USGS, 50 Years in Menlo Park, CA Logo

USGS COLLABORATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES

Manuel G. Bonilla

The USGS in Menlo Park has provided impartial assessments of natural hazards for many other agencies. Some of these assessments applied to limited areas and others involved research related to widespread hazards. The hazards assessed were part of the USGS research mission and thus both the USGS and the other agencies benefited from the collaboration. A small sample of assessments made in the last 50 years is given in the following table. Some of the assistance (for example, the Alaska pipeline, the Bodega and Malibu reactor sites) is described in detail elsewhere in this history.

Agency Subjects
Federal Housing Administration Subsidence damage to houses in Nevada; potential earthquake hazards, Foster City, California.
Bureau of Public Roads Landslide blocking federal highway, Tennessee.
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nuclear power reactor sites on Bodega Head, and at Malibu, California; National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho; Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, California; reactor sites in Hanford area, Washington; research on surface faulting related to siting of nuclear reactors
Bureau of Land Management Hazards to Alaska pipeline from permafrost, faulting, and earthquake shaking
National Research Council of Republic of China Reconnaissance of active faults in Taiwan; advice on type and installation of instruments for evaluating earthquake hazards in Taiwan.
Federal Disaster Assistance Administration Potential for surface faulting and earthquake shaking in Van Norman reservoirs area, Los Angeles, California.
Inter-American Development Bank Review of seismic design of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Project, Guatemala.
U.S. Agency for International Development Investigation of faulting, temporary seismic monitoring, and estimate of potential for future earthquake damage following the Guinea, West Africa, earthquake of December 22, 1983.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area Review of geotechnical reports and the Environmental Impact Report on a City of San Francisco sewer.
Bay Area Rapid Transit District Investigation of the San Bruno Fault near the extension of BART rapid transit from Colma to San Francisco International Airport.
Federal Highway Administration Review of Environmental Impact Report on Devil's Slide highway tunnel, San Mateo County, California.

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