified to hold an underground reservoir capable of producing geothermal energy.

The acreage up for auction exists under home and land owners who may be directly affected by potential developers.

“Under federal law they (the potential developers) have the right to develop the sub-surface heat underneath the property,” Fred Henderson, chief scientist for prospective bidder Mount Princeton Geothermal LLC said.

Steve Glover, Buena Vista resident and former owner and operator of oil and gas leases in Kansas, said, “This lease represents land where the BLM owns 100 percent of minerals underground. So if they own the minerals, they have the right to sell it. Whoever owns the surface ground is irrelevant,” he said.

Unlike many who are hopeful about this being the first site for geothermal energy in the state, Glover voiced concerns about irrevocable damages and disadvantages to land owners who may not understand what is happening.

Under the Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916, a split estate ownership was established that allocated surface land rights to homesteaders but granted sub-surface rights to the federal government for minerals usage.

According to the SRHA, anyone has the right to enter these federally owned sub-surface lands, prospect, and file a mining claim and plan of operation. Since the geothermal resource sits underground, it is sub-surface land. This is the basis for the sale on Nov. 12, the first geothermal lease to be auctioned by the BLM in the state of Colorado. It is open to anyone who chooses to register.”

For the full release use link below.

Source: Chaffee County Times