Borehole Strainmeter and GPS Permitting

Overview

September 11, 2007

During the month of August, PBO Permitting made excellent progress on Borehole Strainmeter and GPS permitting. We received 14 new BSM permits including permits for five sites in Yellowstone National Park. In addition, we are making excellent progress on the Mendocino, Mojave, LA Basin, and East Bay Parks (San Francisco) strainmeter permits. These remaining clusters will include several alternate sites for each primary site so that there will be no interruption in drilling if a bad hole is encountered.

In August we also received permits from Lassen National Park for six GPS sites that were originally intended for the Medicine Lake area. In addition, we received permits from Plumas National Forest, Klamath National Forest, and San Bernardino National Forest so the PBO GPS backlog on federal permits is being cleared out at a steady pace. In addition, our contractor for Archeology and Biology clearances has completed all of the required surveys on BLM and USFS sites where they have been requested and this clears the way for final permit issuance this winter. Overall, we do not see any major risks that cannot be mitigated as we enter the last year of permitting.