CONTACT CONGRESS Before November 17

🚨 DON'T HAVE TIME TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE?

Here's what you need to know: We have found enough unanswered questions that we are asking BLM to pull Lemhi County Parcels 0049, 0054 and 0056 from the November 17 sale until the maps, records and required review can show that these lands are actually open and legal to lease.

⏱ HAVE 3 MINUTES?
Send one email to our state and federal representatives.

☎️ HAVE 5 MINUTES?
Call BLM and ask them to pull the three parcels.

📍 HAVE 1 HOUR?
Join us Thursday, October 8 at 6:00 PM at Highland Beer in Salmon to see what we've uncovered.

TAKE ACTION NOW ↓

Want to understand why we're asking? Keep reading.

The closer we look at the three proposed geothermal leases in Lemhi County, the more questions we find—and time is running out...

On November 17, 2026, the Bureau of Land Management is scheduled to auction three geothermal lease parcels in Lemhi County: 0049, 0054 and 0056.

These are part of a much larger Idaho sale involving 35 geothermal parcels totaling nearly 113,330 acres across eight counties.

Another concern for many residents is what this geothermal resource could ultimately power.

That question is no longer abstract for rural communities in our region. Just northwest of Billings, Montana, a developer has acquired approximately 5,100 acres near Broadview for a proposed massive data center and potential power generation. The proposed data center would ultimately require approximately 1,100 megawatts of power—more than half of Montana's average statewide electricity demand. For obvious reasons, this has generated wide-scale community debate about land use, energy infrastructure and local control.

We want to be very clear: we have found no evidence that an AI data center is currently planned for the Lemhi County geothermal parcels.

But given what is happening in nearby Montana—and federal policy specifically encouraging AI data centers and their supporting energy infrastructure on federal lands—we believe our community has every reason to ask who nominated these geothermal parcels, what development has been discussed, and how this resource could ultimately be used to power.

While that broader AI concern may be driving much of our interest, the questions immediately before us are more fundamental:

• Are the parcels being offered for lease even legally available for geothermal leasing in the first place?
• Did BLM follow the rules properly before offering this land for geothermal lease?
• Can BLM show us the maps and records that prove they got it right?

Based on the records we have reviewed so far, we have our doubts.

And November 17 is getting closer.

BLM Already Corrected One Significant Problem

We found that BLM included about 800 acres around Sharkey Hot Springs in Parcel 0054 even though those acres were CLOSED to geothermal leasing (click here to read the evidence yourself).

After the issue was brought to BLM's attention through the Salmon office, the agency corrected the parcel and removed the affected acreage.

We appreciate that BLM made the correction.

When we realized that the CLOSED Sharkey acres had made it all the way through BLM's review process and into the final sale, we could no longer assume that everything else had been reviewed correctly. So we started digging deeper.

15,596 Acres vs. 60,464 Acres CLOSED: Which Map Was Used?

One of the most important questions involves BLM's land-use planning documents.

The current 2026 Environmental Assessment references an older 1987 Lemhi Resource Management Plan, which said that approximately 15,596 acres were CLOSED to geothermal leasing.

But in 2008, BLM adopted a newer geothermal plan for the Salmon Field Office (click here to see the evidence yourself).

That plan identifies approximately:

60,464 acres CLOSED to geothermal leasing.

That's a difference of almost 45,000 acres.

This raises a serious question: Could BLM be using the wrong map—the older one with fewer CLOSED acres?

We need the 2008 map to see exactly where those 60,464 CLOSED acres are located—and whether any fall inside the three parcels now being offered for lease.

In other words, are all of these lands even allowed to be leased for geothermal development?

We have repeatedly asked for the maps and records needed to answer that question.

We still don't have them.

The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Raises Another Question

The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail crosses two parcels in the proposed lease area.

The 2008 geothermal planning documents say no geothermal leasing is allowed within one mile of a National Scenic or Historic Trail—creating a two-mile-wide corridor along the Trail. But the Lewis & Clark Trail runs through two of the proposed parcels and is being offered as part of the sale.

Based on our reading of the 2008 documents, we believe this Trail corridor should not be included in the geothermal lease sale (click here to see the evidence for yourself).

And this is not a small amount of land. We estimate that the affected Trail area could account for nearly half of the acreage currently being offered in these three Lemhi County parcels.

We covered the Lewis & Clark Trail issue in greater detail in our previous blog post.

But the bottom line is this: BLM needs to explain why this land is being offered for lease despite the protections described in the 2008 plan.

Where Is the Completed Analysis?

There is another issue we find difficult to reconcile.

BLM has issued the sale notice. The auction is scheduled for November 17.

