California Earthquake Authority weighs in on deep well injection
State experts answer questions from West Side residents concerned about insurance against quakes
| Posted: April 8, 2015 . | ||
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The California Earthquake Authority responded this week to West Side residents' questions about deep well injection as asked by a state assemblyman, saying no claims of human-caused earthquakes had ever been submitted to the agency.
The questions — addressed to the Earthquake Authority by Assemblyman Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, in a March 23 letter — asked about the impact of deep well injection on the insurability of homes near sites where the practice was ongoing.
Residents' concerns centered on whether an earthquake fully or partially caused by injecting brine deep under ground would be insured by the California Earthquake Authority, which writes nearly 80 percent of homeowners' earthquake policies in the state.
In a letter dated Monday and released by Wilk's office Tuesday, CEA Chief Executive Officer Glenn A. Pomeroy wrote that the authority is not aware of ever receiving a claim in which human activity was believed to have caused or contributed to a quake.
However, he noted, "The CEA evaluates every claim made on any CEA earthquake policy on its own merits, based on specific facts presented by that individual claim and the coverages purchased."
Should a claim suggest human activity was responsible for seismic activity causing damage, the CEA will rely on the best available scientific information, "especially including, we anticipate, experts from the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Geological Survey," to determine cause.
Such a loss "would not be covered if, and only if, the scientific evidence leads to the conclusion that the ground shaking that caused the loss resulted from human activity rather than from natural tectonic forces."
The letter also said an active deep well injection site "would not affect whether a property can be insured with a CEA policy" and "is not a factor in determining the premium rate for a CEA policy." Proximity to the injection site makes no difference, it said.
The letter referred residents to the California Geological Survey for answers to some of the questions posed by Wilk.
The issue of deep well injection and earthquake insurance arose after residents of Stevenson Ranch and Westridge learned earlier this year that the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District planned a deep well injection site at Tournament Players Club Valencia, in Westridge, to dispose of a salty byproduct of chloride removal from Santa Clarita Valley wastewater.
The Sanitation District has since voted not to locate a deep well injection site at the golf course.
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