Google Funding the Next Big One?

wdavies writes "According to this New York Times article, Google is funding a controversial deep drill geothermal project north of San Francisco. Apparently the company, AltaRock, omitted to disclose that the same deep drilling caused a major quake in Basel, Switzerland when it was last used. Given the notorious geological instability of the Northern Californian coast, this strikes me as kind of dumb — and given the known likelihood of this technique producing earthquakes, somewhat EVIL."

Comments

Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[eldavojohn]

Yes, Google's given these guys $6.5 million. But the United States federal government has given them $200 million--especially the Department of Energy. If you're a United States citizen, you should be aware that you are also funding "the next big one."

Also the article says it's "nearly the same" drilling technology as the one that caused the quake in Basel while the summary says it's the same. It seems it's not the same though. The article goes on to say:

Officials at AltaRock, with offices in Sausalito, Calif., and Seattle, insist that the company has learned the lessons of Basel and that its own studies indicate the project can be carried out safely. James T. Turner, AltaRock's senior vice president for operations, said the company had applied for roughly 20 patents on ways to improve the method.

I don't know about Basel but I'm certain these guys know they would face serious legal/criminal action if they didn't know for sure it was safe.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[sonamchauhan]

> I don't know about Basel but I'm certain these guys know they would face serious legal/criminal action if they didn't know for sure it was safe.

Why don't you read the article?

Alarmed, Mr. Häring and other company officials decided to release all pressure in the well to try to halt the fracturing. But as they stood a few miles from the drill site, giving the orders by speakerphone to workers atop the hole, a much bigger jolt shook the room.

"I think that was us," said one stunned official.

Analysis of seismic data proved him correct. The quake measured 3.4 -- modest in some parts of the world. But triggered quakes tend to be shallower than natural ones, and residents generally describe them as a single, explosive bang or jolt -- often out of proportion to the magnitude -- rather than a rumble.
Triggered quakes are also frequently accompanied by an "air shock," a loud tearing or roaring noise.

The noise "made me feel it was some sort of supersonic aircraft going overhead," said Heinrich Schwendener, who, as president of Geopower Basel, the consortium that includes Geothermal Explorers and the utility companies, was standing next to the borehole.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[sonamchauhan]

Forgot to add ... why aren't they drilling in some desert area... some abandoned nuclear test site? Sure, the power transmission losses will be larger, but so will the safety (especially compared to SF)

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[mini me]

Yes, but unlike Google, the government's motto is "Do evil." At least I'm pretty sure it is.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[that this is not und]

You're correct. That's why limited small government is so important.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[Darkness404]

Yes, Google's given these guys $6.5 million. But the United States federal government has given them $200 million--especially the Department of Energy. If you're a United States citizen, you should be aware that you are also funding "the next big one."

And what am I going to do with this knowledge? I can't exactly refuse to pay taxes, nor in our convoluted sense of "freedom" elect any officials with real (positive) tax reforms. Sure, I could complain to congress, but honestly the entire internet has been complaining about many, many, many laws with little to no response about them (the DMCA, prohibition of certain drugs, copyright reform, etc).

I don't know about Basel but I'm certain these guys know they would face serious legal/criminal action if they didn't know for sure it was safe.

All releasing pressure does is make the next earthquake less powerful. Really, if you cause an earthquake in this way, you are simply accelerating a natural process, however this is A) predictable and B) will create less damage, compared to the natural quake.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[eldavojohn]

Forgot to add ... why aren't they drilling in some desert area... some abandoned nuclear test site? Sure, the power transmission losses will be larger, but so will the safety (especially compared to SF)

First of all it's "north of San Fransisco" and by North they mean it's actually North of Santa Rosa. And it looks to be about 20 miles north of that up near Clear Lake. And if you go to their project site and look at the map at the bottom, you'll notice in the past week there's been 3.0 or larger earth quakes in that region. The 3.4 they had in Basel looks to be just another daily occurrence in those parts.

