Stop Harmful Seismic Test Gun Blasts on California's Central Coast

  • by: Patrick Kerans
  • recipient: Fish and Game Commission, Sonke Mastrup: fgc@fgc.ca.gov

WE MUST STOP SEISMIC TESTING ABOUT TO START IN NOVEMBER, HERE’S WHY

·  Diablo Canyon is designed to withstand up to a 7.5 earthquake[1].

·  We have a 46% chance of experiencing a 7.5+ quake in the next 30 years.[2]

·  Fukushima experienced an unexpected 8.9 mega quake, the 3rd worst nuclear disaster ever.

·  Seismic testing will not reduce our risk position against an unexpected, mega quake[3].

·  Similar testing in Peru last spring killed 900 bottlenose dolphins and 5000 birds[4].

·  PG&E’s own assessment expects blasting to impact 78 grey whales, 11 humpbacks, 12 blue whales, 1,468 short-beaked dolphins, 66 long-beaked dolphins, 152 white-sided dolphins, 91 northern right whale dolphins, 1,321 bottlenose dolphins, 849 sea lions, 1,188 sea otters, and 3,736 harbor porpoises, among others not to mention plankton and birds[5].

What does a 200 Decibel blast do to a mammal? It’s like being a foot away from a large cannon. Your ears, or what’s left of them, would probably never stop ringing. The consequences would likely be immediate and permanent deafness – if not worse. According to CA Fish and Game Commissioner Richard Rogers, these blasts will "cleanse the Point Buchon State Marine Reserve of all living marine organisms.”

 And What Will These Tests Tell Us?
Not much. According to Senator Sam Blakeslee, a geophysics PhD, results of the $16 million project is unlikely to resolve the relationship between the two faults under study. That’s because the fault lies in a kind of muddy swirl of bedrock not conducive to 3-D analysis, according to Dr. Hardebeck, the research scientist who investigated the relationship between the two faults.





[1] CA Energy Commission, Assessment of CA’s Nuclear Power Plants, 2008



[2] 2007 Working Group on Earthquake Probabilities, California Seismic Safety Commission



[3] PBS Documentary: Scientists concerned about fault system near Diablo Canyon plant, July 2011



[4] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-10/peru-says-52c000-birds2c-nearly-900-dolphins-dead/4001970



[5] PG&E Seismic Testing EIR

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

Email: Fish and Game Commission: fgc@fgc.ca.gov attn: Sonke Mastrup

Mail and Phone, California Coastal Commission at:
Dan Carl, Deputy Director 725 Front Street, Suite 300

Santa Cruz, CA 95060-4508
(831) 427-4863, FAX (831) 427-4877

CA Senator Sam Blakeslee: senator.blakeslee@senate.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 651-4015, Fax: (916) 445-8081

US Senator Barbara Boxer, Phone: 202 224-3553

 

US Congresswoman Lois Capps, Phone: (202) 225-3601

On Facebook, “Like”: Stop the Diablo Canyon Seismic Testing

THANKS! 

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