(a) The competitive geothermal leasing process consists of the following steps:

(1)(i) Entities interested in geothermal development nominate lands by submitting to BLM descriptions of lands they seek to be included in a lease sale; or

(ii) BLM may include land in a competitive lease sale on its own initiative.

(2) BLM provides notice of the parcels to be offered, and the time, location, and process for participating in the lease sale.

(3) BLM holds the lease sale and offers leases to the successful bidder.

(b) BLM will issue geothermal leases to the highest responsible qualified bidder after a competitive leasing process, except for situations where noncompetitive leasing is allowed under subparts 3204 and 3205, which include:

(1) Lease applications pending on August 8, 2005;

(2) Lands for which no bid was received in a competitive lease sale;

(3) Direct use lease applications for which no competitive interest exists; and

(4) Lands subject to mining claims.

(a) A qualified company or individual may nominate lands for competitive sale by submitting an applicable BLM nomination form.

(b) A nomination is a description of lands that you seek to be included in one lease. Each nomination may not exceed 5,120 acres, unless the area to be leased includes an irregular subdivision. Your nomination must provide a description of the lands nominated by legal land description.

(1) For lands surveyed under the public land rectangular survey system, describe the lands to the nearest aliquot part within the legal subdivision, section, township, and range;

(2) For unsurveyed lands, describe the lands by metes and bounds, giving courses and distances, and tie this information to an official corner of the public land surveys, or to a prominent topographic feature;

(3) For approved protracted surveys, include an entire section, township, and range. Do not divide protracted sections into aliquot parts;

(4) For unsurveyed lands in Louisiana and Alaska that have water boundaries, discuss the description with BLM before submission; and

(5) For fractional interest lands, identify the United States mineral ownership by percentage.

(c) You may submit more than one nomination, as long as each nomination separately satisfies the requirements of paragraph (b) of this section and includes the filing fee specified in § 3203.12.

(d) BLM may reconfigure lands to be included in each parcel offered for sale.

(e) BLM may include land in a lease sale on its own initiative.

(a) As part of your nomination, you may request that lands be offered as a block at competitive sale by:

(1) Specifying that the lands requested will be associated with a project or unit: and

(2) Including information to support your request. BLM may require that you provide additional information.

(b) BLM may offer parcels as a block in response to a request under paragraph (a) of this section or on its own initiative. BLM will offer parcels as a block only if information is available to BLM indicating that a geothermal resource that could be produced as one unit can reasonably be expected to underlie such parcels.

Submit with your nomination a filing fee for nominations of lands as found in the fee schedule in § 3000.12 of this chapter.

BLM will hold a competitive lease sale at least once every 2 years for lands available for leasing in a state that has nominations pending. A sale may include lands in more than one state. BLM may hold a competitive lease sale in a state that has no nominations pending.

(a) The lands available for competitive lease sale under this subpart will be described in a Notice of Competitive Geothermal Lease Sale, which will include:

(1) The lease sale format and procedures;

(2) The time, date, and place of the lease sale; and

(3) Stipulations applicable to each parcel.

(b) At least 45 days before conducting a competitive lease sale, BLM will post the Notice in the BLM office having jurisdiction over the lands to be offered, and make it available for posting to surface managing agencies having jurisdiction over any of the included lands.

(c) BLM may take other measures of notification for the competitive sale such as:

(1) Issuing news releases;

(2) Notifying interested parties of the lease sale;

(3) Publishing notice in the newspaper; or

(4) Posting the list of parcels on the Internet.

(a) BLM will offer parcels for competitive bidding as specified in the sale notice.

(b) The winning bid will be the highest bid by a qualified bidder.

(c) You may not withdraw a bid. Your bid constitutes a legally binding commitment by you.

(d) BLM will reject all bids and re-offer a parcel if:

(1) BLM determines that the high bidder is not qualified; or

(2) The high bidder fails to make all payments required under § 3203.17.

(a) You must make payments by personal check, cashier's check, certified check, bank draft, or money order payable to the “Department of the Interior—Bureau of Land Management” or by other means deemed acceptable by BLM.

(b) By the close of official business hours on the day of the sale or such other time as BLM may specify, you must submit for each parcel:

(1) Twenty percent of the bid;

(2) The total amount of the first year's rental; and

(3) The processing fee for competitive lease applications found in the fee schedule in § 3000.12 of this chapter.

(c) Within 15 calendar days after the last day of the sale, you must submit the balance of the bid to the BLM office conducting the sale.

(d) If you fail to make all payments required under this section, or fail to meet the qualifications in § 3202.10, BLM will revoke acceptance of your bid and keep all money that has been submitted.

Lands offered at a competitive lease sale that receive no bids will be available for leasing in accordance with subpart 3204.