If you look where they're drilling, there's not a whole lot of homes around there. I'm not sure what the radius of destruction is from the epicenter for a "big one" but I don't think it's massive enough to hit a lot way out there. I could be wrong. But you know, I bet if they see a 3.4 like Basel, they shut it down if the government doesn't first. I do like the interactive map on their site so you can see the earthquakes relative to their drilling.

Who knows? They could have determined that unstable areas are safer for drilling since the region around you is having 3.0+ earthquakes all the time? Not like you're going to screw anything up if the plates are shifting constantly anyway, right?

Also, the government funded stuff is all over the place (Utah included) so don't worry, they want this energy source available to all and non centralized. I'm not sure what your motivation is here or why the summary labeled this as pure evil Personally, I'm interested in what this could do for non-polluting energy. I think in order to get the drilling permits and convince backers it was safe enough for America you would have to show a lot of proof. But I'm not a seismologist. Looks worth a shot to me though.

Lastly people take risks in the name of discovery and production. It happens every time a human leaves Earth's gravitational pull, it happened in the early days of a lot of technology until it was perfected. I'm not arguing we should risk human lives, I'm just pointing out that we might be blowing a risk out of proportion that, since non of us are seismologists, none of us really understand. Is it like drilling a pinhole through a one inch slab of marble or drilling the pinhole through one millimeter thick pie crust? I highly doubt they'd be wasting their time if they didn't know the ground would remain stable long enough for their tunnel to remain intact. It looks like they're taking precautions and claim to have refined the process to make it safer at least.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[tomhudson]

... or it's an easy way to "Terminate" California's budget problems:

1. Have California, along with the "underwater" housing literally slide underwater into the ocean, along with the debtors, the expenses of maintaining the infrastructure, the political, social, and financial problems dealing with illegals, etc.
2. PROFIT! - Get disaster relief funding

Think of it - land that was inland now becomes beach-front property ... how much of that land does Google have options on?

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[ozmanjusri]

Would breaking off and sinking California really be all that bad for the rest of the country?

Hell yeah!

If California breaks away, the weight of Maine hanging so far east will drag the whole country into a barrel roll around the Houston/Williston axis. Before you know it, the USA will be face-down in the ocean with it's ass in the air.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

And what am I going to do with this knowledge? I can't exactly refuse to pay taxes, nor in our convoluted sense of "freedom" elect any officials with real (positive) tax reforms. Sure, I could complain to congress, but honestly the entire internet has been complaining about many, many, many laws with little to no response about them (the DMCA, prohibition of certain drugs, copyright reform, etc).

Well... hold on here. when you say "the entire Internet has been complaining", you mean a couple-few hundred thousand people have been bitching about these things on blogs, twitter, email, useless "e-petitions", and in some cases mass form emails sent to congresscritters -- form letters indistinguishable from spam for all intents.

How many of "the entire Internet" have actually written a letter to their representative, or even know who their representatives are?

People do have power, but they have to use it. And sitting around complaining to others who already agree with them doesn't count.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[Darkness404]

Well... hold on here. when you say "the entire Internet has been complaining", you mean a couple-few hundred thousand people have been bitching about these things on blogs, twitter, email, useless "e-petitions", and in some cases mass form emails sent to congresscritters -- form letters indistinguishable from spam for all intents. How many of "the entire Internet" have actually written a letter to their representative, or even know who their representatives are?

Yes, and those few hundred thousand usually happen to be the ones most affected by it. Its similar to putting a bunch of restrictions on dairy farmers and watch how the public doesn't seem to care much about it yet dairy farmers do, but using that reasoning to keep the legislation in effect because most of the population doesn't know how it works. Same with the DMCA, the people who complain about the DMCA are usually those affected by it, plus, I consider it part of congress's duties to check out what their legislation has done not just to the lobby groups but on those who it also affects who don't have the millions to be represented. Despite making a huge change in copyright law, the DMCA hasn't done anything positive save for the safe harbor provisions, the rest has lead to nothing but destruction. If a person were to Google DMCA they would find the first batch of results to be not only "this is what the DMCA is" but active anti-DMCA groups. They should take that as a sign that they might need to review that bill and repeal it if need be.

