I also read that Nikola Tesla was working on something like what you said. Now we have the HAARP array in Alaska. Hmmmmm.
g in AZ
It would have taken 1% of the earth's magnetic charge to do what happened in Siberia. Tesla's tower did not have that capacity.
--from Wizard, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, Biography of a Genius.
BTW great read!