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AltaRock answers New York Times article on earthquake fears

In a response to the article in the New York Time on geothermal drilling at the Geysers possibly causing earthquakes, AltaRock posted a detailed reply highlighting the differences between the Basel case as referenced in the article.

In reply to the recent article on earthquakes fear through a geothermal project by AltaRock at the Geysers in California, the company provided the following reply on its website.

“AltaRock’s EGS demonstration project in the Geysers was recently the subject of a NYT article which, while noting the promise of EGS as part of the country’s alternative energy portfolio, questioned whether EGS was safe.

AltaRock has been focused on the safety and success of our project from the beginning, and will continue to work with the community and regulators to ensure geothermal energy can provide our state with clean, abundant, and affordable energy.

The article compared our demonstration project at the Geysers to a project in Basel, Switzerland, but these projects are very different:

We took extraordinary care in choosing our site at the Geysers to avoid siting on a major fault. The Basel Project drilled into a significant fault.

Smaller faults mean smaller events, and the faults in the Geysers area are significantly smaller than at Basel.

The geology of the Geysers is very different – seismic studies predict events at the Geysers likely to be imperceptible at the surface.

Events of similar magnitude to Basel occur frequently in California.

Basel produced an event with a magnitude which is more than 10 times the size of the maximum event estimated for our project.

We have installed monitoring and control procedures and designed pressure relief mechanisms to minimize any impact.

We are employing proprietary technologies to ensure a safe and well-controlled project.

We have actively involved and informed the community.

California needs power and as the nation’s largest state economy it has the biggest demand for alternative, non- carbon based energy sources. EGS at the Geysers has the potential to provide clean energy to supply much of California’s renewable needs.”

Source: AltaRock website

Alexander Richter
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