As for writing letters, I have written a few letters to my representatives and the only time I got a letter back was when I specifically urged them to vote against a certain bill, I revived a nicely written reply assuring me that they were heavy promoters of the bill and they would vote for it. Considering there was no way that anyone beyond a third-grade reading level could mistake that what I wrote was in support of the bill the only logical explanation is they didn't read it.

As for voting, in America if it isn't a republican or democrat you are out of luck. For example, I am a libertarian, however I don't think that there will be a libertarian in high office for quite some time. I share some beliefs with both republicans and democrats but both have things I am overwhelmingly against, for example, even though republicans are pro economic freedom, they seem to think we need laws prohibiting anything that might be morally questionable which I disagree with strongly. And even though I am for a lot of the pro-freedom of speech that democrats propose, I strongly oppose their crusade to tax everything, their crusade for stronger government and their crusade on weakening second amendment rights.

So really, my beliefs are not represented at all in congress and those who are supposed to be listening to me don't, nor do they even take the time to check what their actions did to the world.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[Anonymous Coward]

And the locals, man, don't get me started.

Apparently they have mod points, and they are angry.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[Curlsman]

Born and raised in California, earthquakes tend to be boring:
Magnitude 3.x is what the news programs talk about in between the weather and highway traffic.
4.x tends to be somebody says something fell over.
5.x is when you start to notice...

Loma Prieta was 6.9 and the epicenter about 60 miles from my home, about the same distance to the houses that collapsed and burned in San Francisco. It's not the distance but the local ground conditions that made the difference: the only thing that happened at my house was an empty soda can fell over. In the Marina District, the landfill (from the 1906 earthquake) turned to jello, something like that happened in Oakland to the freeway, and my house on a natural slope was fine.

Besides, there is no "if" about a coming large quake, only "when", and to a lesser extent where: most likely the northern end on the Hayward fault. Santa Rosa would be the San Andreas fault.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[servognome]

So really, my beliefs are not represented at all in congress and those who are supposed to be listening to me don't, nor do they even take the time to check what their actions did to the world.

Elected officials aren't going to listen to everybody. They listen first to the people who helped them get elected, the people who voted for them, then their own gut feeling. Rather than trying to influence your representative directly, educate and organize your neighbors. Unless you can deliver a congress person votes, there is no practical reason for them to listen to you. The DMCA exists is because legislators are afraid of anything that could cost their districts jobs and money. Why would a representative change the staus quo and upset businesses when those asking for change can't deliver votes?

Well organized vocal minorities can have a great amount of influence. The trade embargo against Cuba has continued because it's an important issue to Cuban exiles in Florida, an important electoral state.

Just writing letters or even e-protests won't make a politician change. Convincing your neighbors to vote in accordance with the issue(s) you find imporant will. It's a lot of work, but freedom isn't easy.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Anecdotal evidence saying how you personally write to your reps doesn't cut it. I write to mine to -- but the real problem is that we're in the minority. A very, very, very small minority. Until people start doing more than complaining to each other, it will remain that way.

The best way for that change to occur will be for the people who who complain to each other start complaining to others outside of the choir. Logically, coherently, and in a way that makes them both aware of the problem and willing to help fix it.

As for the rest, it doesn't change on its own. Probably just idealism, but the things that the political parties have stood for over time have changed -- and one would have to assume this is the result of the people we vote in and out of office. Will the names of the parties change? You're probably right, not for a very long time. BUt it need not be that long before the beliefs they represent under their current names change. A few political "generations" (terms) is often enough to effect that kind of change.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[Temporal]

Also you fail to note that those "daily occurrences" are only there because of other, much smaller, geothermal plants next door.

