The state has a little more than a week to save earthquake-monitoring stations in rural Utah.
If a long-term source of money isn't found by the end of the month, monitoring earth movements in remote areas of the state will halt."Come the 1st of September, if we have no solution, it is only financially prudent to shut the stations down and financially irresponsible to keep them open," state geologist Lee Allison told the Legislature's Natural Resources and Energy appropriations subcommittee this week.
The University of Utah's seismic network monitors and records earthquake activity at about 60 stations throughout Utah. The network is primarily federally funded, while Utah taxpayers provide about one-fourth of the stations' $1-million operating budget.
Seismograph stations director Walter J. Arabasz said the information gathered by researchers is not just for predicting the "big one." It is a database, used by different state agencies and private business, to determine building specifications and help emergency planners develop response plans for various areas ripe for a major temblor.
"Utah is dealing with a serious earthquake threat," he told the committee.
Since 1962, seismograph stations have detected 14,000 minor-to-large quakes throughout Utah. Since 1988, three quakes with a magnitude of 5.3 and greater were recorded by stations slated for closure.
Despite its apparent critical role, the seismograph operation has become a hostage to "budget terrorists," legislative fiscal analyst Stan Eckersley told the committee.
The U. threatened to stop funding it this year, unless lawmakers coughed up an additional $72,200 to cover escalating expenses. The U. didn't get the money and 12 seismic stations in southern Utah - Richfield, Beaver, Cedar City, St. George, Kanab and the region of Carbon and Emery counties - were scheduled to close July 31.
But Allison's Utah Geological Survey office urged Arabasz to keep the rural operation afloat another month while he and other state administrators searched for a solution.
"If we can come up with a long-term solution you can fight for, then we can find the short-term funding," Allison told the committee. Chairman and Rep. Evan Olsen, R-Young Ward, pledged the committee's support.
With less than two weeks to solve the problem, state departments and private companies that use the seismic data have met several times to come up with an answer for future funding. Options range from placing it as a priority "statewide program" in the governor's budget for higher education to transferring the service to another state department. Once a long-term funding source is found, the various agencies and businesses would help the seismic stations limp through the current fiscal year, Allison explained.
Arabasz was hopeful a solution could be found.
"For the first time we are seeing a range of players interested in finding a solution," Arabasz said. "With a group of people involved, working behind the scenes, I believe that somehow the outcome will be OK."