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Is the Burning Man Project suing to stop a green energy project in Nevada?

By Todd Butterworth
YES

In January 2023, the Burning Man Project and other plaintiffs sued to stop the Bureau of Land Management from allowing geothermal power exploration near Gerlach and the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

Ormat Technologies is seeking to drill as many as 21 exploratory geothermal wells on approximately 2,700 acres of land controlled by the BLM. The project’s infrastructure would directly affect approximately 54 acres.

Burning Man is an annual counterculture festival held in the Black Rock Desert with 70,000 attendees. Its leadership is concerned about the effect Ormat’s plan will have on the Black Rock environment.

Geothermal power plants harness energy from steam or hot water reservoirs below the Earth’s surface to generate electricity or for other purposes. Only California generates more geothermal energy than Nevada, which produces nearly 10 times the geothermal power of the next leading state, Utah. 

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
US District Court of Nevada Lawsuit filing
Bureau of Land Management Ormat's Gerlach proposal
Travel Nevada About Burning Man
US Department of Energy Geothermal basics
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