A bill to authorize geothermal exploitation in an area which has been declared a national park should include reform of several other laws which currently prevent such activity.
So warned Jorge Cabrera, an expert in environmental law, during the debate entitled "Scope for reform to generate geothermal energy in national parks," organized by Nacion.com.
Costa Rica's state run power company is urging Congress to lift some of the restrictions on the exploitation of underground heat sources in places that have been declared as protected areas.
According to the president of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), Teofilo de la Torre, it is important that this bill be received as soon as possible, "national parks have restricted uses and extracting steam from the land for geothermal use is one of them, the 'Rincon de la Vieja' volcano has great characteristics for steam extraction. If we know that there is a high possibility of increasing clean energy we have to try it. "