J i understand utg. S. Waste water was the largest earthquake every reported in oklahoma. 5 mnt 27. The impacts of quakes induced by frakingrelated waste water arent limit today oklahoma. There have been quakes in kansas, texas, colorado and elsewhere. In some cases, i think establishing the link to the untrained person might seem obvious. New injection wells start up and then the injection stops and the quake stops. But i understand that its not that simple. You know, its a topic that we might devote an entire hearing to. Ranking member defozio, previously, along with then well, with Ranking Member waxman of energy and commerce. Im pleased they have called for such a hearing. We can touch on the subject, i believe, in this hearing. And that mielgts be helpful. And im sure there were other points that all the witnesses can make about what we have yet to learn. What research we have yet to sponsor. Who studies yet need to be done in earthquakes that continue to happen in usually unpredictable ways and with very important consequences. So thank you. All right. And, as i said earlier if the full Committee Chairman or Ranking Member are here, they are going to make a statement, also. We have the Ranking Member now recognized. Thank you, chairman, thank you for calling this important hearing. 50 years ago was not limited to alaska, though its particularly devastating in alaska. The trksz sunami that was generated killed four argonians because there was no and is no Early Warning system. We can build an earthquake tsunami Early Warning system. Oregon doesnt just face the threat from tsunamis generated. The same type that generated the great alaska quake. And, according to geologic history, were about overdue for a major quake in the northwest. It has been fairly quiet for a few hundred years. But, as i said, it is judged to being overdue. Potentially, well be sending a wave north. And we need that Early Warning system finished and deployed in the ocean. And and as needed on land. You know, we know were not going to be able to predict a quake days in advance. But just those few minutes. We practiced drills and skills on the coast. I have measured impacts and found safe havens. Dr. Holt made an comment point and i wont belabor it. But i ask asked a hearing on reduced size misty. It is a relatively decent phenomenon, which is not yet wellstudied or wellknown. There have been storms and quakes where there have not been before. Its atriblted to the reinjection of waste which includes lubricants, oil and proprietary chemicals, with pd which were not allowed to know about. This is all regular lated under the Safe Drinking Water act. Induced sizmicity in an area with a Nuclear Plant or other aboveground developments. Bridges and other thing that is are potentially at risk. We need to know about that. We need to know a lot more about that to know p avoid these problems. I dont think its adequate. Some agencies are a bit reluctant to get into this controversy. Were not talking about oil, gas and fraking in the u. S. , but weve got it aside. Thank you for holding this hearing and i appreciate the opportunity to hear from the witnesses. Thank you. And i would now ask that the gentleman make an Opening Statement . I thank you the members. Im not on this committee, but as one who lived through the great earthquake in alaska, im very interested in whats going to be testified to today. During the earthquake, we lost 148 lives, none of them in the earthquake. Tts all because of the tsunami. And we had no warning system. It was a 9. 2 earthquake. I believe the largest one thats ever occurred 234 the United States. And being on the ground when that occurred, it was an awesome experience. This thing lasted 10 minutes. It was a puddling effect. The bigger thing that intrigued me the most, that is a rock island. And it wont its a rock island. But it very nearly tipped upside down. It dropped eight feet on the south side and raised eight feet on the north side. On the south side, and then on the north side 789d. Any docks or place to have boat landings was prohiblted. Weve cut back on the tsunami warnings. Thats the biggest danger. I want to thank you, again, mr. Chairman, because living through it is an awesome experience of the power of a quake. And how helpless mankind can be. Theres nothing you can do. Akd i thank the gentleman. I would like to swro deuce our four distinguished witnesses. Dr. William leaf, seep i dont recall advisor of the u. S. Geological survey. I would ask that you keep your oral statements to five minutes. Id like to explain how our timing lights work. After foush minutes, a yellow light will appear. And at that time, you should begin to include your statement. At five minutes, the red light will come on and id ask that you conclude at that time. Mr. Chair map, members of the sub committee, thank you for the opportunity other the past 50 years. They need to explain the related hazards. Today is the larkest earthquake in u. S. History. Its also relevant to understand that the earthquake shaking lased for five minutes. And the lekt of time that ill be sbeeking with you today. So consider that anchorage sustained heavy damage and the earthquake and suck sell kwent tsunamis rilted in 129 fatalities. A major earthquake followed in 1964, including breakthroughs in Earth Science research, that have continued