The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is accepting nominations until Sept. 25, 2025 for tracts of federal lands in New Mexico to be considered for competitive geothermal leasing for the next geothermal lease sale that is tentatively scheduled for March 2026.

In addition, Angelica Varela, land law examiner with BLM’s New Mexico State Office told The Driller nominations do not have to be tendered by a company or corporation, but can be proposed by an individual member of the public so long as the individual has the means to complete the nomination process.

On July 22, 2025, BLM issued the announcement “BLM New Mexico accepting nominations for geothermal development” It also says “each nomination must be submitted with a nonrefundable filing fee of $145 per nomination plus $0.14 per acre of land nominated,” which is the means to complete the nomination process indicated by Varela.

Because there are specific requirements associated with nominating a tract of land for the lease sale, Varela suggests individual members of the public do their homework on the nomination requirements regarding maximum acreage; acceptable land descriptions; and nominating parcels as a block for lands they want BLM to consider for competitive geothermal leasing,

Furthermore, should a member of the public wants to proceed with the nomination, both they and companies can submit an expression of interest (EOI) through BLM’s National Fluid Lease Sale System (NFLSS). To do so, requires either an individual or company to:

• Set up an account in login.gov and NFLSS (click here to access directions on how to do that).
  
  
• Submit the lands nominated for geothermal lease sale in an “expression of interest” (EOI) through NFLSS (click here to access directions on how to do that).
  
  
• Submit the filing fee of $145, and the payment of $0.14 per acre to BLM’s New Mexico State Office.

Once a tract of land is nominated for the next geothermal lease sale, the BLM reviews the lands submitted for availability as well as for environmental and cultural concerns, Varela said. An important issue reviewed by BLM includes habitat, she said, adding, if there are habitat issues in a tract of land, BLM “won’t open it up for lease,” because it has “to protect that habitat.”

Once a review is underway, it will take from six to nine months from receipt of the EOI until the lands are included in a lease sale, according to Varela. However, those tracts of land deemed to be eligible and available, the BLM will hold the lease sale through the contractor EnergyNet, which works with governments and national utilities to facilitate investment summits. Those entities wanting to participate in the auction will need to register with EnergyNet through its website, which will have details on how to register for each lease sale.

Any future sale notice and list of nominated land parcels will be posted on the BLM New Mexico Geothermal Energy website, the agency says.