some federal parcels in Utah have taken 15 yrs after nomination to be available for geothermal leasing 😬

deseret.com/utah/2024/05/2…

all western states (except Nevada) manage millions of acres via land grants they received at statehood

utah has turned these acres into a pile of cash that now spins out millions in annual interest for utah schools and the like, pretty cool

ksl.com/article/510053…

find yourself a pooch and some hot springs

gotta drill to produce geothermal power, too

e.g., in nevada, pulses of drilling activity in 1980's-90's and 2010's brought online dozens of new geothermal plants and hundreds of MWe of net power (Ayling et al 2020)

a geothermal system is like a blacksmiths forge, when it's alive it gives you heat and power, and when it's dead it gives you gold and silver

the Fallon base has some nice heat underneath it, glad Fervo is taking a crack at it, an excellent site for EGS

as context, the Fallon site sits in the 'Carson Sink' (a bottomless pit where freshwater goes to die), which already hosts ~5 operating geothermal fields

can't yet tell whether this is a 'tick' or 'tock' level improvement, but am cautiously optimistic!

fwiw we have already seen some improved responses from BLM field offices that predated this announcement, so the changes seem to be real

glacially carved valleys make for great ski hills

despite a sluggish start to the season, Utah's winter ripped back to an above average snowpack with a torrid 10+ weeks push ❄️❄️❄️

nwcc-apps.sc.egov.usda.gov/awdb/basin-plo…

great salt lake sunsets are like ocean sunsets but the sound is muted (no surf)

Freeport is gonna bathe its tailings piles in geothermal heat to wiggle free more holdout copper, can't wait to find that geothermal heat for them

energy.gov/oced/clean-ene…

Feeling hopeful, new bipartisan permitting reform bill is damn good 😋
-catex permits for test drilling (huge!)
-up to 10 acres disturbance per project
-up to 10 projects
-mandates lease sales every year per state

lee.senate.gov/services/files…