Updates
April 16, 2014: Reuters is reporting this puzzling phenomenon -- hundreds of tremors in Idaho. Idaho will be the next state to ban fracking.
Hundreds of low-level and medium-sized earthquakes have struck central Idaho since last month, puzzling geologists who wonder whether the ruptures portend a much larger temblor to come or are merely the rumblings of a seismic fault previously thought to be dormant.
The recent earthquake swarm, beginning on March 24 and climaxed by a 4.9 magnitude tremor on Saturday, has produced no reports of injuries or severe damage but has rattled nerves in a region where Idaho's most powerful known quake, measured at 6.9, killed two children in 1983.
Saturday's earthquake was the strongest recorded in the state since 2005 and was followed on Monday by a magnitude 4.4 event that struck 10 miles north of the small ranching community of Challis, Idaho, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Original Post
The AP is reporting:
CHALLIS, Idaho (AP) — A 4.9-magnitude earthquake shook central Idaho, flinging items off walls and scaring residents but otherwise producing no reported damage or injuries in the sparsely populated mountain area.
USGS geophysicist Dale Grant says the earthquake was "kind of an unusual occurrence" being the first one of its strength in the area since 2005. But he said even minor damage is unlikely because of the remote location. It struck 8 miles northwest of Challis, a town of around 1,000 less than 200 miles northeast of Boise.
It was also somewhat unusual because the nearest fracking is about 750 miles to the northeast (source, Google maps, Challis, ID, to Bainville, MT).
It is my understanding that this earthquake will qualify as a hardship for those folks who have not yet enrolled in ObamaCare. This will allow them to delay enrolling for up to one year (the clock starts ticking after the last after-shock), and will preclude any IRS penalties in the interim. The IRS ruling is contingent on Idaho voting Democratic in the presidential election in 2016 (which would be a first for the state).
