Geothermal power from Alaska

If Alaska wants to take a cue from Iceland, it might find itself with more power than it can use. That is, if the dreams of the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas come true. They are planning to lease land on Mt. Spurr and possibly Mt. Augustine for geothermal exploration. Both of these volcanoes are active, with Mt. Spurr erupting last in 1992 (famously almost taking out a KLM 747 due to volcanic ash EDIT: Oops, this was not Spurr in 1992, but Redoubt in 1989. Luckily, AVO knew to warn aviation about the Spurr eruption thanks to the lessons learned from the near disaster at Redoubt) and Augustine erupting as recently as 2006. Now, I am all for the development of geothermal energy and Alaska definitely has a lot of potential for geothermal development thanks to its abundant volcanoes along the Aleutian Islands and Cook Inlet. Now, whether I’d chose volcanoes that are (a) active and (b) potentially violent/explosive in their eruptive style is more questionable. These could be interesting cases to follow to see how we can balance the potential boon that is geothermal energy from volcanoes with the volcanic hazards posed by them – the last thing we need is to put more people in harms’ way. 
Edited 6/25 to fix reference to the KLM flight incident.

Newberry Caldera: alternative energy?

The Oregonian reports on the on-going desire to develop geothermal power in the Oregon and California Cascades and backarc. There have been attempted (or at least exploration) to develop geothermal power at Newberry Volcano, Crater Lake and Medicine Lake, but none have ever panned out. Well, it seems like this time it might happen, and I, for one, think it is a good idea. Of course, there are a lot of folks who don’t want a geothermal plant anywhere near Newberry, especially with its National Monument designation, but one of these days we’ll have to choose between that and higher energy costs. Iceland seems to be able to live with the close proximity of geothermal energy plants and people, so maybe we should get used to it as well.