over the past half century since. The 64 alaska earthquake provided compelling evidence, for example, for the event theory of plate tech tonics. It also had effects on modern society and infrastructure. Second, it showed 2 complexity of earthquake effects that need to be addressed in any National Mitigation policy. Third, through the iconic scenes of the returnagain anchorage. The u. S. G. S. National program is the Applied Science component of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program or niherp. The other partners are the federal Emergency Management foundation. Within this partnership, assessments necessary to reduce deaths and injuries and economic losses from earthquakes and induced. U. S. G. S. Is the only agency that continuously reports on current, domestic and worldwide earthquake activity through our sismic system. The program has four components. Monitoring and reporting of encrusted defamation, access southerlizing patterns and supporting targeted research into earthquake causes and effects. And Safety Investigation for lost reduction. All of these components rely heavily on private sector parter in ships. Were also looking into the future for opportunities to apply science to reduce earthquake losses. A test system is successfully operating now in california. Another important opportunity that were pursuing to incorporate into the nsfs, porting size mom materials that are now imported across the eastern u. S. Even though its been two years, the risks are still very real and the resilience of the nation will be tested when, not if, the next earthquake disaster strikes. Giant earthquakes produce ground configuration. But these are current, predictable locations. Like areas of high tsunami runup can be estimated in advance. Such scenarios are being played out today. But, rapid earthquake loss assessments are still unacce unacceptably uncertain because of sparsz network cover rang in many areas. Also, a litted invernetorial thats useful for damage, modelling and uncertainty. Thats the critical engineering part. I will conclude by saying appreciate the opportunity to discuss the research that the u. S. G. S. And our parter iners a doing. Id be happy to take any questions you may have. Thank you, dr. Ludwig . Thank you for inviting me to testify. Is it not on . Okay. I live with earthquake risk every day. Today, im speaking primarily as president elect of the seismological society. My investment today is threefo threefold, and third, this investment has yielded valuable returns. I want to start on good friday, 1964. Ive heard the stories from extended family many times. As the buildings collapsed in front of her and chasms opened in the street, she had time to think. It must be the beginning of world war 3 and the end of the world as she knew it. When downtown anchorage was collapsing, no one knew it was caused by sub duction of the pacific plate. At that time, networks were monitoring weapons testing in the cold war and also monitoring earthquakes. This data was critical through the discovery of plate tech tonics. The alaska earthquake was so big that seismologists had to develop a new scale to measure it. They also affected the entire west coast and hawaii. It provides a vivid champion that can follow such an earthquake. The greatest earthquake has occurred at the plate boundaries. Some faults can be used to determine their earthquake history and their potential for future quakes. Research has shown that the average time is about a century. These findings are a call to action. Because the last big ones on the san andreas in 1956 occurred long ago. Earthquakes are not just a california problem. Research has shown the potential for large earthquakes in many areas. For example, along the coast of washington and california, theyve occurred every few centuries and the last one was way back in 1700. The old saying those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it should not apply to earthquakes in the u. S. We know that we have an earthquake problem. We know the areas what are most likely to be affected and the types of earthquakes that are most likely to occur. Planning and preparation and calculation of expected shaking. The 22008 shakeout earthquake has expanded into an annual drill throughout the u. S. And other regions of the world with approximately 25 million participants last year. Unfortunately, earthquakes cannot be prevented. We can trigger them, but we cannot stop them. In my opinion, we must protect ourszs. Ourselves. Congress is our first line of defense. Through continued funding of the advanced National System and through reauthorization of a National Earthquake Reduction Program. Earthquake Early Warning is improving technology and these systems have been developed and deployed in japan and mexico. Created by congress, cig nif cant advances and the best ways to mitt gate it. This authorization expired in 2009. As chairman lanborn said, earthquakes can kill hundreds of thousands of people. In the case of haiti, a magnitude 7. 2 earthquake, killed 270 270,000 people. Im here to tell you that the federal investment in earthquake science has given us the knowledge that we need to protect ourself frs the type of tragedy we saw in haiti. You get what you pay for. Its in the best interest of the American People to invest and continue becoming an earthquakeresilient nation. Thank you for allowing me to testimony about this important and urgent problem. Okay, is this working . Okay. Good morning, chairman, Ranking Members and members of the sub committee. