Last night it appeared that the State Supervision of Mines (SodM) is demanding an explanation from gas extraction company NAM. about the increased seismicity around Loppersum, a village near Garrelsweer. There have been a relatively large number of earthquakes there in the past month and a half, which means that a limit value from the Mining Act has been violated.
Since the beginning of October, there have been relatively many noticeable earthquakes in Groningen. On October 4, there were even three in one day at Zeerijp (2.5 and 2.2) and Appingedam (1.8). Two days later there was another quake with a magnitude of 1.3 at Zeerijp and on November 8 another 1.7 quake at Westeremden.
Limit value exceeded
In particular, the recent earthquakes at Zeerijp and Westeremden have ensured that the so-called ‘maximum earthquake density’ has risen to 0.42 earthquakes per square kilometer per year. The limit value in the Mining Act is 0.40 earthquakes per square kilometer per year.
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