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Geothermal Development and the Use of Categorical Exclusions Under NEPA

Metadata Updated: April 26, 2022

This study focuses primarily on the Categorial Exclusions (CX) process and its applicability to geothermal exploration. In this paper, we: - Provide generalized background information on CXs, including previous NEPA reports addressing CXs, the process for developing CXs, and the role of extraordinary circumstances; - Examine the history of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) geothermal CXs; - Compare current CXs for oil, gas, and geothermal energy; - Describe bills proposing new statutory CXs; - Examine the possibility of standardizing geothermal CXs across federal agencies; and - Present analysis from the Geothermal NEPA Database and other sources on the potential for new geothermal exploration CXs.

As part of this study, we reviewed Environmental Assessments (EAs) conducted in response to 20 geothermal exploration drilling permit applications (Geothermal Drilling Permits or Notices of Intents) since the year 2001, the majority of which are from the last 5 years. All 20 EAs reviewed for this study resulted in a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: Creative Commons Attribution

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Dates

Metadata Created Date June 24, 2021
Metadata Updated Date April 26, 2022

Metadata Source

Harvested from OpenEI data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 24, 2021
Metadata Updated Date April 26, 2022
Publisher National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Maintainer
Doi 10.15121/1678707
Identifier https://data.openei.org/submissions/3886
Data First Published 2014-09-30T06:00:00Z
Data Last Modified 2022-02-09T16:35:30Z
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 019:20
Metadata Context https://openei.org/data.json
Metadata Catalog ID https://openei.org/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Data Quality True
Harvest Object Id 691ada9e-8004-4a0c-833b-1732aa6b3a01
Harvest Source Id 7cbf9085-0290-4e9f-bec1-91653baeddfd
Harvest Source Title OpenEI data.json
Homepage URL https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1260
License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Old Spatial {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":-167.7267,13.518,-53.8316,13.518,-53.8316,75.0714,-167.7267,75.0714,-167.7267,13.518}
Program Code 019:006
Projectlead Tim Reinhardt
Projectnumber FY14 AOP 4.2.0.1
Projecttitle Geothermal Regulatory Roadmap
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash ea6befc57c2e700076c86b4ffc085dea164fc9fa
Source Schema Version 1.1
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