Energy Developers eye the Cascade Range – Mt. Baker, Kittitas, Yakama
Thursday, Jan 24th, 2008 – The Bellingham Herald covers the recent developer interest in the Cascades. Les Blumenthal, long observant in Washington State, covers the points. He mentions Vulcan Power’s speculation (no relation to Vulcan in Seattle) and Raser’s deal with International Paper. The impeding “Rain Curtain” on the Western Cascades is discussed as well.
Near Baker Lake, southeast of Mount Baker, an Oregon company is waiting for leases from the Forest Service and considering a 100-megawatt geothermal plant that could provide enough electricity for 100,000 people. Steven Munson, the chief executive of Vulcan Power Co., said there is more than an 80 percent chance the plant will be built.
On the east slopes of the Cascades in Yakima and Kittitas counties, a Utah firm, Raser Technologies Inc., is focusing on 5,000 acres of International Paper land for possible development.
The “Rain Curtain” masks the indicators
Hot springs and other surface indications of geothermal activity are easier to spot in arid areas. In the Cascades, the “rain curtain” and runoff from melting snow make it harder to pinpoint potential geothermal areas.
“The Cascades have always been an area of interest, but it is so wet the heat flow is masked,” said John Lund, director of the Oregon Institute of Technology’s Geo-Heat Center in Klamath Falls.
In the article there is a diagram of a geothermal power plant.
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