II. Introduction

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B. Departmental Activities to Respond to the Act

On December 5, 1988, the Director of the National Park Service (NPS) asked the Congress for a delay in the submission date for the report until the summer of 1990 and promised to provide an interim report on the progress of the investigations at Crater Lake. In the Fall of 1989, the NPS submitted the interim report to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.

The House Interior Subcommittee on Mining and Natural Resources held oversight hearings on September 28, 1989. The hearings addressed the implementation of the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act of 1987 and the Geothermal Steam Act Amendments of 1988. The Subcommittee Chair asked the Department of the Interior to provide updates on the studies conducted at the Corwin Springs area north of Yellowstone National Park and those at Crater Lake National Park. Interior testified at the hearings that the final report would be completed for submission to the Congress by late summer of 1991. This report represents the findings of the completed research on the hydrothermal features at Crater Lake National Park and fulfills the requirements of Section 7 of the Act. This report does not address the question of a connection between the hydrothermal features in Crater Lake and areas of geothermal exploration on U.S. Forest Service lands near the Park. (The history of geothermal leasing near the park is included as Appendix D.)