By law, BLM must review these parcels before offering them for lease—including environmental impacts and proof that the land being offered is legally open to geothermal leasing. There should be a clear paper trail showing that this work was done.

Yet BLM's public project page for the Salmon geothermal lease sale continues to identify the NEPA status as:

“In Progress – Analysis & Document Preparation.”

The page was last updated September 28.

If BLM did the analysis, we believe the public should be able to see the completed record supporting that determination well in advance of the sale.

With all the discrepancies we are finding, seeing that analysis could answer some very important questions.

Now There Is Also an Environmental Concern: Greater Sage-Grouse

Since our last community update, another significant issue has emerged.

On October 1, Advocates for the West submitted formal comments asking BLM to defer all three Lemhi County parcels because of serious concerns about greater sage-grouse.

And the facts come from BLM's own Environmental Assessment:

• 100% of the acres being offered in the lease are within designated sage-grouse habitat.
• The sage-grouse population in this area has triggered an “adaptive management” threshold—meaning conditions have reached a level of concern that requires additional management attention.
• There are five active sage-grouse breeding grounds (called “leks”) overlapping or within 3.1 miles of the parcels.
• Yet BLM's EA concludes there would be “no impacts” to sage-grouse from leasing, exploration, or geothermal development.
• According to Advocates for the West, this conclusion is wrong because BLM's Environmental Assessment ignores the effects that nearby infrastructure, powerlines, noise, traffic, and human activity could have on protected sage-grouse habitat.

We will cover more in a future blog post. But the bottom line is:

There is A LOT that needs to be resolved before November 17.

Why the Rush?

BLM is not approving a power plant or drilling project on November 17. Any future development would still require additional approvals.

So why not wait a few months and resolve these questions first?

BLM has already corrected the Sharkey mistake. The 2008 maps are still missing, our May FOIA remains unanswered, questions remain about CLOSED acreage, the Lewis & Clark Trail and sage-grouse—and BLM's own page still says “Analysis & Document Preparation.”

Another Idaho geothermal sale is already planned for January. We believe the reasonable thing to do is slow down and verify the parcels before leasing them.

Pull the parcels. Find the maps. Produce the records.
Resolve the questions. Determine what land can legally be leased.

To be more precise:

Before federal geothermal rights are sold, BLM should provide the public with the paper trail showing:

• where the 60,464 CLOSED acres identified in the controlling 2008 plan are located;
• that Parcels 0049, 0054 and 0056 were checked against those controlling allocations;
• how the current treatment of the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail follows the 2008 protections—including the two-mile-wide no-leasing corridor and potentially additional protections for scenic views;
• how the outstanding greater sage-grouse concerns have been resolved; and
• the completed parcel-level analysis supporting the decision to offer these lands for lease.

We're not asking anyone to assume wrongdoing.

We're not claiming every unresolved question will ultimately result in acreage being removed.

We're asking BLM to show its work before the leases are sold.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

You don't have to read hundreds of pages of federal planning documents to help.

Pick the amount of time you have.

⏱ HAVE 3 MINUTES? — SEND ONE EMAIL

We've made this extremely easy.

STEP 1: Copy ALL SIX email addresses into the “To:” line:

VBurtenshaw@senate.idaho.gov;
JRaymond@house.idaho.gov;
RFurniss@house.idaho.gov;
brendan_campbell@crapo.senate.gov;
claire_hardy@risch.senate.gov;
ben.hulse@mail.house.gov

This one email reaches our District 31 legislators and the relevant energy/environment staff in Idaho's federal congressional offices.

STEP 2: Copy this subject:

Please Help Defer Lemhi County Geothermal Parcels 0049, 0054 & 0056

STEP 3: Copy and paste this message:

Hello,

I am writing as a concerned Lemhi County resident regarding BLM's November 17 geothermal lease sale and Parcels 0049, 0054 and 0056.

Local residents have uncovered several significant unresolved issues:

• BLM has already corrected one problem we identified: approximately 800 acres around Sharkey Hot Springs were included in Parcel 0054 even though BLM records showed those acres were CLOSED to geothermal leasing.
• BLM's CLOSED-acre numbers don't match. The current Environmental Assessment cites the older 1987 plan showing 15,596 acres CLOSED, while the controlling 2008 geothermal plan identifies 60,464 acres CLOSED. We still have not received the 2008 parcel-level maps needed to determine where those additional nearly 45,000 CLOSED acres are located—or whether any overlap the parcels being sold.
• The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail may present another major acreage problem. The 2008 geothermal planning documents state that no geothermal leasing is allowed within one mile of a National Scenic or Historic Trail, creating a two-mile-wide corridor. The Trail crosses a significant portion of these parcels, and we believe the affected area could represent nearly half of the acreage currently being offered in the three Lemhi County parcels.
• There are also serious sage-grouse concerns. BLM's own Environmental Assessment says 100% of the approximately 10,083 acres are within designated sage-grouse habitat and that the local sage-grouse population has triggered an adaptive-management threshold. Yet BLM concludes there would be “no impacts.” Advocates for the West has formally challenged that analysis and asked BLM to defer all three parcels.

