BLM accepting nominations for 2026 geothermal lease sale in Idaho
The Bureau of Land Management has opened nominations for land parcels to be included in a geothermal lease sale in Idaho scheduled for October 2026.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is once again accepting nominations for public lands for a planned geothermal lease, this time to be held in Idaho and tentatively scheduled on October 2026. All nominations for this lease sale must be received by 1 October 2025.
The call for nominations comes just before a planned Idaho geothermal lease sale, which is taking place on 9 September 2025. The lease sale will offer nine parcels totaling nearly 20,615 acres in Elmore and Washington counties and about 3,740 acres in Bonneville Country.
Nominations are not automatically placed for sale when received, and the BLM cannot guarantee that the nominated lands will be included. The parcels must be reviewed for availability as well as natural resource and cultural concerns prior to being made available for sale. Each nomination must be submitted with a nonrefundable filing fee of $145 plus $0.14 per acre of land nominated.
Geothermal energy is a renewable resource that generates baseload electricity with minimal carbon emissions. It is an abundant resource, especially in the West, where the BLM has authority to manage geothermal resource leasing, exploration, and development on approximately 245 million surface acres of public lands and the 700 million acres where the United States owns the subsurface mineral estate.
Leasing is the first step in the process to develop federal geothermal resources. The BLM ensures geothermal development meets the requirements set forth by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and other applicable legal authorities. Geothermal lease sales support domestic energy production and American energy independence, while contributing to the nation’s economic and military security.
Source: Bureau of Land Management
