News

New U.S. legislation draft aims to allow non-competitive leasing

New U.S. legislation draft aims to allow non-competitive leasing U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C (source: flickr/ cliff1066™, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 17 Feb 2013

New draft legislation in the U.S. would allow noncompetitive lease sales to developers to expand existing leases with proven resources.

A new piece of legislation introduced by the Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, aims at “boosting development of geothermal energy by tweaking the leasing program for tracts of federal land to develop the renewable resource.”

Lease sales are currently held by the Department of the Interior which offers land on a “noncompetitive” basis if no bids are received. the new draft would expand access to land that is offered outside of competitive lease sales.

“This legislation extends the authority for noncompetitive leasing in cases where a geothermal developer wants to gain access to Federal land immediately adjacent to land on which that developer has proven that there is a geothermal resource that will be developed. This will allow a geothermal project to expand onto adjacent land, if necessary, to increase the amount of geothermal energy it can develop. It will also add to the royalties and rents that the project pays to the U.S. Treasury,” he said in a statement Thursday.

The draft legislation is co-sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the Energy Committee’s top Republican along with a bipartisan mix of other lawmakers.

 

Source: The Hill