The years-long battle over geothermal development in the Medicine Lake Highlands had yet another date in appeals court recently as the parties argued whether or not the plaintiffs have standing to sue.
The storied history of the legal battle over the highlands began after a 1998 decision by the United States Bureau of Land Management to continue multiple leases in the area for a total of 40 years to power company Calpine.
In 2000, BLM had issued a Record of Decision approving plans for a geothermal energy production plant in the Fourmile Hill area of the highlands.
The issue was two-pronged; in one action, the Pit River Tribe, along with various environmental groups, challenged the extension of leases on 26 areas, and in the other, the tribe and other litigants challenged a separate lease extension and the associated approval of the Fourmile Hill project.
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