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you this morning about a proposed fast forward to fortify the west coast. While many earthquakes are great in the sense of the tragic to the public, only those with magnitude greater than 8 receive title from the experts. These magnitude 9 earth quakes only the Pacific Northwest is heavily populated and industrialized. Purt reel puerto rico is prone to similar. It might not come for a long time or it might come tomorrow, but the cascadia fault is locked and loaded. It will extend from Northern California up the coast to canada, including the entire coastlines of oregon and washington. To prepare for this devastation, ill high light two opportunities, earthquake Early Warning and cflar monitoring and discuss why the cascading sub dex zone needs to be a special focus and why the Reduction Program must be strengthened. Please use seismometers to rex niez an earthquakes quake within seconds and broadcast a warning. Earthquake Early Warning would provide advances in mitigating earthquake risks, life safety and Early Warning with surgeries allowing for bridges to clear, shut down elevators open critical doors, warn schools and the population in general. In the private sector, companies can mitigate losses by protecting critical operations. Predetective investigation can be more effectively seminated. Many other countries exposed to earthquakes have built Early Warning systems. The 20121 magnitude nine provided the strong benefits. The entire west coast, finding that 16 million a year would build and operate a system. In the meantime, universities are experimenting. This information would increase the warning time and make warnings more accurate. The offshore ins incidents would accelerate the risks. The university of washington has the right scientists and technicians to move forward. The u. S. Gs should devote spervegs resources with the average loss in the Pacific Northwest is a billion dollars a year. A large fraction of the exposure for the entire United States. The realization has come in the last 25 years. Our problem is not simply an extension. Reauthorization is needed to ensure continued effort to characterize poorly understood risks, our cities in america have not been tested since the relatively mild, 19 t 4 north ridge earthquake. The funding levels should be high enough to accommodate new developments. To prepare ux will should build an earthquake Early Warning system, replace sea floor monitoring, and all of this requires a reaut rised, strong program. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Thaumpk, dr. Deroche. Our understanding of earthquakes and how to build to minimize the impact of earthquakes. As a result, were much more prepared. Much safer and much more resilient. However, much more should be done to protect our inf infrastructure. Let he highlight a few areas. The 19d 71 earthquake if and the 1994 earthquake are two such landmark events, interms of building codes. Advances encourage structural ek engineers designed and constructed which were introduced in the early to late 1970s. These studies have an instrumental and improving existing approaches. Many of the aproeps will develop using niherp resources. We know that the design works. The impact and contributions because weve seen a number of recent earth quakes, mainly the 1994 northridge earthquake. More than 200,000 people were living in retrofitted buildings when the rt quake struck. Not a single death or injury was reported from the more than 37,000 units in 1300 strengtsenned buildings. Significance progress has been made in the area of emergency operati operating centers, city halls and schools didnt exist. According to recent legislation, by 2030, all hospitals are to be retrofitted to a level capable of providing services. In 1964, the only earthquakes quake engineers were primarily located in california, japan and new mexico. In fact, just this week, rezermgers are leading one of the largest studies ever conducted right in the middle of downtown atlanta. Specificationly, a network for earthquake stimulation or nice program. The nice program has made a number of unique studies a reality. These programs have provided the Research Community with the opportunity to test a range of systems in a fashion that we can only dream of 50 years ago. Finally, id like to reiterate that we stimhave a lot more work to do. This is a direct result of the fupded research, Knowledge Transfer and outreach programs. All right, thank you. And i want to thank all four of our witnesses for your illuminating and enlightening testimony. Were going to start with questions now. This is for any one of you. Engineered to accommodate movesments of a major fault. But there are many types of infrastructures in the Pacific Northwest and alaska, such as transmission lines, railroads, highways, pinelines and so on. What is the status efforts to retrofit existing infrastructure and what are we doing to acquire enhanced protections from earthquakes on future. Who could best summarize that for me. Or a couple of you, if that would be good. A lot of effort has focused not just on buildings, but