The New Mexico "
" was released yesterday. It's
98 pages of wonkery
not intended for the casual reader.
Not to nitpick—or fearmonger—but there's a word missing in the report. It's kind of important. The word is earthquakes.
Although the report spends a good amount of space assessing New Mexico's potential for geothermal energy—and exploring "Synergies with the Oil and Gas Industry"—it fails to mention, even in passing, one major potential downside of this particular "green" power source:
It can cause earthquakes
.
From
The New York Times earlier this summer
:
New Mexico's geothermal wells could go very deep indeed. "One of the largest costs in geothermal power systems is the drilling of the wells necessary to access the high temperature resources. These wells may need to be 10,000 ft deep or more,"the green jobs report says.
What's the big deal? In case you missed it, here's a story from yesterday's Los Angeles Times. It's titled, "
Study finds quake risk at Los Alamos: Seismic activity at the nuclear lab could result in deadly amounts of airborne plutonium, federal experts say
."
SFR's Alexa Schirtzinger delved into the LANL safety report
.
I'm not a geologist. But it'd seem wise for state and federal scientists study these risks fully before the energy industry starts exploiting this particular "synergy" anywhere near the nukes.
