Newberry Caldera; USGS Photo taken August 20, 1985, by Lyn Topinka
The U.S. Department of Energy has given $21.5 million in stimulus funds to an exciting new geothermal project. That amount has been matched by private investments, including Google’s $6.3 million. The whole story is here at KSL’s site:
Project to pour water into volcano to make power
By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press
January 14th, 2012(AP) – Geothermal energy developers plan to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of a dormant volcano in Central Oregon this summer to demonstrate new technology they hope will give a boost to a green energy sector that has yet to live up to its promise….
Briefly, the technology used is called hydroshearing, and though somewhat similar to the notorious gas extraction process of hydraulic fracturing, (a.k.a. ‘fracking’), there will be no mystery chemicals in the water. But there will be a biodegradable polymer that will serve to plug up cracks in the caldera that would allow the water to escape before it works its magic.
Ernie Majer, a seismologist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, says risks of drilling and hydroshearing the volcano are low due to the area being what he calls a “seismic dead zone.” Really?
According the the USDA/FS site on the area:
It is hard to fathom as you drive through the summit area that you are within a 17 square mile caldera at the summit of a 500 square mile volcano, a volcano that remains very active to this day. Newberry is both seismically and geothermally active. Geologists believe the caldera sits over a shallow magma body only 2 to 5 kilometers deep. Visitors see numerous cinder cones (over 400 throughout the area), miles of basalt flows, as well as rhyolite flows of obsidian.
They also say that Newberry National Volcanic Monument was just established in 1990 and it looks like a beautiful & pristine area so I hope its serenity and ecosystem are not disturbed by the project. Of course, the technology sounds less toxic than some other forms of energy creation, including wood burning which is popular here in the Northwest, unfortunately.
So I’m hoping for the best, but one of the comments left for the KSL article mentioned those old Warner Bros. cartoons where zany charters were always messing around with dangerous things either because they were naive, or hoping to be extraordinarily lucky. Their projects never quite worked out as expected…
“”That’s the $64,000 question,” Majer said. “What’s the biggest earthquake we can have from induced seismicity that the public can worry about.”"
Ernie Majer with Berkeley National Lab a yes man (for the Koch Bros. syndicate). Newberry is a complex system involving other fault systems, Walker Rim and Green Ridge, that seem to be related to one large, curving fault system that inculdes the Brothers fault zone. Lets not forget the pressure from the Cascadia subduction zone! The seismicity in the Pacific N.W. may not happen often but when it does happen it is usually catastrophic.
Newberry is very active and they are watching gasses bubbling up in the nearby lakes! And what about all the hot-springs? Are they not indicative of volcanic activity?
Thanks, Paula. It didn’t make sense to me that the area could be described as “seismic dead zone.” If it were, there would be no geothermal potential. When I saw Google involved, the public benefit to the whole thing became suspect. Is the risk and disruption being done just to spin and store more social media blathering?
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