the majority of casualties occur in buildings. Theres been a major effort recently to look at what we call lifeline systems. Those are highways, buried pipelines. I think weve made a significant amount of progress. I think a lot more can be done in this area. The Pacific Northwest, we saw this week, labd slides. If theres a big earthquake, we feed to be ready for landslides. Theres not really a single answer. Things are very expensive. Its going to take a long time to fix them. One thing thats important to point out is underlining all of these efforts is the scientific understanding. Engineer haves to design for something. So the more we know, the more we understand scientifically, the more we can help the engineers design to be earthquakeresilient. That was something we saw in the 2011 japan earthquake. Their buildings were very resis tent, but they didnt expect the size of the tsunami. Really, underlying that is the scientific understanding. Two comments. First is that we just started a project, cooperatively, with the city of los angeles thats directly focusd on identified solutions to the problem. That includes the water system, the power system. Second, u. S. G. S. Operates a system called shea cast that allows any user to quickly get an assessment of potential damage. We run that system, for example, for all the Nuclear Power plamts and the states and around the world. California runs it for every bridge and orr pass. So there are ways of very quickly using 2 data reported through the networks an lieszed and processed within tensover minutes to guilty a damage estimate at, like, fiver fa similarities. Okay, thank you. And, doctor, while youre on deck here, what would you say act whats been tumped on by other witnesses an earth quake Early Warning system. How important would it be for the u. S. To have a policy to institute sump a program. We, at u. S. G. S. , have had this as an oobtive since act 1999 when we put together our plans for the advanced National Size mick system. Weve invested nearly 10 million so far in the research, development and modernization of the kneltwork. We have a test operating system thats working now in california. Its not a public system yet because it doesn have the sort of robustness, resill yen say that wed need. But it is testing out very well. With further investment, it can be made public and either a part of the state wide or west coast wide. Thank you. I would like to recognize the Ranking Member, representative holt. Thank you. Dr. Ludwig, you said a moment ago that in order to set standards for earthquakes, we need to understand the sciences. I wanted to first get a sense of how kbood the science is. In 1964, geologists have spent the previous half century either denying or ignoring that continents move. And that theres collisions and slip ajents abduction. Let me turn this into a budgetary question. If us gr. S. G. S. Got some money,s was specifically for reduced research, but if you had more funding for any such thing, how would you use it . And the more basic question is how mature is this science. Are there great unknowns . Or lots of pieces to clean up. Lots of bits and pieces. I did want to get to the point of budget and what we might be doing in the course of inadequacies to the science. I would answer that i tend to my style is to focus on opportunities. And what i see is quite a flum beryl number of opportunities for advancements. As the science progresses along, there are always opportunities to move that forward. And, also, many gaps in understanding that still need to be addressed. All the of those could be addressed by additional resources. We need to understand that better in order to map out the hazard post by those earthquakes and to help inform decisions about land use planning. I meant my question to be a soft ball. First of all, our understanding is only as good as our data. With the earthquake problem, its a little different from some of the other sciences. Every earthquake, essentially the old ones, we have to kind of chase it. We have to have the physical infrastructure, the seismic net works and the human inf infrastructu infrastructure, the scientists to be able to collect the data. Also, we have to learn from whats happened in the past. Im a paleoseismologist. So youly have to have a pretty robust infrastructure to be able to do this kind of science and to make these sort of breakthroughs. Like plate tectonics. It took a long time and a lots of data. We really would benefit from knowing our sub duction zone better. Another issue is how did they amplify. New results suggest there might be factors of two differents in the amplification. So those areas both need research. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I didnt understand the one billion figure you used . The one billion a year . Yeah. Thats a fema estimate. Its 800 million for oregon and washington annual losses. And so i guess i rounded it up to a billion. I dont know what you mean annual . In the event of a 9. 0 or greater, i would assume the losses would far exceed a billion. Oh, right, i didnt gich the number for the magnitude nine. I gave a billion a year on long term average of the expected losses in earth quakes. And for a magnitude nine, the estimate is 50100 billion. Right. 