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."
Hey, gotta break a few eggs (and dishes) to make an omelet.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I doubt the geologist is at fault. However, his defense rests on really shaky ground.
Blast it, I failed the broadcast take over announcing my intentions for world domination! It was my demostration of my earthquake machine! me, me ME!
Demented But Determined.
These villagers were scamming the poor guy. $9 million in damages from a *3.4* quake? Cripes, a bus crossing in front of my house is close to 3.4... either their houses are made from eggshells, or this is the scam of the century.
I'd feel terrible if useful research was suspended because of profiteering townsfolk.
Comment of the year
Thankfully a project by the same company just north of San Francisco has been shut down. The last thing CA needs is more earthquakes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/science/earth/12quake.html
Just imagine the other inmates, 'So, what are you in for?'
Some people are only alive because it's against the law for me to hunt them down and kill them.
These villagers were scamming the poor guy. $9 million in damages from a *3.4* quake? Cripes, a bus crossing in front of my house is close to 3.4... either their houses are made from eggshells, or this is the scam of the century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggshell_skull
Translation/application: if you demonstrate negligence and cause an earthquake, even if everyone's houses are made of chewing gum and paper- you're responsible for the damage, because had you not done what you did, the damage wouldn't have happened.
Please help metamoderate.
I imagine he would be seen as an evil supervillain like Lex Luthor or something, and emerge from jail with a small army to do his geological bidding.
those pesky minarets! Yeppers!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/business/energy-environment/08fracking.html
The drilling boom is raising concern in many parts of the country, and the reaction is creating political obstacles for the gas industry. Hazards like methane contamination of drinking water wells, long known in regions where gas production was common, are spreading to populous areas that have little history of coping with such risks, but happen to sit atop shale beds.
And a more worrisome possibility has come to light. A string of incidents in places like Wyoming and Pennsylvania in recent years has pointed to a possible link between hydraulic fracturing and pollution of groundwater supplies. In the worst case, such pollution could damage crucial supplies of water used for drinking and agriculture
It isn't going to be climate change that kills us. We won't have any clean water to drink. Fun fact: the "safe water drinking act" isn't being enforced by the EPA, and even water that has very unhealthy level of arsenic is "safe". Does a 1-in-600 chance of getting bladder cancer sound "safe" to you?
Please help metamoderate.
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
All this to produce electricity to dry clothing in the electric dryers. Just let people dry clothing and linen on the ropes in the sun and wind.
Billions and billions of such drying wet items will cool the planet. Because it will be daily, and it will be in billions.
We are trying to solve by engineering means a problem which is not a technical problem. It is a problem in our heads.
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.
Just imagine the other inmates, 'So, what are you in for?'
Drilling holes with deep penetration. With a ground shaking climax.
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra