Induced seismicity due to deep well injection is a very new topic for me as I had learned only about environmental risks in newspapers. Induced seismicity can create a wide range of problems for engineers, designers, scientists, and the community such as the requirement of new building codes, construction practices, regular monitoring of the seismic activities, and changes in policy at concerned levels. This can result in extra spending of federal monies which otherwise could have been spent on other development projects.
One of the strong argument to back enhanced oil recovery is, it is a huge job driver in some of the states in the US. It is quite true, but we need to carefully think about the effects such as induced seismicity in the vicinities. Such effects, for example, may generate fear in the market and result in an increment of the premium of house insurance which is an extra burden to the homeowners. Also, people prefer stronger buildings to lessen the risks from natural hazards. It is easy to implement new building codes for the newer building, but it would be tough for the existing ones. Then the primary question is who is going to pay for that? If all the profits are taken by the companies it is unfair for the homeowners to pay such external costs. If we can internalize external costs into the system, we can allow enhanced oil recovery.
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