The US Department of the Interior has unlocked more than 190 million acres of federal lands to be leased for renewable, geothermal power development. These acres, which are contained in 12 different states, are reportedly capable of producing over 5,000 megawatts of power by 2015 and over 12,000 megawatts by 2025, enough to power millions of homes.

Unlike some of more controversial oil drilling sites, the geothermal legislation is careful to exclude all national parks or designated wilderness areas from geothermal development. Of course, the geothermal developers themselves will also have to meet local environmental standards and regulations. The profits from the geothermal electricity produced will be split between the state hosting the power plant, the local county and the a federal fund being dedicated to future development of geothermal power.