50 to 100 billion. So does anybody on this panel think that the federal government, given the potential for 50100 billion calamity, which could be partially mitigated, were investing enough money in iert research or development and deployment of technology to provide Early Warning . So the issue seems to me, i think it was dr. Leaf who talked about it, who spent 10 million since 1999. Were looking at a hundred billion problem. Youre talking about countries like, i think you said rumania, new mexico, they have deployed Early Warning systems and the United States of america hasnt . We have a pro toe type . Do we have to develop new technology. That we could deploy. We might approve it later . Is that a question . Its a question to either of you. We have to adapt the emergency broadcasting system to react in seconds. But if rumania can do it, cant the United States of america . In these countries, they have existing systems or developing systems, those decisions were all made after major earthquake disasters. For example, the kobe earthquake that hit japan in 1995. It was after that disaster. To bring up the base. That paid off heavily in the tohoku earthquake from 2011. The tsunami damage who ren douzs, but the earthquake shaking damage was much less. There seems to be a National Political will. Its a billion for their monitoring system. And in other words, chinas launched into a multihundred Million Dollar system. Quickly, on another subject, we dont really seem to know a lot about it. Are you greting the data that you need . On the resources side, congress provided us an extra Million Dollar this is year, which is being put to good use. Administration has requested fisz kal 15. In particular, theres a short coming on the data, on the injection activities themselves. Earth squaks were not considered when that was put together chlts so the epa and most of the states dont require the kind of precise data thats necessary to both understand that as a National Problem or do the type of frenlzices one would want to do with a particular injection 5 00 tifrty. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Id like the say to the Ranking Member, id like to work with him in finding money for these additional items. Or, to have the agency shift money within its budget from lesser priority objectives to this. This is an this is an important issue, and i agree with you on how important this is. I appreciate that. And i had spoken to former chairman young about that on the way out. Perhaps we can work jared, too. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to recognize Jared Huffman of california. Thank you. I wanted to be at this hearing because i represent earthquake country, tsunami country. I think its a very important subject. And with some really helpful testimony. I want to thank the witnesses for their contributions. Mr. Chairman, i wanted to be here to thank you. As a new member of congress, i think this is the first hearing i have attended of any subcommittee on the Natural Resources committee that wasnt a loaded partisan title full of partisan content with a loaded partisan agenda. This is a really important subject where we can all be interested and engaged. We might actually get something done together that could help the country. We need more hearings like this. As much as anything, i wanted to be here to express that. And to thank you for it. With that, i yield the balance of my time to Ranking Member holt. I thank representative huffman. Let me make two general comments. First, following on the line of our Ranking Members comments, the mentality here in washington is a very pessimistic mentality. Mr. Defazio points out one aspect of that. Here, the richest country in the world, by far, undeniably doesnt act as if we have a future. One invests, one builds infrastructure and sponsors research when we believe we have a future. Instead, we talk about cut, cut, cut here. It is a fundamental problem that the chairman says lets look for money. Ill show him plenty of money. Weve got it. We could invest in education. We could invest in research. We could invest in infrastructure and we should because we have a future, i believe. The other general comment i wanted to make has to do with the field of geology and seismology and earthquakes. For generations, humans believed that we experienced the happenings on earth and probably the most Important Development of recent years is the understanding that humans have the ability to actually change the earth. To poison entire oceans, to change the very climate of our globe and, in fact, to induce earthquakes. Most of us would have thought the energy involved in injecting water into the ground is so miniscule. Compared to the energy released in a quake that couldnt possibly happen. But it does. Dr. Leith, am i right, have there been earthquakes tied to human activity such as waste water injection . Yes absolutely. Its been known for decades deep injection of waste water and other fluids can induce earthquakes. There are many well documented examples of this phenomenon. In the 1970s, the usgs conducted an experiment in colorado and found earthquakes could be turned on and turned off by injecting or not injecting water. What are the problems with collecting injection data . What data do we need that, for example, the Drilling Companies arent reporting . The recordkeeping for injection wells, and im speaking of the oil wells, the