Meanwhile, BLM's own public project page still shows the environmental review as unfinished—listing it as “In Progress – Analysis & Document Preparation”—even though the parcels are already scheduled for sale on November 17.

With these questions still unresolved, how can the public know that the land being offered is actually OPEN and legally available for geothermal leasing?

Finally, our May 18 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request also remains unanswered. We requested records that could help answer important questions about these parcels, including who nominated them, what development has been discussed, and what the geothermal resource may be intended to power. BLM originally estimated that we would receive the records by August 17, but we are still waiting as the sale approaches.

I respectfully ask your office to:

• Contact BLM and the Department of the Interior and request that Parcels 0049, 0054 and 0056 be deferred from the November 17 sale until these outstanding land-use and environmental questions are resolved.
• Help obtain the immediate release of our FOIA records so the community can review them before the sale.

There is no need to rush this sale while these questions remain unanswered. Please help us get the answers before federal geothermal rights are leased.

If you have questions or would like additional documentation supporting these concerns, please contact our community group:

Paola Brown
Lemhi County Informed
LemhiCountyInformed@gmail.com

Thank you for your help with this time-sensitive issue.

Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR TOWN], Idaho

✓ THAT'S IT — HIT SEND.

☎️ HAVE 5 MINUTES? — MAKE TWO PHONE CALLS

Call:

BLM Salmon Field Office
208-756-5400

BLM Idaho State Office
208-373-4000

Be warm, kind, and read this:

Hi, my name is __________, and I'm a Lemhi County resident. I'm asking BLM to defer geothermal lease Parcels 0049, 0054 and 0056 from the November 17 sale until some serious questions are resolved.

First, BLM has already corrected one mistake involving 800 acres at Sharkey Hot Springs, and I'm grateful for that. Thank you.

Now we have another major concern: the current Environmental Assessment cites the older 1987 figure of 15,596 acres CLOSED to geothermal leasing, while the controlling 2008 plan shows 60,464 acres CLOSED.

That's nearly 45,000 additional CLOSED acres, and we still haven't been shown where they are or whether any overlap the three parcels.

So the question is simple: How can we know these parcels are correct without seeing the actual controlling 2008 map they should have been checked against?

We are asking BLM to provide that 2008 map and the paper trail showing that Parcels 0049, 0054 and 0056 were checked against it and are legally open to geothermal leasing.

There are also unresolved questions involving the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail and sage-grouse protections.

Please pull these three parcels from the November 17 sale, produce the maps and records, and resolve these questions before leasing the land. Thank you.

That's it. You should not debate anyone. Be warm and friendly, and simply ask BLM to slow down and show its work before November 17.

📍 HAVE 1 HOUR? — COME LEARN WHAT WE'VE FOUND

Thursday, October 8 at 6:00 PM

Highland Beer in Salmon

Join Lemhi County Informed for a community meeting where we'll walk through what we've uncovered and where things currently stand.

We'll cover:

• the Sharkey Hot Springs issue BLM has already corrected;
• the 15,596 vs. 60,464 CLOSED-acre discrepancy;
• the missing/unresolved 2008 parcel-level maps;
• questions involving the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail;
• the new concerns raised about BLM's greater sage-grouse analysis;
• our still-unanswered FOIA request;
• the federal AI/data-center and geothermal policy connection—and what we know versus what we don't; and
• what our community can do before November 17.

You don't need to have followed this issue from the beginning. Come get informed. Ask questions. Bring a friend.

3 Minutes. 5 Minutes. 1 Hour.

Whatever you can give matters.

We appreciate that BLM corrected the Sharkey Hot Springs issue when it was brought to their attention. That correction demonstrates exactly why careful review before the sale matters.

There is still time to get this right.

Our request is simple:

Before BLM sells these federal geothermal rights, show the public the records demonstrating that these three parcels are correct.

Produce the controlling maps.

Show how Parcels 0049, 0054 and 0056 were checked against the 2008 CLOSED lands.

Resolve the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail questions.

Address the sage-grouse concerns raised about the Environmental Assessment.

And provide the public record supporting the decision.

The time to make sure these parcels are right is before November 17—not after.

P.S. Did you hear to us on the Voice of the Valley show? Listen to the replay...

🎧 LISTEN HERE:

• Click Here to Listen on Apple Podcasts (iPhones)
• Click Here to Listen on Spotify
• Click Here to Listen on the KSRA Website