Slashdot Mirror
Swiss Geologist On Trial For Causing Earthquakes
Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that Markus Haering's company had been working with the authorities in Basel, Switzerland to try to convert the heat in deep-seated rocks into electricity, but the project was suspended in 2006 when drilling triggered earthquakes, one of them with a magnitude of 3.4, leading Haering's company to pay out $9M in damages. Haering's team planned to drill a series of holes penetrating up to 3 miles (4.8 km) underground with water being pumped onto rocks with a temperature of more than 195C. Basel's location on top of a fault line – the upper Rhine trench – had been deliberately chosen because the heat was closer to the Earth's surface. A risk assessment has since shown that the prospect of further quakes is too high to continue drilling in the city. Haering faces up to five years in prison if the judge finds he intentionally damaged property. Haering has admitted the 3.4 magnitude earthquake was stronger than he had expected and that his team 'had very little knowledge of seismicity' before starting to drill, but called the quakes 'a learning process for everyone involved.' Despite Haering's trial, the Swiss appetite for geothermal projects has not diminished. Engineers are beginning preliminary drilling in Zurich to see whether that area was suitable for a similar scheme, and St. Gallen, in eastern Switzerland, plans to start work on its own geothermal project next year. Drilling efforts are being closely watched in the US, where the energy department is sponsoring more than 120 geothermal energy projects in several states."
I'm not familiar with Swiss law either. This may be a lost-in-translation issue. If he knew his actions would cause damage, and continued in those actions anyway, then likely he has committed some crime. The specific word "intent" may not be the right one here... "willful" may be a better translation/interpretation.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
I makes me wonder... I'm no geologist by any measure, but there's obviously pressure built up in that area. Wouldn't drilling holes to break holds and release some of that plate pressure by causing smaller quakes be a preferred course of action? Would it either be that or waiting for one giant major natural shift that could cause even more damage?
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
You can't "cause" an earthquake. They are caused by tectonic pressure. You may be able to adjust the timing of one, though.
Perhaps this man's 3.4 quake actually saved the village from having a 4.0 quake a few years later! Did anyone think of that? Perhaps they should be giving him a medal.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
If you leave it alone and a natural disaster happens, you can't really sue God. If you drill and make mini-quakes and someone's windows break, you can definitely sue the driller.
Makes me wonder. This is not the first time it's been believed that drilling triggered an earthquake. How long until you can sue because the city didn't pay for drillers to relieve pressure and major earthquake occurs.