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| Swiss Geologist On Trial For Causing Earthquakes
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| from the should-have-called-dig-safe dept.
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| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 15, @15:55 (Earth)
|
|https://news.slashdot.org/story/09/12/15/2037250/Swiss-Geologist-On-Trial-For-Causing-Earth|
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[0]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 [1]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 [2]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 [3]energy
department is sponsoring more than 120 geothermal energy projects in
several states."
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/12/15/2037250
Links:
0.http://hughpickens.com/slashdot/
1.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8414795.stm
2.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/15/swiss-geothermal-power-earthquakes-basel
3.http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091214005242&newsLang=en
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