|
Energy and Public Lands In 2000, 32 percent of US oil, 35 percent of natural gas, and 37 percent of coal were produced from federal lands, representing 20,000 producing oil and gas leases and 135 producing coal leases. Federal lands are also estimated to contain approximately 68 percent of all undiscovered US oil reserves and 74 percent of undiscovered natural gas. Alternative energy production from federal lands falls behind conventional energy production, though the amount is still significant. For example, federal geothermal resources produce about 7.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, 47 percent of all electricity generated from US geothermal energy. There are 2,960 wind turbines on public lands in California alone, producing electricity for about 300,000 people. Federal hydropower facilities produce about 17 percent of all hydropower produced in the United States. 41 What is the main idea of this passage? B. Public lands play an important role in energy production. D. Public lands store huge energy resources for further development. Half of US energy is produced there. C. Most of coal was produced from there in 2000. 43 Geothermal resources, wind turbines, and hydropower facilities in Paragraph 4 are cited as examples to illustrate that_____. B. they are the most typical conventional energy resources from public lands. | 
