Geothermal Resources in the Cascades: Accessible/Developable -- The Institutional Setting

Abstract

Institutional barriers have long been recognized as being primarily responsible for the lack of exploration and development activities in the Cascades. Paramount among these barriers has been the almost total lack of access to federal lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The situation, however, is changing. More and more leases are being offered, and the USFS has begun to experiment with Conditional Right Stipulation leases in order to minimize prelease environmental analyses and thus accelerate the entire leasing process. The liberalization of unitization regulations has resulted in a way around the acreage limitation and hopefully minimized the effect of that barrier until Congress is able to enact legislation to increase the acreage limitation. Finally, a major reorganization in the Department of the Interior could, if it proves to be successful, significantly streamline the entire leasing and permitting system. However, the increase accessibility of federal lands and the streamlining of leasing and permitting has, to a large extent, been offset by the announcement of a major electrical power surplus in the Pacific Northwest. The announcement of a power surplus has caused major energy companies as well as independent developers to reassess the developabiility of geothermal energy in the Cascades and their commitment to such development. The surplus, however, may be replaced by a serious deficit by the early 1990s if WPPSS/Nuclear Plants No.1 and 3 are terminated or if planned additions to the regional power base do not materialize. If the termination should occur as predicted, the developability of geothermal resources could be dependant only upon the quantity and quality of the resource, and a commitment by the geothermal industry.