Swiss Geologist On Trial For Causing Earthquakes 258
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."
Obviously not an expert, maybe ex pert? (Score:3, Interesting)
This has all happened before and apparently will happen again:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/lr247770l2272741/ [springerlink.com]
I recall these earthquakes were triggered by chemical weapon disposal, same plot though, dig a big deep hole and put liquid in.....
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Re:Damages? (Score:1, Interesting)
I'd feel terrible if useful research was suspended because of profiteering townsfolk.
I agree, but thats exactly the situation we have nowadays.
I myself live near St.Gallen, and I really hope they aren't going to stop doing science just because some people are afraid of it. But unfortunately, science is extremely unpopular in todays consumer society, and our government doesn't care enough to make any real progress.
Re:Intentionally? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Blahgh (Score:4, Interesting)
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?
Re:Eggshell defense (Score:2, Interesting)
You forgot, that if you did not know that the houses were made of eggshells, and it is generally assumed that houses are not made of eggshells, that this would rather be a nasty trap, and that the lawsuit would in that case be a scam tactic.
most earth scientists knew this since 1960s (Score:3, Interesting)
Teh question really is political. Was the possibility of I.S. included in the pre-project environmental study? Did they ignore signs of it starting? Was it really caused by their activities.
lol (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, I agree, indeed this is the whole point of an LLC. LLCs are horribly abused quite routinely. I often observe that chemical companies should really be charged with manslaughter for some of their pollutants. *But* a serious research project that happens to "break a few eggs" should really be let slide.
A reasonable compromise might be awarding shares in this company to the damaged cities and the Swiss national science funding body, so the company current backers face dilution as punishment, but no immediate funds change hands, and any IP becomes closer to public property.
Re:lol (Score:1, Interesting)
Capitalism means paying for the eggs you broke.
Your idea of diluting the shares is an intriguing one, but I'm not sure that it would work on habitual offenders who would simply continue to cause damages until the stock is worthless and the victims are left with worthless paper. Furthermore, if the damages awarded are supposed to be related to the damages sustained, how would you decide how much stock to award when doing so would cause the value to decrease?
I think a better plan would be the ability to force a "Criminal Public Offering" whereby the company has to raise $fine by the sale of new stock on the open market. If they can't raise the fine by the time the stock is worthless, then they must pay the remainder out of the company's assets.
impossible (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Blahgh (Score:3, Interesting)
I live in Southern California, near Los Angeles. Around here, at least, magnitude 3.4 quakes are hardly worth mentioning. Instead of fining this company, the city should thank them for the object lesson they provided about why you don't ignore well-known earthquake safety techniques when you're building over or near a fault line.
Re:Blahgh (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Blahgh (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
A Travesty (Score:3, Interesting)
It is a shame that this fellow is going to be on trial. He obviously had no intent to do harm. And this article does not indicate the he was irresponsible in his efforts. Sometimes bad things happen but that does not mean that someone should be punished.