Do you have a link to back that claim? Earthquakes in the 1-4 range really are a natural daily occurrence all across CA and many other places in the world. Check out the USGS real-time map:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[wdavies]

Note - the $200 million is not for AltaRock, its the total investment in all Geothermal. Not clear that there is ANY US government money for them. It's an aside really, who's funding them, its more that they seemed to misrepresent the technique as being safe to Fed Agency overseeing it. To the comments below, about the tons of existing earthquakes, the thing to read/watch is the pop out explanation - the existing low-level geothermal ops are causing those quakes -- and the companies have admitted as much. The issue is what the are going to do has far more destructive power than the existing ops. I agree its not clear that it could really cause the next big one 8+ (given its distance from the San Andreas fault) but you really want to be responsible for even a 5 or 6 in that area. The main thing is that they lied though, and they should go thru another safety review and have someone on hand to shut them down if something looks wrong when they start.

FTA: "Even so, there is no shortage of money for testing the idea. Mr. Reicher has overseen a $6.25 million investment by Google in AltaRock, and with more than $200 million in new federal money for geothermal, the Energy Department has already approved financing for related projects in Idaho by the University of Utah; in Nevada by Ormat Technologies; and in California by Calpine, just a few miles from AltaRockâ(TM)s project."

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[wdavies]

The area does have quakes, BUT if you look at where they STARTED to cluster once drilling started it becomes really obvious that the drilling and water insertion causes additional (like a lot more) quakes. The geologists know this is the case. The issue at stake is what happens when you drill way deeper into the rocks below -- here's thge video from the times showing what happens.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/06/23/us/Geothermal.html

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[Asclepius99]

So Google stole the plot from Superman?

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[TheRaven64]

It's worth reminding everyone that the Richter scale is logarithmic, so a 4.0 quake is ten times more powerful than a 3.0, and so on. The largest Earthquake we've had in the UK in my lifetime has been a 5.2, and it was barely noticeable by anyone more than a few miles from the epicentre (and even there, about the worst thing to happen was a few chimneys got cracked; Victorian houses aren't really designed with earthquake-proofing in mind). We get one in the 3-4 range every few years, and the only way most of us find out about it is by seeing it in the news. If you're standing still and paying attention when it happens, you'll notice, otherwise you'll miss it. A lorry driving down the road outside makes the room shake at least as much. Causing a 3.0 is probably not something that you should aim to do, but the only people who will notice are the ones watching seismographs.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[assert(0)]

No, not 10. Two pts on the Richter magnitude scale is 1000x the energy, so one pt is sqrt(1000) = 31.6.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[techiemikey]

I hate to say this, but the Richter Scale islog base 10.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale

perhaps you were thinking of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scale

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[Cassander]

Santa Rosa's not exactly far from San Francisco. And since it's just Santa Rosa that's close you're fine with them being leveled in an earthquake?

As a lifetime resident of Santa Rosa, I hereby formally approve of your proposal for earthquake-based levelling, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

But I should warn you you're going to need one doozy of a quake to actually level the place. The 1906 "San Francisco" Earthquake hit harder up here than it did in San Francisco, and that one still left 4 buildings standing.

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[The Grey Mouser]

No, assert(0) is correct: the total energy of a quake varies as the 3/2 power of the seismic moment. Both the Richter and Moment magnitude scales are based around the base-10 logarithm of the seismic moment, but that isn't the same as the total released energy of the quake.

By the way, I noticed that this fact is mentioned in the second paragraph of the very link that you cited. Did you perhaps stop reading after the first? ;-)

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[drinkypoo]

First of all it's "north of San Fransisco" and by North they mean it's actually North of Santa Rosa. And it looks to be about 20 miles north of that up near Clear Lake. And if you go to their project site and look at the map at the bottom, you'll notice in the past week there's been 3.0 or larger earth quakes in that region. The 3.4 they had in Basel looks to be just another daily occurrence in those parts.

I live in the region we're discussing, which is the most geothermally active spot in the inhabited world. We have a superfund site down the road where they buried the arsenic pressure-washed off of the turbine blades. The geothermal power site itself is storing Arsenic and other major toxics in open concrete pits near the generators. When the pits fill up, they are covered over with concrete, and the walls raised so that they can put more toxics in.

