Organizers of the Burning Man festival in northwest Nevada have reached a settlement with a geothermal energy developer that cancels an exploratory drilling project that some feared would ruin the ambiance of the counter-culture event.
The settlement resolves a federal lawsuit filed last year by the festival organizers and others challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of a 19-well exploratory drilling project near the Black Rock Desert playa where the festival draws tens of thousands of people each year.
Under the terms of the agreement announced this week, Burning Man will buy back the drilling leases issued by BLM to Reno, Nevada-based Ormat Technologies and the exploratory drilling project will be canceled. The cost of the buyback was not revealed.
Ormat has also agreed to support efforts by the festival to convert the site of the leases near the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area into a “conservation zone supporting sustainable habitat and local tourism.”