Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), categorical exclusions can be applied to activities that as a whole have been determined to pose no significant risk to the quality of the human environmental. The BLM clarifies that the categorical exclusions that have been adopted apply only to geothermal exploration. Subsequent development of a geothermal resource would still require additional NEPA analysis.
The Department of the Interior will adopt, in a Federal Register notice, the categorical exclusions under Section 109 of NEPA, as amended by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. That law allows a federal agency to adopt an applicable categorical exclusion listed in another agency’s NEPA procedures.
“Geothermal energy is one of the technologies that can move our country toward a clean energy future,” said BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning. “It only makes sense to use the same streamlined processes for permitting geothermal exploration that other government agencies have proven can work.”
In considering permits for notices of intent to explore for geothermal resources, the BLM may use either the Forest Service or Navy categorical exclusion to support its decision. If a categorical exclusion is used, the BLM will indicate how the proposed action fits with whichever categorical exclusion is used, in accordance with applicable NEPA or geothermal program guidance. The BLM will also check in each instance for special circumstances that may require the preparation of an environmental assessment.
The BLM manages public lands for many uses, including sustainable energy development. The agency manages geothermal leasing on approximately 245 million acres of public lands, regularly holding geothermal lease sales mostly in Utah and Nevada.
More frequent geothermal lease sales and the introduction of categorical exclusions for geothermal drilling and well field development are some of the provisions of the recently proposed bipartisan bill or the Geothermal Energy Optimization (GEO) Act. The bill seeks to make it easier for geothermal projects to get off the ground by putting them on equal footing with oil and gas projects on public land.
