Political Quotes

“I am pleased to join with my colleagues from Idaho and Oregon, Senator James Risch, Senator Mike Crapo, and Senator Jeff Merkley, in introducing the Geothermal Production Expansion Act of 2010. This legislation will amend an already existing law--the Geothermal Steam Act--governing the way the Federal Government leases public lands for the development of geothermal energy projects. Geothermal energy facilities provide a continuous supply of renewable energy with very few environmental impacts. Although the United States has more geothermal capacity than any other country, this potential has been barely tapped. This shortfall is partly due to the high initial cost and risk involved in locating and developing geothermal resources. Like oil and natural gas exploration, until exploration and production wells are actually drilled, the true energy value of the site is not known nor is the full extent of the underground reservoir or energy source. This legislation is intended to expand the future production of geothermal energy on federally-owned lands by taking some of the uncertainty and guess work out of the leasing and development process by allowing the Interior Department to issue geothermal leases for adjacent lands on a non-competitive basis, based on fair-market value.”