Nevada could set geothermal pace

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada could lead the nation in geothermal power if vast untapped beds of hot rock are explored and developed, a Nevada scientist told a crowd of 200 gathered today for a national summit on renewable energy.

Nevada, perhaps more than any other state, has a hidden treasure of undeveloped renewable energy -- heat locked beneath the Earth's crust that could be converted into electricity, said Jane Long, dean of the Mackay School of Mines at the University of Nevada, Reno.

"It's 10 times what we're doing now, easy," Long said in an interview after serving on a conference panel.

Nevada's nine geothermal plants produce about 216 megawatts, making the state the second leading producer of geothermal power, behind California, Long said. Long joined academics, energy company officials, lobbyists, environmentalists, several congressional lawmakers and federal government representatives at the National Conference on Opportunities to Expand Renewable Energy on Public Lands.

In her opening address Interior Secretary Gale Norton stressed that higher energy production is tied to national security.

"Assembled here today are our own energy security joint chiefs of staff, " said Norton, surrounded by top aides from the Environmental Protection Agency and Agriculture, Energy, Defense departments. "These are the generals who will be developing our plans for energy security."

The event, hosted by the departments of Interior and Energy at Interior headquarters, was also held in response to a national energy strategy released in May by Vice President Dick Cheney.

The House approved a bill that incorporated many of Cheney's recommendations, but the Senate has not acted on the legislation. Senate Democrats signaled on Tuesday that they plan to put off debating sweeping energy policy reform until next year.

Cheney's report recommended further developing solar, wind, biomass and geothermal energy sources -- in addition to drilling more oil and burning more coal and gas.

All renewable energy sources, including wind and solar, produce only about 2 percent of the nation's electricity.

Geothermal plants in the United States, found mostly in the West, produce about 2,700 megawatts, enough to power homes of about 3.5 million people, according to one estimate.

Several environmentalists offered muted praise for the renewables conference, saying it was more style than substance. They stressed their objections to the Bush administration's recommendations for tax breaks and other benefits for coal, gas and nuclear power producers.

"Unfortunately, the House energy bill and the adminstration's energy plan are dirty, dangerous and don't deliver real consumer savings," Katherine Morrison, attorney for U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said in a written statement. "We have been particularly disappointed in the administration's lack of commitment to renewable energy."

Geothermal energy was one of the first topics on today's agenda. The last assessment of geothermal power potential in the United States was in the 1960s, Long said. The government needs to launch a new assessment, she said.

Developing geothermal energy has been slowed because it is expensive to construct transmission lines and to lease land from the government. The U.S. government owns about 85 percent of Nevada's land.

Many of the best places to explore and develop geothermal sites are on federally owned land, energy company officials said. They urged the Department of Interior to make it easier to lease land. Many lease applications have been buried in bureaucratic paperwork for more than a year, said Jonathan Weisgall, a vice president at MidAmerican Energy Co.