Geologist caused quakes, faces 5 years

BASEL, Switzerland, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A Swiss company geologist pleaded not guilty to knowingly causing $8.7 million in damage after his pioneering geothermal project caused earthquakes.

Markus Haering, a project designer with Geopower Basel AG, said local people knew of the risks in his company's drilling 3 miles into the ground beneath Basel, Switzerland. But he admitted Geopower "had very little knowledge of seismicity" before drilling, The Times of London reported.

The project caused a series of earthquakes, including one that measured 3.4 on the Richter scale.

Basel, located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, sits on a fault line and was destroyed in a massive 1356 earthquake, the most significant seismological event in Central European history.

Haering pleaded not guilty to intentionally causing $8.7 million in property damage with his company's quakes three years ago. Prosecutors dropped a second charge of "alarming the population."

He called the quakes "a learning process for everyone involved" and noted Geopower stopped pumping the pressurized water underground immediately after the biggest quake hit.

A verdict is expected next week. Haering faces up to five years in jail if convicted.

The project, begun three years ago, sought to generate power commercially by shooting water 3 miles underground to naturally superheated rocks. The water, reaching nearly 400 degrees, would create super-hot steam that would drive electric turbines that could meet the electricity needs of 10,000 households and heat 2,700 homes.

The project was shut down by city authorities last week.