recordkeeping is minimal. It requires the operator to collect records, report the total volume injected in a Monthly Average pressure and volume. Report that at the end of the year with a grace period. So, for example, i mentioned forensics. With that it was average, general data . Its not specifics about whats injected and when . Its not specific enough to, when asked, tie an earthquake or series of earthquakes the Safe Water Drinking act is the only regulation that requires reporting, is that correct . The basis is the Safe Water Drinking act. Mostly epa delegates to the states and the states may or may not add additional requirements. We probably need more federal requirements about specific data. In order to really you might address your answer to the majority here. In order to really make progress on the research, the hazard assessment of this phenomenon, the federal government or the states need to consider it a priority to collect more data on the injection activities and make them available in a more timely manner. Thank you. I think the chairman observes my time is up. Now, as we stated earlier, the full Committee Chairman is here, representative doc hastings of washington. Well hear his statement, then we wilkon clued the hearing at that time. Representative hastings. Thank you mr. Chairman and thank you for holding this hearing. I apologize for coming in here at the last minute. Mr. Leith i dont have a question, i simply have a statement and hopefully it will be helpful. As you know, the landslide in the state of washington in snohomish county, i think all of america is, you know, listened to the news every day about what is the circumstances of that. Will there be a time in the future, a time well be able to examine the circumstances around the slide but right now the focus should be on the rescue efforts and the clean up. We are all well aware of that. My question is simply this. Where can people look to find more information about the slide hazard . Is that something you can be working on . So yes, the usgs has a land slide hazard program. Its part of our mission area. We both operate, we have for the public a website which identifies landslide prone areas of the country and presents information on research and how the public should deal with questions of landslides. The usgs the responsibility for the land use decisions resides with the state, county and local decision makers. Our job is to provide the scientific information that supports smart decisions about land use planning. We also map out the locations of landslides and that includes the landslide that occurred last weekend in snohomish county. Well, i appreciate that. I know that theres obviously going to be more awareness of that. I have had my colleagues, you know, ask in my district, number one, the underlying question is, boy, thats a massive landslide. What, you know, people are going to be interested in that. Thats simply my question is to see if theres something that you guys can do to help facilitate that in the future. If thats the case, i think its a positive development. I just wanted to ask the question to, you know, get it out there, if you will. Chairman yield . I would be more than happy to. I wonder if dr. Vidale has any comment. In my state, doc, we have taken usgs data and taken a step further and mapped much more exactly where we see risk and hazards. I wonder if Washington State has done that . Yeah, i know a little bit about that. With the seismic network, we notice the landslide within an hour. We have been looking at the seismic signals to look at the chronology. As bill said, the state has a department of Natural Resources and they to have maps with land slides. They are on the scene managing with the Emergency Management division supervising this. The survey came out with a lot of things to help understand the situation as well. Right now, theres a coordinated effort going on to understand the landslide and figure out how it happened and the history and how we got to this point. Im wondering predictive or risk zones. I think thats part of what doc is getting at here. Right. Right. It is a state responsibility. I, frankly, couldnt tell you exactly what maps they have and what they mean. If i may, i would be happy to offer a briefing specifically on that for you and your staff. Whats done both within the u. S. Geological survey federally and in the state. I think that would be very helpful. Obviously, i mean the tragedy like this is going to raise the awareness and to the extent you have been involved in that, that would be very, very helpful for the public to understand better, as best they can. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. I want to thank the members of the committee for their thoughtful questions and comments. And i want to thank each and every one of our four witnesses four testimony on this vital issue. Members of the committee may have additional questions for the record and i would ask that you respond to those in writing. And if there is no further business, without objection the committee is adjourned. July 2nd is the 50th anniversary of Lyndon Johnsons signing of the 1964 civil rights act. Which banned discrimination in job hiring and integrated public facilities. In a few moments the signing ceremony itself with
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