(Reported by Zhou Ronghua and Wen Yulin, www.xnnews. com.cn)

　　Recently, Ren Zhenhe, the Mayor, signed and issued the second regulation of municipal government in 2009，The Measures for the Management of Geothermal Resources in Xianning (hereinafter referred to as The measures). It was ratified by the Standing Conference of  the municipal government and will come into implementation as of this month.

　　Xianning City, with the reputation of "China Hotspring Town", is abundant in geothermal resources. The measures aims to strengthen the management of geothermal resources and scientifically exploit and protect geothermal resources to build up "the City of Hotspring". The measures regulates that the exploration and exploitation of geothermal resources shall be carried out in unified principles. Exploiting the geothermal resources shall employ heat pump technology to increase the utility value and shall be approved and registered by the administration department in charge of land and resources to obtain the exploration permit and mining permit. In accordance to the paid mining and utilizing system, institutions and individuals shall pay tax according to the law, such as resources tax and water resource tax, and shall install metering instrument and energy & water saving facilities to establish a sound resources protection system. Without approval, whoever mines, trades, rents out, or transfers the mining right, accessing right and operating right in other ways, shall be legally sanctioned according to different situations.