Assuming they'll be accessing the same system of vents, the water that they are pumping into the ground and heating it will probably be contaminated with the same stuff that comes OUT of the steam vents which run Calpine Geothermal Power, thus creating another serious environmental catastrophe. We were starting to have cows born with two heads and shit like that; they ended up digging up [most of] the Arsenic-contaminated soil and containing it on the same site with a rubber liner.

Most so-called "green power" is anything but.

I highly doubt they'd be wasting their time if they didn't know the ground would remain stable long enough for their tunnel to remain intact. It looks like they're taking precautions and claim to have refined the process to make it safer at least.

That depends. Have they been paid yet?

Re:Unfair Blame to Both Google And AltaRock

[Lakitu]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/quakes_all.php

Under Pressure

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems to me that the only thing a large drill may do is release the pressure that's building up. It's not going to "cause" an earthquake per se, it's going to release one before it happens natually, which will likely be less intense than if it had been allowed to build up pressure in the first place.

Re:Under Pressure

[4D6963]

I believe it's not the same pressure. The pressure that builds up before an earthquake is I believe the pressure between the two sides of the fault that as they grind against each other. Adding pressure to fracture the rocks adds nothing to that, however fracture the rocks/turning the underground into a fractured muddy mess would make the other kind of pressure between the two sides of the fault get released earlier, so in a way you're helping triggering the earthquake, but because you lower the threshold by messing with the ground in the fault it means you're preventing the pressure from building up to much, meaning you trigger a less earthquake which helps you avoid the big one.

"the next big one"

[seifried]

Is going to happen sometime in the future regardless of what we do (baring some major advances in geological technology and the ability to control earth quakes which from a geek perspective would be pretty damn cool, but I'm not holding my breath).

Re:"the next big one"

[wooferhound]

Well , if a quake is produced Sooner than it would have occurred naturally, then the intensity won't as strong since stresses would be released before they could build up to be stronger.

Re:"the next big one"

[wellingj]

Que 70's chika-bow-wow

Drilling doesn't CAUSE quakes!

[An Ominous Cow Erred]

Plate tectonics causes quakes! Sometimes, however, drilling *releases* stress, triggering quakes that were already going to happen, the drilling just throws the straw on the camel's back, so to speak.

In fact, technologies like this could be useful in doing controlled release of earthquakes, such that you can pick the time it can occur so people are ready for it.

Re:Drilling doesn't CAUSE quakes!

[ls671]

In TFA, they say they add pressure to the system, what you are talking about could be valid if it wasn't for that fact. By artificially adding pressure, I would assume that they may cause something to move which would NEVER have moved otherwise.

Re:Drilling doesn't CAUSE quakes!

[Rogerborg]

Pulling a trigger doesn't CAUSE people to get shot!

Making the bullet causes people to get shot! Sometimes, however, pulling the trigger *releases* the bullet.

Caused a quake in Basel?

[rhook]

And just how do they know that the drilling caused the quake?

Re:Caused a quake in Basel?

[unfunk]

That's what I'm curious about;

"I think that was us," said one stunned official. Analysis of seismic data proved him correct. The quake measured 3.4 - modest in some parts of the world. But triggered quakes tend to be shallower than natural ones, and residents generally describe them as a single, explosive bang or jolt - often out of proportion to the magnitude - rather than a rumble.

Yup... that's some nice reasoning behind that claim. How about we see this seismic data that's mentioned but not linked to?

Re:Caused a quake in Basel?

[ls671]

In TFA, they say artificially caused quakes are easy to identify:

Analysis of seismic data proved him correct. The quake measured 3.4 modest in some parts of the world. But triggered quakes tend to be shallower than natural ones, and residents generally describe them as a single, explosive bang or jolt often out of proportion to the magnitude rather than a rumble.

Triggered quakes are also frequently accompanied by an air shock, a loud tearing or roaring noise.

