Spain's National Geographical Institute (IGN) has concluded there is a "direct relation" between an offshore underground gas storage facility and an outbreak of seismic activity close to Castellon on the east coast of Spain.
The offshore storage facility, "Project Castor," where gas was being injected into an underground reservoir, was quickly signaled as the source of the problem by locals who suffered a worrying month at the end of last summer.
September 2013 saw almost 450 different earth tremors, three of which measured over 4 points on the Richter scale in an area just north of Castellon.
The month's seismic activity contrasted with the geological history of a region which had previously suffered just over 203 such tremors since 1920, none of which measured over 3 on the Richter scale.
The IGN has been studying last September's tremors at the request of Spain's Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism and concluded they are "directly related to the injection of gas in Project Castor."
The study also discovered the presence of a previously unknown fault line in the region and indicated it was not taken into account when the possible risks of Project Castor were analyzed.
The United Left (IU) political party have used the IGN report as the basis of a request to immediately shut down the Castor gas storage facility, arguing that "not only does the report, show the clear relation between the tremors and Castor, but it also shows more reports should have been carried out before the projected was authorized."
The ministry, which stopped work at the facility in the wake of the tremors, will wait until it receives information from further studies which are being carried out by international experts before making a final decision.
Ecologist groups have lamented the fact that the affair has "shown the weaknesses in Spain's environmental laws and exposes the population to risks which have not been previously investigated."
http://www.neurope.eu/article/study-shows-relation-between-shore-gas-facility-tremors-spain