Annual Report 2007: FY July 1, 2006-June 30, 2007
Division of Professional Affairs
The Division of Professional Affairs (DPA) remains the largest division in AAPG and financially healthy. The executive committee included President-elect Tom Ewing, Vice President Suzanne Cluff, Secretary Craig Reynolds, Treasurer Mike Canich, and Past President Deborah Sacrey, all of whom did a terrific job. DPA accomplished a number of goals in 2006-2007, which are discussed briefly in this report.
DPA, along with AAPG, sponsors our Washington D.C. office, led by Don Juckett. The mission is to supply information to policy makers and other groups and societies in Washington and keep our membership informed on pending legislation or initiatives that could affect our membership. Considerable effort has been directed this year at restoring funding for fossil fuel research and various outreach efforts to congressional and energy department staffers. Significant legislation considered damaging to the oil industry was introduced in 2006 but, thus far, none have been passed into law.
Juckett coordinated AAPG member visits at Congressional Visits Day (CVD) highlighted by a visit with the White House staff on energy by AAPG President-Elect Will Green. Several DPA members were in attendance at CVD and various senators, congressmen and staffers were contacted. An Interdisciplinary Reserves Conference held in June 2007 co-hosted by AAPG, SPEE, SPE and the WPC brought accounting, governmental and industry leaders together to discuss challenges in reserve reporting worldwide. David Curtis has now joined Juckett on a part time basis.
Carl Smith has been very active with our Government Affairs Committee (GAC) and we have revised four Position Papers and are awaiting approval by the EC of these revisions. We also revised our summary versions of these statements as more suitable for handout to policy makers. Smith and Juckett coordinate much of our work in outreach and information dissemination. DPA has proposed revised procedures for reviewing and creating position papers under the leadership of President-elect Tom Ewing.
DPA in conjunction with SPE, SPEE, and the WPC is attempting to develop training modules for reserve evaluators. The effort is led by Dan Tearpock on our part and is designed to improve reserve reporting worldwide by increasing the knowledge base of the individual evaluators. This effort will continue for several years and is helping to coordinate the reserves conference in Washington.
DPA recognized our early and longstanding members this winter by mailing the first 500 surviving members a certificate and a pen. Our recognition of them, led by George Bole and Norma Newby, was very well received and overdue.
Three editions of the Correlator were published, including discussion-provoking commentary by Editor Bob Shoup on a variety of subjects. A very valuable summary on Climate Change science is planned for the next edition by Shoup.
The Board Certified Level for existing members, which requires continuing education along with our established experience and ethics requirements has begun. This education largely parallels the training requirements adopted for registered geologists in Kansas and Texas. We have established an online site for DPA members to track their education hours and have certified a number of applicants. Certification remains a “gold standard” recognized across all geographic boundaries.
We are sponsoring short courses at the annual and sectional meetings when possible. Several have been offered this year and other courses are planned for upcoming events. We continue to subsidize the cost of our luncheon for members at the annual meeting and we were proud to sponsor AAPG President-elect Scott Tinker and his talk on ethics at the International AAPG convention held in Perth, Australia in November 2006. In an effort to expand our presence internationally, we plan to sponsor a session at the convention in South Africa in 2008. DPA membership is a real value for those who do participate in continuing education and attendance at conventions and we recommend expansion of these services in the future.
DPA membership is decreasing slowly due to the unfavorable demographics also evident in the AAPG as a whole but the rate of decrease has been lessened significantly. Our membership remains largely North American and we will continue to serve their needs while increasing our efforts to attract international membership.
The AAPG in April adopted a revised dues structure based upon ability to pay. DPA has not decided on revising DPA dues but this will be considered in the coming year by the council and executive committee of DPA.
Norma Newby has again been outstanding in her service to the Divisions. The AAPG staff has done a very efficient job in serving our membership.