WASHINGTON, DC, US, April 25, 2007.
U.S. bureaucrats are undermining the renewable energy industry, according to the Geothermal Energy Association.
“It's been nearly two years since Congress passed EPAct (2005 Energy Policy Act) and rules implementing key geothermal provisions are still not completed,” GEA executive director Karl Gawell told the energy subcommittee of the House of Representatives. The subcommittee is preparing for oversight hearings on the legislation.
“Legislators intended for EPAct to spur the development of domestic energy resources, particularly renewable resources like geothermal energy, but the long delay in implementing EPAct geothermal leasing and royalty provisions has undercut achieving these goals,” he said. “It has been frustrating to witness the administration working to undermine and repeal various geothermal provisions of EPAct.”
In addition to delays in implementing new geothermal leasing provisions, the federal administration has “sought to terminate the DOE (Department of Energy) geothermal research program, has proposed repealing several provisions of the new geothermal leasing law, and has failed to move forward responsibly to complete a new national geothermal resource assessment as specifically directed,” among other actions to undercut provisions in EPAct.
President George Bush signed EPAct into law because the legislation would “promote dependable, affordable and environmentally sound production and distribution of energy for America's future,” the GEA testified. Geothermal should be among the important energy sources that the U.S. looks to for future supply, noting that recent reports from DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have estimated a “substantial untapped domestic resource base” for geothermal production, with potential to develop 100,000 MW of new capacity from a range of technology applications.
GEA commended the federal Bureau of Land Management for plans to begin a multi-state geothermal Environmental Impact Statement similar to the EIS completed for wind in 2005. That Programmatic Wind EIS is credited with advancing development of wind energy on public lands.
“It is important that this multi-year effort have adequate funds committed to it to ensure timely completion,” GEA testified, and it encouraged the subcommittee to probe administration witnesses about the status, plans and funding for the effort.
Despite uncertainties over the implementation of geothermal provisions in EPAct, GEA said dozens of new geothermal projects will come on line within the next few years. “Geothermal can play an important role in meeting our country's energy needs, and we hope Congress will conduct aggressive oversight of the administration's programs to ensure that geothermal energy's tremendous potential is developed into clean, renewable, reliable secure energy that will benefit millions of American families,” Gawell concluded.
