Santa Cruz
THE leading earthquake research centre in the US is in jeopardy because of
the land on which it sits. But the threat is economic, rather than
geological.
Alarmed by spiralling real estate prices and rents in the San Francisco Bay
area, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt has told the US Geological
Survey鈥檚 Western Region not to renew leases on the buildings it rents in Menlo
Park, California. By 25 September, the USGS must produce a report outlining
options for moving its western headquarters to cheaper accommodation.
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Patrick Muffler, acting regional geologist, fears that scientific programmes
now based at Menlo Park, including the survey鈥檚 200-strong Earthquake Hazard
Team, will be split up and relocated to various other facilities run by the
Department of the Interior. 鈥淭his would totally destroy the intellectual synergy
that exists,鈥� he claims.
Even if the activities of the Menlo Park research centre are not split up,
USGS scientists argue that moving the earthquake team and its vast array of
equipment will have a detrimental effect on seismic monitoring.