Linda, I have been in contact with Congressman Soto’s office and the USGS team that would conduct the project if the bill is approved. I know the leader of the USGS team and they have designed a good proposal. I’ve worked with him and vouch for the high quality of his work.
This project does not include sinkholes caused by fracking because sinkholes are not caused by fracking. There is a lot confusion and misunderstanding about fracking. Sinkholes have formed below oil, gas, and other wells, whether they were fracked or not, for reasons unrelated to fracking. Many such sinkholes can be classified as anthropogenic, meaning that collapse would not have happened if not for human activities that made collapse possible. Mine collapses are a good example. The proposed study does not include such sinkholes. In my view, the legislation for this project should be supported and I’ll be sending a letter of support from NCKRI later today. Because the bill doesn’t include anthropogenic sinkholes is not a reason to not support it. That would be like saying “I don’t support research for a new cancer screening technique because it doesn’t include heart disease.” Both are worthy causes, but the methods needed to study one are completely different from studying the other. Likewise, at a glance, an anthropogenic collapse may look like a karstic collapse, but the processes that form them are very different and thus the tools to predict them are very different. You wonder if this issue affects New Mexico and it does. NCKRI completed a study last year of 22 miles of highway experiencing sinkhole collapse, to better design the reconstruction of the highway in order to minimize and prevent future sinkhole collapses. Beyond that, a 2015 USGS study found that sinkholes cost the US over $300 million each year in damages. This is a minimum figure because it is based on state highway department data where not all states identified the cost of sinkholes vs. other repairs and maintenance, and it does not include sinkholes under homes and other buildings, nor the loss of property and the occasional life. If you consider all of that, I believe that the cost will easily exceed $1 billion/year. The proposed project is very worth supporting. By identifying sinkhole-prone areas, it will allow better land planning that will reduce the cost of sinkhole impacts and pay for itself many times over in money, time, and maybe lives saved. George ******************** George Veni, PhD Executive Director, National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) and President, International Union of Speleology (UIS) NCKRI address (primary) 400-1 Cascades Avenue Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220 USA Office: +575-887-5517 Mobile: +210-863-5919 Fax: +575-887-5523 gv...@nckri.org<mailto:gv...@nckri.org> www.nckri.org<http://www.nckri.org/> UIS address Titov trg 2 Postojna, 6230, Slovenia www.uis-speleo.org<http://www.uis-speleo.org/> From: swrcav...@googlegroups.com <swrcav...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Linda Starr Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2019 01:02 To: Jerry <jerryat...@aol.com> Cc: swrcavers@googlegroups com <swrcav...@googlegroups.com>; texascavers list <Texascavers@texascavers.com> Subject: Re: [SWR CAVERS] House Bill 496 - Sinkhole Mapping Act of 2019 : Jerry, What is your take on this bill? Do we support it and should we address our House of Representatives rep? What about sinkholes that are caused by O&G fracking and damage to aquifers like the Permian Basin? If it does concern us, then we should do more than monitor the bill. We should speak/call/write to our representatives. Linda Starr On Tue, Feb 26, 2019 at 2:29 AM 'Jerry' via Southwestern Cavers of the National Speleological Society <swrcav...@googlegroups.com<mailto:swrcav...@googlegroups.com>> wrote: I thought this might be of interest to some of you out there. A bill was brought to the floor of US House of Representatives by Representative Darren Soto of Florida on 1/11/2019. It proposes to have the USGS establish a program to map zones that are at greater risk of sinkhole formation in the US. The program would: (1) study the short-term and long-term mechanisms that cause sinkholes, including extreme storm events, prolonged droughts causing shifts in water management practices, aquifer depletion, and other major changes in water use; and : (2) develop maps that depict zones that are at greater risk of sinkhole formation. As of February 5th, the bill was sent to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources of the Committee on Natural Resources for review. To monitor the progress of the bill, go to : https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/496/all-actions Jerry Atkinson. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Southwestern Cavers of the National Speleological Society" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to swrcavers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:swrcavers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To post to this group, send email to swrcav...@googlegroups.com<mailto:swrcav...@googlegroups.com>. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/swrcavers. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/swrcavers/872836424.5393487.1551173388069%40mail.yahoo.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/swrcavers/872836424.5393487.1551173388069%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Southwestern Cavers of the National Speleological Society" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to swrcavers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:swrcavers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To post to this group, send email to swrcav...@googlegroups.com<mailto:swrcav...@googlegroups.com>. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/swrcavers. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/swrcavers/CAN_2HoFUyYR77AO%3DGte8T_tGTLmNrjYSkyzfpjpwaf%2BwzUwqNQ%40mail.gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/swrcavers/CAN_2HoFUyYR77AO%3DGte8T_tGTLmNrjYSkyzfpjpwaf%2BwzUwqNQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
_______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
