The shaky truth about geothermal energy plants is that they cause shakes --
that is, earthquakes -- and they may not be nearly as safe as had been
originally hoped. I was just reading a report in the New York Times called
"German Geothermal Project Leads to Second Thoughts After the Earth
Rumbles".

According to this report, geothermal energy projects in Germany and
Switzerland both resulted in local earthquakes. An earthquake occurred in
Germany this past August at the site of the Landau in der Pfalz geothermal
energy plant, and Switzerland experienced earthquakes in both 2006 and 2007
as a result of a geothermal energy plant in Basel.

If we consider how much water, oil, natural gas, coal and other substances
man has extracted from deep within the Earth's crust over the decades, it is
only logical to expect that, sooner or later, we will experience long-term
negative effects from these endeavors. It is similar to deflating a balloon.
The greater the amount of air that is removed, the quicker the balloon will
collapse. I am no scientist, but it seems to me that creating so many hollow
cavities within the Earth is dangerous business. If we continue to reduce
the pressure inside the Earth through the extraction of water, gas, oil, and
now steam and heat, we can't rightfully complain when our world starts to
fall apart.

Is it possible that some of the earthquakes that are mentioned by Jesus in
the Gospels, as well as in the Book of Revelation, might be a result of
man's own foolishness and misuse and abuse of the Earth?

The truth of the matter is that we humans seem to make it a habit of
destroying the beautiful Earth that God gave us. We pollute the land, air
and water, and we even pollute our own minds, bodies and spirits through
drugs, booze, porn and other vices. I am reminded of this verse which the
Lord spoke through the Prophet Jeremiah over 2,500 years ago:

"And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and
the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine
heritage an abomination." Jeremiah 2:7, KJV

What do you think?

Following is the complete New York Times article:


German Geothermal Project Leads to Second Thoughts After the Earth Rumbles

By NICHOLAS KULISH and JAMES GLANZ - NYT

September 10, 2009


LANDAU IN DER PFALZ, Germany -- Government officials here are reviewing the
safety of a geothermal energy project that scientists say set off an
earthquake in mid-August, shaking buildings and frightening many residents
of this small city.

The geothermal plant, built by Geox, a German energy company, extracts heat
by drilling deep into the earth. Advocates of the method say that it could
greatly reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels by providing a vast
supply of renewable energy.

But in recent months, two similar projects have stirred concerns about their
safety and their propensity to cause earthquakes. In the United States, the
Energy Department is scrutinizing a project in Northern California run by
AltaRock Energy to determine if it is safe. (The project was shut down by
the company last month because of crippling technical problems.) Another
project, in Basel, Switzerland, was shut down after it generated earthquakes
in 2006 and 2007 and is awaiting the decision of a panel of experts about
whether it can resume.

The Landau project will be allowed to continue operating while the review
panel, which held its first meeting last Friday, deliberates. Geox officials
initially denied any responsibility for the temblor and continue to dispute
the government's data linking the project to the quake. The panel will,
among other things, have to sort through the conflicting data presented by
the company and government scientists.

But some experts in the field say they worry that projects like the one in
Germany, if the managers deny responsibility for inducing earthquakes or
play down the effects on people's lives, could damage the reputation of
geothermal energy, even in highly environmentally conscious areas of the
world like California or Western Europe.

"My concern is that the project leaders for different geothermal projects
are about to waste public confidence as long as they don't talk openly about
the seismic risks involved in their projects," said Rudolf Braun, who is the
leader of the Basel study and is following events in Landau.

Like other earthquakes that have been attributed to geothermal plants, the
Landau temblor was sudden and brief and was accompanied by a sound that in
some cases has been likened to a sonic boom. There were no injuries and
there was no known structural damage to buildings in the city. But the 2.7
magnitude quake has stoked fears and set off debate in the state Parliament,
which subsidized the construction of the plant, about the method's safety.

The police logged as many as 200 calls after the quake, which struck shortly
after 2 p.m. on Aug. 15. Stefanie Schuster was at the local supermarket when
she heard a loud bang. She said she wavered unsteadily on her feet "like
when you feel dizzy."

"My first thought was the geothermal plant," said Mrs. Schuster,
48, a clerk
in the city government. "I thought, There's definitely a problem over
there."

Citing an academic paper, officials of AltaRock, the company running the
California project, claimed that the Landau plant caused no earthquakes -- a
claim that Geox says it never made. In fact, in May, the state geological
survey for Rhineland-Palatinate, the state where Landau is located,
concluded that four minor earthquakes, too small to be felt by residents,
had been generated by the project.

Seismologists at the geological survey said that the larger Aug. 15 quake
was also caused by the project. The epicenter was roughly 500 yards from a
drill site at the plant and at about the same depth -- 1.5 miles -- as a
steam bed that the plant was extracting heat from. "We are sure it's from
the geothermal plant," said Harald Ehses, chairman of the geological survey.

In interviews last week, Geox officials conceded that the plant had set off
tiny earthquakes and said that they were not certain what set off the Aug.
15 temblor. But consultants for the company dispute the data cited by
government scientists to back up their conclusion that the project caused
the earthquake: their own data, they said, proves that the quake originated
more than two miles from the site of the plant and six miles below the
earth's surface. Those figures would essentially rule out a connection with
the plant.

"At this point we can neither deny nor confirm" that the power plant had
anything to do with the earthquake, said Peter Hauffe, managing director of
Geox.

The Landau plant, which cost $30 million, went into operation in 2007 and
produces electricity for 6,000 homes by drawing heat from beneath the
bedrock, nearly two miles beneath the earth's surface. Geox said a
coal-burning plant producing the same electricity would emit 30,000 tons of
carbon dioxide annually.

Not everyone in town was troubled by the quake. "It's really not such a big
deal," said Volker Weisenburger, 43. "Gas has its own set of risks."

But other residents said they were skeptical about the new technology. "The
engineers always say that they have everything under control, until
something happens that they never expected," said Sabine Hofmann, 47, who
lives near the plant.



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