Hi Chris,

As far as I am aware, there is no specific law which prohibits government scientists from generating earthquake forecasts. In fact, stored on the original version of the EarthWaves.org Web site we had an opinion from an attorney which stated that earthquake predictions are “Protected Speech” under the U.S. Constitution.

What I suspect that Petra might mean is that if you are a government scientist and you go around forecasting earthquakes in a manner which is irresponsible then you could get into some trouble with your bosses. However, perhaps Congress did pass some type of law against government officials forecasting earthquakes and I have never heard about it.

That earthquake report which I posted to my Web site yesterday is intended in part for people who are doing active research in the area of earthquake forecasting etc. And its purpose might not be clear to others. Here is part of what it is supposed to do:

There are a number of groups which are working on different parts of the earthquake forecasting picture. And I know from talking with some of them that they are often not even aware of the existence of certain other groups. For example,

In Japan there are separate groups studying animal reactions to approaching earthquakes, low frequency radio waves as precursors, and high frequency radio waves as precursors. And I am not certain if any of them are aware of one another’s publications.

What my report attempts to do is tie together a large group of those types of phenomena in one giant theory which has quite a few parts. Some of those parts are:

*** The times when earthquakes occur and when certain precursors are generated
*** Tectonic plate movement
*** The gravitational pulls of the sun and the moon
*** Ocean tides
*** The Solid Earth Tide
*** Solar, geomagnetic, and atmospheric storms
*** Low frequency radio waves
*** Earthquake triggering and precursor related time cycles
*** What I refer to as earthquake triggering and precursor generation related “Pressure Waves”
*** Earthquakes which are linked with peak strain levels in fault zones
*** Earthquakes which are linked with rapid strain level changes in a fault zone
*** Earthquake shockwave related earthquake triggering
*** Human and animal responses to some type of electromagnetic energy field precursor which I am proposing may often be linked with low frequency radio waves.

Because that report now exists, when I talk with people in those research groups I can ask them to read the report, look at how the work they are doing might fit into the overall picture, and then express an opinion regarding that theory picture. They might confirm that the theories which discuss their own area of research are accurate. Or they might state that they are not. And in that case I would need to consider making an adjustment to those theories so that they are more accurate.

As you undoubtedly aware, this is the way research is often done. You propose a theory like that and then check to see if it is consistent with available data. As I said, that report represents one giant theory which has many separate parts which can now be checked for accuracy.