XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.libertarian, or.politics   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: ramon@conexus.net   
      
   In article    
   governor.swill@gmail.com wrote:   
   >   
   > Trump says throw his ass in jail.   
      
   Outdated regulations, political squabbles, and stubborn   
   environmental activists have kept America from embracing a form   
   of renewable power that could solve most of the country's energy   
   problems.   
      
   Geothermal technology harnesses energy from heat stored below   
   Earth's crust. Proponents say it could meet a major share of   
   U.S. energy needs within the decade. But green groups have   
   quietly lobbied against geothermal solutions, saying they weaken   
   federal environmental protection standards.   
      
   Rep. Russ Fulcher (R., Idaho) and Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho) on   
   Thursday introduced a bill that would make it easier for   
   geothermal drilling projects to explore federal land. An earlier   
   version of that bill was quietly shot down by Democrats. Sources   
   say Democratic lawmakers privately supported the bill but feared   
   their public support would lead to pushback from green groups.   
      
   Geothermal systems convert subterranean heat into steam, which   
   powers turbines. The energy produced by this process is   
   essentially limitless, completely renewable and emits no carbon.   
   The United States is the world leader in geothermal energy, even   
   though the energy only accounts for half of 1 percent of U.S.   
   electricity generation.   
      
   This renewable energy solution is constrained by the absence of   
   available land. Most accessible geothermal resources in the   
   United States are on federal land in the West, including large   
   swathes of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona.   
      
   Unlike oil and gas firms, companies seeking to drill exploratory   
   wells for geothermal energy on that land must undergo years of   
   environmental review. Even though geothermal companies use the   
   same drilling rigs as their oil and gas counterparts, they are   
   held to a more difficult standard.   
      
   Fulcher and Risch’s bill would give geothermal drilling projects   
   the same expedited reviews that oil and gas ventures already   
   receive for public land. By creating a "categorical exclusion"   
   from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the bill   
   would shave several years off the development time of geothermal   
   wells and make the field more enticing to investors.   
      
   Green activist groups have quietly lobbied against this plan.   
   These groups oppose changes to NEPA, which requires a lengthy   
   review process for proposed projects that would use public land.   
   Activist groups worry that any exemptions to NEPA, even for   
   clean energy sources, could undermine the rest of the law.   
      
   The National Resource Defense Council did not respond to a   
   request for comment. Nor did the Wilderness Society, which   
   directed the Washington Free Beacon to a statement that   
   expresses its opposition to changes to NEPA.   
      
   Sierra Club senior attorney Nathaniel Shoaff told the Free   
   Beacon that NEPA is "an essential tool." Shoaff said that   
   without the act, the public would be deprived of an opportunity   
   to hear about the benefits of certain developments on public   
   land. The Sierra Club generally opposes developing public land.   
      
   Geothermal energy doesn't fit the narrative pushed by many green   
   groups. Proponents don't call for more expansive federal   
   regulation or oppose using low-risk fracking technologies. As a   
   result, geothermal solutions have remained largely out of public   
   view. And the small industry's limited lobbying efforts have yet   
   to seriously move the needle in Washington.   
      
   Even with the lethargy on Capitol Hill, though, geothermal   
   energy is picking up steam.   
      
   Proponents of geothermal energy believe minor technological   
   breakthroughs could enable a revolution in American energy   
   production. Some oil and gas veterans believe techniques in that   
   field can make traditional geothermal drilling productive at   
   scale, while others think fracking technology and 3D printing   
   can be adapted to pull heat from rock too deep or too hard to   
   reach with traditional geothermal methods.   
      
   Geothermal energy is typically pulled from places directly over   
   tectonic faults, where water is heated in cracks below the   
   Earth's surface. Heat stored at deeper levels or in less   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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