TOPIC 'Geothermal Energy' on Oct 29, 2008 (CET)
Shoshone Nation Capturing Power of Geothermal Resources
It goes to show that sometimes the old ways, and the natural ways, are the best. Back in simpler times, when life was more direct, the Shoshone Native American tribal people used natural hot water to warm the village in the winter as they camped. The Shoshone Nation in Honeyville, Utah, is using the same basic principles and elements today as they prepare to build five geothermal plants and sell the energy produced to residents of Riverside, California.
Ground was broke for the first of the five geothermal plants on October 2. It is expected to produce 100 megawatts of power. Drilling has begun around-the-clock to reach the needed 8,000 feet underground level where boiling water is expected to exist. Drilling 24 hours per day costs $21,000 a day, and the cost of this first plant is expected to be approximately $450 million.
The site of the geothermal power plant is on a location off the reservation, about 25 miles from the border between Utah and Idaho. The tribe is leasing the lands for its geothermal projects from several different private landowners. The Shoshone Tribe is able to take advantage of their federal exempt tax status, as well as the availability of a federal credit designed specifically to help finance energy projects, to help make an ideal situation for the tribe to build these projects.
Another geothermal plant site contains past history for the tribe in its expected location at Preston, Idaho. There are hot springs along the Beaver River where federal troops camped back during the United States’ Civil War period in 1863. Unfortunately, the area near the hot springs was the site of a massacre of the Shoshone Tribe’s people. Men, women, and children were said to be murdered at that spot. Native Americans have sensibilities about areas and places where events took place. Perhaps this is a way of turning that spot into something positive for the tribe. The project is receiving financing from LotusWorks, based in Ireland, and Meridian Investments, LLC, based in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Sherry Irvin
on behalf of the
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