By Tom Kessler

When it comes to energy, everyone knows the U.S. is in hot water. Now the federal government intends to do something about it.

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne yesterday announced a plan to make more than 190 million acres of Federal land in 12 western states available for development of geothermal energy resources, an initiative that “could increase electric generation capacity from geothermal resources ten times over.”

The plan would produce 5,540 megawatts of new electric generation capacity from geothermal resources by 2015 — enough to power 5.5 million homes. The plan, known as the Final Geothermal Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, also estimates an additional 6,600 megawatts by 2025 for a total of 12,100 megawatts – enough to power more than 12 million homes.

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