The noise made me feel it was some sort of supersonic aircraft going overhead, said Heinrich Schwendener, who, as president of Geopower Basel, the consortium that includes Geothermal Explorers and the utility companies, was standing next to the borehole.

It took me maybe half a minute to realize, hey, this is not a supersonic plane, this is my well, Mr. Schwendener said.

Probability

[Shatrat]

Probability of a major earthquake if google drills for power: 1

Probability of a major earthquake if google does not drill: 1

If there is a quake, at least it will release some tension now rather than a year from now when it will be greater.

Is Google EVIL now?

[iCodemonkey]

Does this mean google is now a super-evil corporation(TM). Will we have James Bond types trying to bring it down? (disclaimer: not enough sleep, lack of coffee and to much TV are my excuses)

Re:Is Google EVIL now?

[ColdWetDog]

Does this mean google is now a super-evil corporation(TM).

No, you all have it exactly backwards. Look at this - California is bankrupt, they're planning on paying creditors IOUs. No money. Nada. They've already asked the feds to help and Obama has said 'No'.

Google knows this and knows that the only other ways to get money out of the feds is either to wage war on them or have a (presumably) natural disaster. Wars take time and are all sorts of messy, not to mention ethically marginal. A natural disaster on the other hand - who can argue with an Act of God? This is just a small down payment to help rescue the entire fucking state from themselves.

Brilliant, I say. Absolutely brilliant.

3.4?

[macshit]

Apparently (it's hard to say for sure, since all the stories I found were kinda sensationalist) the project in Basel caused a magnitude 3.4 quake.

That's an extremely small earthquake.

Big trucks going a construction site also rumble and shake the ground when the go past. People bitch, but it's not considered a reason to stop construction projects (except perhaps in very exceptional circumstances).

Frankly the furor seems to be more the "OMG they're doing something we don't understand which doesn't involve overeating and reality television! Stop them!" sort than it does a well-grounded and considered opposition.

Re:3.4?

[linzeal]

It was a 3.4 earthquake in an area without significant fault lines. That is 'significant'.

Re:3.4?

[e9th]

Without significant fault lines? This article seems to suggest otherwise.

Re:3.4?

[scubamage]

I think they're more worried about a massive series of quakes being set off, like the ones in China which they're pretty darn sure were caused by water pressing down at a newly built dam.

Heady questions

[StreetStealth]

In fact, technologies like this could be useful in doing controlled release of earthquakes, such that you can pick the time it can occur so people are ready for it.

This is a really interesting idea, the kind of stuff that makes for thoughtful sci-fi and even more thought in real life. What if we could tell the Big One was coming in the next decade but had the technology to loose its destruction at a time of our choosing?

How would such a thing be done? How would you convince the populace and governing bodies that it was necessary? How could you make absolutely sure it was necessary?

How would insurers decide to react? Where would everyone go? What about those refuse to leave? Are there temporary measures that could improve structural stability for 24 hours? What about people who couldn't afford them?

What are the potentials for abuse? How would the specifics of the release be affected by politics? If there were a way to control where the greatest damage would occur, how would it be chosen? Who would choose? Would the people in the way have a say? What kind of legal liability would those involved at different levels have?

A controlled quake release could save thousands, even tens of thousands of lives. But once there's an element of human control to unexpected disaster, all bets are off as to how our civilization deals with the responsibility.

Re:Heady questions

[adolf]

You asked...

What if we could tell the Big One was coming in the next decade but had the technology to loose its destruction at a time of our choosing?

Then folks would be ready for it, just like OP said.

How would such a thing be done?

RTFA.

Where would everyone go?

Vacation.

What about those refuse to leave?

Give them video cameras, clean water, some canned goods, and a P38.

Are there temporary measures that could improve structural stability for 24 hours?

Yes. Tape the windows, close the doors. Remove things from shelves. And avoid doing this in dry season or rainy season, whichever is worse for the upper layers of the crust.

What about people who couldn't afford them?

