What would you think if the state of Washington cast its eyes on the volcanic furnace room of Mount Rainier National Park to help supply its energy? Or if Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho's lawmakers decided they should tap Yellowstone National Park's geothermal hot spot to generate power?

While such scenarios haven't popped up in the United States, there is some desire in Costa Rica to tap into the power of its volcanoes -- many of which are within that country's national park system.

According to a story on National Geographic's Energy Blog, "The new legislation would allow the exploitation of geothermal energy within protected areas: two by public or private enterprise, and one permitting only the state electricity company. The third is considered to have the most potential to pass, but it has high-profile opponents, including President Luis Guillermo Solis, who said in December he would not support the bill."

Under the proposal being considered, the ecosystems in some Costa Rican national parks would be turned over to Instituto Costarricense de la Electricidad (ICE), the state electric company, the blog reported.

What bothers some opponents is the thought that the land given over to energy development could simply be replaced with other lands.

“There’s nothing like it,” Alvaro Ugalde, a conservation leader who helped found Costa Rica's park system in the 1970s, said of the ecosystems within National Park Rincón de La Vieja, one of the main targets for geothermal. “We created the park exactly in the only site where there was forest.”