Stop geothermal drilling on 26,000 acres in Winnemucca
October 2026 Competitive Geothermal Lease Sale
Bureau of Land Management· Winnemucca DistrictBLM NEPA Register DOI-BLM-NV-W000-2026-0003-EA ↗
BLM ePlanningWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
The groups on this fight
4 groups work Nevada
By footprint, from the same match the STAND matchmaker runs; none is linked to this decision in our record yet. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Center for Biological Diversity
Works Nevada: sued the Bureau of Land Management in March 2024 over its failure to complete the overdue management plan for Basin and Range National Monument..
- Friends of Nevada Wilderness
Works Nevada: campaigned for the 2015 designation and petitioned Nevada's governor and senators to remove Basin and Range from the federal monument review..
- Friends of Red Rock Canyon
Works Nevada: they work only in Nevada.
- Tahoe Rim Trail Association
Works Nevada: nevada is one of the 2 states they work in.
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
BLM plans to lease 26,427 acres of northern Nevada public land for geothermal drilling and infrastructure.
What’s at risk
Seven parcels totaling 26,427 acres in the Winnemucca District face geothermal drilling and industrial infrastructure construction. Leasing would open this public land to energy development that alters its ecological character.
If this goes through
Once leased, these 26,427 acres in northern Nevada can be drilled and built on for geothermal energy, a change that is difficult to reverse.
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
3 holes in the agency’s own analysis
What the public could have raised, from the agency’s own document
- I oppose this action as proposed, and I ask the agency to weigh the specific harms below.
- I oppose leasing all seven nominated parcels in the Winnemucca District, because opening 26,427 acres of public land to geothermal drilling and infrastructure construction requires full environmental review before any lease is granted.
- Do not approve this October 2026 competitive geothermal lease sale until BLM completes a thorough NEPA analysis of the impacts to the 26,427 acres in the Winnemucca District.
- As a recreational user of public lands in northern Nevada, I urge BLM to consider how geothermal drilling and infrastructure on these seven parcels would affect my access and the ecological integrity of the Winnemucca District.
- Say something only you can say. The law requires the agency to consider and respond to substantive comments, and specifics are what make a comment substantive.
In the agency’s own words
The Nevada State Office proposes to conduct a Competitive Geothermal Lease Sale in October 2026. The BLM Nevada State Office provided seven parcel nominations for review to the Winnemucca District, covering an area of approximately 26,427 acres.
The reporting behind this
From More Than Just ParksIt’s referred to as Unit 346 in the Twin Mountain II Timber Sale. On the ground, it’s some of the most spectacular old growth we’ve ever witnessed, and it’s marked for clearcutting.
To document and do our part to save America’s greatest old growth forest
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