Help them.

How would insurers decide to react?

They'd act like cowardly children with solid cherry desks, country club memberships, a trophy wife, and a new German car, just like they do any other time something expensive happens.

How would the specifics of the release be affected by politics?

Poorly. Just as every other case where a politician gets involved.

If there were a way to control where the greatest damage would occur, how would it be chosen?

Whatever's cheapest.

Who would choose?

Maps. And clinical, heartless engineers.

Would the people in the way have a say?

They had a say when they elected the government.

What kind of legal liability would those involved at different levels have?

Who cares? If we can print enough money to bail out the economy, we can print enough to cover everyone's ass in a man-made Teh Big One.

Re:Heady questions

[y_axis]

He was referring to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_can_opener You may whoosh me as you see fit.

B Movie

[haggus71]

This sounds like one of those really bad disaster movies of the 70's starring Charlton Heston. Oh wait... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071455/

Terminator

[basementman]

I think this is will be skynet's first strike against mankind.

Releasing pressure might be a good thing

[stox]

I would rather have a number of small quakes rather than one large one. If this results in pressure being gradually released from a fault zone, I would consider it an asset, not a liability.

just turn that frown upside down

[empraptor]

any crazy ideas on how to harness energy of triggered quakes? mine: carve a large pattern around the area to direct the quake at a giant pendulum which will then swing the gays straight... and the straights gay. for science!

Their Fatal Mistake

[rally2xs]

was drilling in La La Land. They should have drilled in Montana, the Dakotas, anywhere where people are semi-reasonable about things. This project will be stopped, bet on it. It will join the power line that was stopped from connecting a large solar farm to San Diego, the LNG seaports that were stopped from being built anywhere along the left coast and wound up in Mexico, the area where they refused to build powerplants for about 10 years and not only caused themselves rolling blackouts but made their competitive position in the electricity market so weak that Enron could easiy butt-F them, as well as their being one of 5 states with diesel fuel standards so stringent that it is impossible for anyone to import or build a diesel car clean enough to be sold there, and on and on. California as a political entity is non-viable, it's just taking a while to totally collapse...

Re:Their Fatal Mistake

[bky1701]

What's this... The area with the most polluted air in the US has some slightly tough regulations, making it hard to build more coal power plants? The devil you say! Clearly, they should just bend over, and start sucking up whatever amount of soot the multinational corporations feel like putting out...

...and no power is an acceptable alternative? They could have built any number of other forms of plants - including nuclear. But...

OMG NUCLEAR! You want to build a BOMB in my state! How dare you. Not in my county, we'll fight this to the supreme court!

California is not sustainable, because they look only to the short term, and have short memories.

Re:What scare-mongering stupidity!

[MichaelSmith]

The forces involved in an earthquake are so far beyond what man can control or cause that it is not even funny.

What about lubricating a fault with water?

Re:What scare-mongering stupidity!

[chimpo13]

Hey, that's not funny!

Don't worry, nothing bad will happen from it...

[dvh.tosomja]

Cause we will be screwed by LHC loooonnnggg before

Re:What scare-mongering stupidity!

[dargaud]

What about lubricating a fault with water?

Which is exactly what caused the recent earthquake at l'Aquila (Italy), and several other instances, including a very big one in China. A dam gets built, the water pressure from the lake increases deep water infiltration. If there is a fault line alongside the valley (fairly common), the fault gets lubricated and lets it rip.

1 2 3 4 - Profit!

[StCredZero]

1 - Write a story involving Google
2 - Find a way to include the word EVIL
3 - Blog it, post it, spam it, be sure to put up Google Adwords advertising
4 - Profit!

Cause and effect

[rkeene517]

The articles seem to state specifically that the drilling in Europe caused the earthquake. Almost without a doubt that is just a conjecture. The problem in California is that if the drilling takes a year or two, there is bound to be some kind of quake, and the drilling will get the blame. On the other hand, the value of deep well geothermal is so great that it would be worth a minor quake to get it.