(originally appeared in the Evansville Courier, Friday, December 4, 1998)

With the recent passage of Earthquake Awareness week in Evansville and a similar observance focusing upon the issue in the state of Kentucky during the month of October, area residents have again been warned of the dangerous potential for seismic activity in this region. For many years seismologists and geologists have been warning people in this part of the country about how the New Madrid fault system is long overdue for a major seismic event. But that does not seem to deter advocates of unshackled economic growth and industrial development who apparently care little about the uncontrollable forces of Mother Nature.

Yes, it is true, it has been a long time since the earth shook badly around here. I believe I was at Marching Band practice one Saturday morning in the bowl at Reitz High School when a few of us fell to our knees in amazement. When we went inside the building we discovered a huge crack in a concrete wall of the gymnasium which wasn't there before. For weeks after that there was much conversation on the West side about danger of mine subsidence in the vicinity of "Seven Crossings," the railroad grade crossing at Broadway Avenue in the midst of the L & N Howell railroad yards. Some were amazed at that time that the old mine shafts had not collapsed -- the coal tipple was apparently not far from the yards. Memories of such conversations linger as we approach the New World Order and the senseless construction of the $200 million Con Agra soybean processing facility in nearby Posey County on the Ohio River.

You see, less that one-quarter mile from the proposed plant site there are two huge seismic faults in the Pennsylvanian rock formations beneath the relatively flat surface topography both of these faults traverse Diamond Island and the flow of the Ohio River (almost at a right angle) and one of them, the Heusler fault, extends north to the other side of Highway 62. In this region it forms the Northwestern border of the "Heusler" oil field which remains in production.

According to a mineral survey map of the region produced by G. F. Tanner, J. N. Stellavato and J. C. Mackey, of the Indiana State Geological Survey in 1980,

test drilling and core samples in the region have shown that the fault plane has been penetrated by wells in the area at anywhere from 45 feet to 140 feet below the surface in the region of the oil field. Precise core samples or test drilling in the immediate vicinity of the proposed Con Agra facility were apparently unavailable when the research for this map was compiled. The area is, however, designated a heavy liquefaction region in the event of an earthquake. This means the soils in the region turn to silly putty when the earth opens up.

These facts were repeatedly brought to the attention of state officials of the Department of Natural Resources, the governor's office the Army Corps of Engineers and local Posey County elected officials to no avail. It did not seem to deter them one iota from approving the zoning variance and all of the permits which thus far have been approved.

Proponents from the Development uber alles crowd would have us to believe that none of this matters -- the most important thing is for SIGCORP to have yet another hungry customer for steam and electrical power produced at the A. B. Brown power station and the new co-generation plant recently proposed. They might point to the fact that the General Electric Lexan Plastics facility is located amid no less that four similar faults which striate the subsurface of Posey County and the river in several different areas. It is for this reason that the GE plant has long been identified as one of the top 50 industrial plant locations in the country with the potential for a major, catastrophic event which could lead to the deaths of thousands of area residents. No matter, it hasn't happened yet has it? Let's just keep repeating our previous mistakes!

If anyone cares to discount the dangers of earthquakes, they need only to recall just a few years back when seven miles of the Santa Monica freeway had to be rebuilt after the last earthquake to shake southern California. The dangers of these events are real and the potential for another seismic event in this region grow each day.

Some concerned citizens wish the Army Corp of Engineers would take these facts into account before issuing the final permit for the Con Agra facility.

The rest of us are only left to wonder if our voices are ever heard by those who have the capacity to say no.

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