Since the article mentioned Russia having done a similar thing in Siberia to get at oil, I suspect that this particular event is driven by greed. I would seriously doubt if these people have the wherewithal to really understand the actions they are taking in relation to how it ties in with the possible earth changes and how this would effect humanity as a whole let alone manipulate a polar shift that would provoke the declaration of martial law. That is giving these people way more credit to their intelligence than they really ever deserve and are capable of having.
More than likely this event can be attributed to the ever increasing insanity that goes hand in hand with extreme greed for wealth and power that these people have grown to become addicted to. If such an event were to cause great Earth changes such as a polar shift, or earth plates to slide then it would be caused by sheer utter ignorance.
This disease, of always and ever wanting more and more and more, most probably brought down the civilization of Atlantis. The type of energy used back in those Atlantian days to run that civilization might have been much different than what we use in this world. But the dis-ease is one and the same. Call it myth, legend, Science fiction, or fable. This is part of a cycle. As the history of humanity is in process of repeating itself again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHGJUfAnbyo