Activities

The NGC conducts research and convenes dialogues and workshops on key issues related to geothermal power. Please contact us if you would like to be updated regularly.

Current initiatives include building coordination and program awareness among all levels of federal land managers, improving geothermal presence in land use policy, and develop outreach materials.

Coordination and Program Awareness

The Coordination and Program Awareness work group will focus on increasing geothermal-specific knowledge (substantive and procedural) inside of and across land management agencies with programmatic interest in or jurisdiction over geothermal resource development. A principle objective is to lay the groundwork for creation of a network of geothermal experts across a number of agencies who can work together to create a more effective, coordinated approach to geothermal project leasing and permitting; and, facilitate coordinated efforts among federal agencies and interested outside parties to improve geothermal siting and permitting processes to enable appropriate development – where geothermal power is environmentally, economically and politically sustainable. The Coordination/Communication Work Group will approach accomplishing the goals of this activity through three task areas:

1. Briefings - development and delivery
2. Interagency working group to update and/or develop an MOU and Flow Chart that captures decision-making inside and access BLM and USFS
3. Education and role clarification of managers/field personnel through panel discussions at conferences, and interviews with professionals (including other fuel technologies) to inform revisions of the MOU/Flow Chart (see B above).

Land Use Planning

The Land Use Planning Work Group will focus on crafting a situation assessment focused on whether or how appropriate geothermal development could move forward in the Northwest. The situation assessment will lay the groundwork for creating a series of problem-solving dialogues to address geothermal development in the Northwest. The assessment will focus on those key stakeholders with an expressed interest in or jurisdictional authority over land use planning: this group will include a representative sample of (but not be limited to) public land managers, developers, utilities, tribes, environmentalists, and other interested or affected groups. The purpose is to assess the feasibility of a problem-solving process with potential parties. The assessment will be completed through interviews with identified stakeholders. A key product of any feasibility assessment will be general agreement among the parties as to who will participate and in what way, what the scope of issues and interests are, information and sources needed to make sound decisions, and other ground rules.

Outreach Materials

The focus of this activity is to create and disseminate a quantitative/qualitative examination of public comments recorded in federal and state environmental and permitting review documents. The overarching objective is twofold: to analyze what categories of interests and sectors get involved and which issues they raise; and to use this analysis to design a set of recommended principles for developing effective outreach programs.

The scope of work for the qualitative/quantitative analysis of EIS will require a draft framework for the analysis (to be reviewed by the work group before conducting the analysis), analysis and synthesis to produce a set of common challenges/issues and a recommended set of principles that should guide stakeholders and policy makers with respect to geothermal development in the future.

Past NGC Activities

RPS Summary

In its first meeting, the National Geothermal Collaborative Steering Committee agreed to establish a work group to focus on state-level renewable portfolio standards (RPS). This report represents the culmination of the collaborative development of the statement of work, the execution of that and the formative advice given to the report authors by the RPS Working Group in March 2003, and then again from the whole Steering Committee in May of 2003. The report, “Evaluating State Renewables Portfolio Standards: A Focus on Geothermal Energy,” is the product of a complete consensus process, and will serve as a resource document for decision makers. Click here for more information on the RPS Work Group.

Impediments to Siting on Federal and Tribal Lands Summary

The NGC Impediments to Siting on Federal and Tribal Lands Work Group has been compiling a findings document to analyze existing information, from conferences, workshops, interviews with workgroup identified stakeholders, existing regulatory framework, and the work of the White House Task Force on Energy Project Streamlining, and synthesize impediments to siting geothermal development on Federal and Tribal lands, then summarize recommended actions from those reports. The report will consolidate all finding and comments, but will specifically address environmental issues and tribal interests and values on federal and tribal lands. The report will identify the benefits and shortcomings of the current leasing and permitting processes.

The report will aid the Work Group in establishing specific topics for problem solving dialogues/workshops. These dialogues will include experts and interested stakeholders in a discussion of specific impediments and possible solutions. Click here for more information on the Impediments to Siting Work Group.