The U.S. Forest Service is beginning an environmental study of an application to lease public land for a proposed geothermal power plant near the confluence of the Salmon River and Panther Creek, adjacent to the River of No Return Wilderness.
Ormat Technologies wants the right to use hot water from Panther Creek Hot Springs to produce power that would be connected to Idaho Power’s grid. A BLM study of geothermal potential in the West estimated that the site has 10-20 megawatts of generating capacity—enough to power up to 20,000 homes.
The proposed site covers almost nine square miles on the Salmon-Challis National Forest about 25 miles west of the town of Salmon. The Forest Service announced in the Federal Register on Sept. 24 that a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is expected in May 2016 and a final EIS in September.
