Geothermal leasing, development plan announced Secretary of the Interior Dick Kempthorne today said the federal government would open 197 million acres of public land for geothermal development, according to media reports. Under the plan, 122 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land-use plans would be amended to allow geothermal power development that could provide as much as 5,540 MW of new electricity for 5.5 million homes by 2015. The plan, which expected to be made final in two months, calls for leasing land to project developers with the proceeds shared by local, state and federal governments. The broader environmental review for the overall leasing program calls for 118 million acres of land managed by BLM, and 79 million acres under the U.S. Forest Service, to be made available for potential geothermal development....