Impact Land Services
Geothermal · Transmission

Land, title & right-of-way services in Sierra County, New Mexico

Sierra County has 15 authorized federal geothermal leases covering 48,989 acres, 15 of them flagged as non-producing. 182 active right-of-ways cross federal land here, including 33 fiber or telecom grants and 32 transmission or power lines. We run title, leasing, and right-of-way acquisition on both sides of the federal line: the record above, and the private ground it's woven through.

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15
Authorized federal geothermal leases
48,989 acres
182
Active rights-of-way on federal land
1 new in 12 months
33
Fiber & telecom rights-of-way
32
Transmission & power line ROWs
1,007
Open mining claims
846 active

Federal records from BLM's Mineral & Land Records System, queried against the Census county boundary. Current to September 1, 2026. Federal cases only; private and state land are not represented. A lease or right-of-way that crosses a county line is counted in each county it touches.

Geothermal on federal land

48,989 acres under federal geothermal lease, 15 leases held without production.

15 authorized leases cover 48,989 acres of federal ground in Sierra County. 15 are flagged non-producing, which means that acreage is being held rather than developed.

14 new leases on 48,349 acres were authorized in the last twelve months. Somebody is assembling a position here right now, and the private and state inholdings around that federal acreage just became the most interesting tracts in the county.

5 leases on 4,344 acres have been closed out here. That cuts both ways: the resource drew interest, and prior holders let it go rather than develop it. The reason is usually resource, access, or economics, and it is knowable before you commit capital.

Authorized leases15
Acres under authorized lease48,989
Producing0
Non-producing (held, not developed)15
Pending applications0
New leases, last 12 months14 · 48,349 ac
Closed / relinquished on record5 · 4,344 ac
Rights-of-way · transmission & telecom

33 fiber and telecom rights-of-way lead the linear record here.

182 authorized right-of-ways and land use authorizations touch federal land in Sierra County, 1 of them issued in the last twelve months. 4 applications are pending.

Of those, 33 fiber optic or communication grants, 32 transmission, distribution, or energy-facility grants, 3 oil and gas facility grants. The named holders are the companies spending money on linear infrastructure in this county, and the federal segment is usually the shorter part of their route. The private miles in between are the work.

Authorized ROWs by type
Non-Energy Facilities
134
Other Energy Facilities
37
Fiber Optic Facilities
8
Oil & Gas Facilities
3
Holders on record (all types)
  • Sierra Elec Corp Inc.11 grants
  • El Paso Electric Co8 grants
  • Sierra Elec Coop Inc.6 grants
  • Elephant Butte Irrigation District3 grants
  • American Tower Management LLC3 grants
  • Truth or Consequences3 grants
  • Tri-State G&T Assoc3 grants
  • Swc Telesolutions Inc.2 grants
Fiber & telecom holders
  • American Tower Management LLC2 grants
  • New Mexico State University2 grants
  • Qwest Corporation2 grants
  • Swc Telesolutions Inc.2 grants
  • Valor Telecommunications of Texas LLC2 grants
  • Valor Telecommunication of Texas LLC2 grants
Transmission & energy-facility holders
  • Sierra Elec Corp Inc.10 grants
  • El Paso Electric Co8 grants
  • Sierra Elec Coop Inc.6 grants
  • Tri-State G&T Assoc2 grants
  • Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc.1 grant
  • Riosol Transmission LLC1 grant
Competing surface use

1,007 open mining claims compete for the same ground.

Mining claims don't stop a geothermal or right-of-way project, but they compete for surface, complicate siting and access, and each claimant is a party you have to deal with. 846 are active, 84 newly filed, 77 under review. Which ones actually sit in your footprint is a mapping question, and we answer it tract by tract.

Oil & gas

No authorized federal oil and gas leases, but 545 closed leases on record. The ground has been tried before.

Open mining claims1,007
Active846
Filed (new)84
Under review77
Authorized oil & gas leases0
Oil & gas acres under lease0
What this page can't tell you

The private half of Sierra County isn't in any database.

Everything above is what the federal government controls. It does not show who owns a severed mineral or geothermal estate on private ground, whether that title is clean, what liens sit against it, or which families you'll be negotiating with. That lives in the Sierra County recorder's office, and it is the step that decides whether you can actually lease the ground.

How we work here
  • Free Eval
    A self-serve read on your target area in the county.
  • Area Assessment
    Flat fee. We pull the full federal record for your area of interest and tell you what's held, who holds it, and what to do next.
  • Diligence & acquisition
    County title, tract by tract, with surface, mineral, and geothermal estates run separately. Then we lease it.
Run a free EvalRequest an Area Assessment
Elsewhere in New Mexico
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Source: Bureau of Land Management, Mineral & Land Records System, via gis.blm.gov; county boundary from the U.S. Census Bureau. Queried September 1, 2026. Informational only; not a title opinion or legal advice.
Land, Title & Right-of-Way Services in Sierra County, NM | Impact Land Services