Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The CEO of Geothermal Explorers, the company that was drilling as part of a Basel geothermal energy project called Deep Heat, has been cleared of wrongdoing by a court in the city. Charges were brought against Markus Haering after the company’s drilling appeared to provoke earthquakes in Basel in 2006 and early 2007.
Basel's Deep Heat project, December 2006
Update 11:35 Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Basel’s innovative geothermal energy project made world headlines when it was begun in 2001, but the city suffered a series of tremors in December 2006 that prompted fears the deep drilling may have triggered the earthquakes. The Deep Heat Mining project, designed to pull energy from the deep bedrock, was closed temporarily in early 2007, but Thursday 11 December canton Basel City officials announced that the project has officially closed.
The head of the Geothermal Explorers next week faces charges in Basel, and 20 Minutes reports that there is widespread surprise in the region that he is the only person who will have to answer criminal charges and that no cantonal or city officials have been charged in the affair.
Insurance claims against the project came to CHF9 million, reports swissinfo, but the project has ended, the official report published Thursday notes, because risk analyses have suggested further drilling could set off more earthquakes.
