Dear Subscriber First Name,

Welcome to the first installment of the Mountain West Geothermal Consortium’s monthly newsletter. Here, we’ll keep members, advisors, and subscribers up to date on our big-picture happenings for the month as well as trends we’re tracking in the geothermal landscape.

In brief:

• We have publicly launched the Consortium, featuring a press conference with Governors Cox and Polis and a featured piece in Deseret News and Heatmap.

• We are standing up targeted working groups for our intervention areas. If you haven’t already, please register your interest in participating here

• Sign up for our upcoming webinar here

• Momentum continues to build across the Mountain West: Arizona committed $2.5M to geothermal resource characterization and passed a permitting resolution; Colorado signed landmark legislation establishing utility procurement frameworks, data collection mandates, and a potential Geothermal Development Authority; New Mexico is designing a new permitting structure and programs to deploy $22.5M in state funds; and Utah is developing a statewide geothermal strategy and seeking stakeholder input.

We publicly launched the Consortium in Salt Lake City on May 19th and 20th. The launch was a 2-day event featuring an in-depth workshop with key advisors on Day 1. Takeaways from our discussions are informing the policy interventions Consortium staff are designing over the summer in conjunction with member states.

Day 2 featured a press conference with Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, the Western Governors’ Association, and leading geothermal developers. Member states currently part of the Consortium are Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico; all four governors have indicated their buy-in and support. Membership is always open to additional states that want to collaborate on policies to speed responsible next-gen geothermal development. 

We want to express our sincere gratitude not only to all who attended and participated in the launch, but also to the range of experts who shared ideas and feedback over the past several months to help shape the Consortium’s priorities.

If you haven’t seen them yet, you can take a look through the photos from the day on Constructive’s Flickr page.

Over the next few months, we’re hoping to release policy papers and other public materials that help outline the most promising interventions within each area. Please reach out to us if you would like to be more deeply involved in the development of these interventions.

We have an exciting year ahead and we’re grateful you’re on this ride with us.

Mike O’Connor

Director, Mountain West Geothermal Consortium

Arizona continues to put geothermal at the forefront of its discretionary energy spending, committing another $1.5 million in its FY2027 State budget to the Arizona Geological Survey for geothermal resource characterization. This is in addition to a $1 million investment made by Governor Hobbs earlier this year. The Arizona legislature also unanimously approved House Concurrent Resolution 2057, which affirms the need for geothermal permitting predictability in the state. 

Colorado is making legislative waves! Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 26-142 into law, establishing clear pathways to advance geothermal energy across the state. While a large part of the bill addresses thermal energy network infrastructure, SB26-142 drives massive progress for geothermal electricity development across three of our key priority areas:

1. Procurement: It establishes frameworks for investor-owned utilities to solicit proposals just for geothermal electricity, targeting projects up to 25MW and 300 MW.  

2. Data: It tasks the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) and the Colorado Geological Survey (CGS) to collect data on geothermal resources—including repurposing information from orphaned oil and gas wells.

3. Financing: The ECMC will make recommendations to encourage geothermal development, including consideration of a Geothermal Development Authority to facilitate public-private partnerships, secure federal funding, and provide risk-mitigation mechanisms.

New Mexico’s Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) is hard at work on two areas:

1. Permitting: EMNRD is designing an entirely new permitting structure for geothermal projects across the state.

2. Funding: EMNRD is designing programs to allocate $22.5 million in state funds for new geothermal development. 

They expect to complete both these processes in the next few months.

Utah: Utah’s Office of Energy Development (OED) is designing a statewide geothermal strategy and is seeking comment. Please reach out to Adam Heilbronner at adamheilbronner@utah.gov in OED for an opportunity to review and provide input.

Participate in consortium research

We are currently soliciting input into the design of interventions for the three issue areas listed above. If you are interested in participating in the targeted working groups to help inform these interventions, please fill out this Google Form by July 1, 2026.

Please note that the Consortium will stand up different working groups for different purposes at different times, depending on resources and availability. Currently, we are prioritizing working group input for the drilling de-risking intervention.   

Upcoming events

Be sure to register for our upcoming Quarterly Webinar! This quarterly webinar series will outline the progress we’ve made in our intervention areas and provide you with the opportunity to engage with Consortium Staff and State Officials. Our first webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, July 29, 2026 from 3-4 PM MT. 

Mark your calendars for the MWGC Winter Meeting on December 2-3, 2026 in the Denver area. The Winter Meeting will feature a series of structured dialogues to help advance our intervention areas, as well as opportunities to engage with different stakeholders from across the industry. Please reach out if you have questions!

Thanks for reading! Please send this on to a friend or colleague - and if you were forwarded this email, you can sign up for future Consortium updates on our website.