The potential for geothermal development in the vicinity of Waunita Hot Springs east of Gunnison, Colorado is nothing new. Interest in tapping the resource for power generation extends back more than five decades. Most recently, public attention turned to the area about six year ago when two large swaths of federal lands were nominated for geothermal exploration.
In September 2014, the BLM completed an environmental assessment for the nominated leases and issued a Finding of No Significant Impact.
The BLM concluded, “A long-lived surface expression (Waunita Hot Springs), shallow heat source (tertiary igneous activity related to Tomichi Dome), proximity to transportation and electrical corridors and encouraging data from early work all suggest the area to be an ideal candidate for further research and possibly exploration and development of the geothermal resource.”
