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Federal courts lifts ban on Nevada geothermal power plant construction

Federal courts lifts ban on Nevada geothermal power plant construction Unionvzlle, Pershing County, Nevada (Source, Flickr, Ken Lund, Creative commons)
Carlo Cariaga 9 Feb 2022

The 90-day injunction on the Dixie Meadows geothermal project in Nevada has been lifted pending a full review of the merits of the case

A federal appeals court has lifted the 90-day temporary ban on the construction work in the Dixie Meadows geothermal project in Nevada of Ormat Technologies (Ormat). The decision was handed by a two-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in a one-page ruling.

We have previously reported on the suspension of the work in Dixie Meadows following a lawsuit the Center for Biological Diversity and Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe citing local concerns about the environmental impact of the project.

Ormat appealed the decision, stating that the company might be forced to abandon the project if construction cannot proceed by February 28. This would make it impossible for them to start selling power by December 31 – a deadline set by a contract that made the project financially viable.

The recent ruling stayed the injunction but the full consideration of the appeal on the merits of the case is still pending. Despite granting the request to expedite the review, the final decision is not expected to be released before April.

“We are grateful to the court for allowing construction to commence so Ormat can complete this important project and support the goal of reaching 100% carbon-free electricity,” said Ormat VP for Business Development Paul Thomsen. He also said that the company “takes potential environmental impacts very seriously and works hard to ensure no significant impacts are created by our facilities.”

Source: Fairfield Citizen