This month I want to highlight three items for member attention.
♦ The first is to frame an effort by a group of organizations concerned about the long-term prospects of faculty and students in the natural resources geoscience and engineering universities. As we think about what it will take to sustain and grow our profession -- and with it, professional associations like AAPG -- we must consider what is required to attract the brightest and the best students into the established institutions of higher education.
This effort began in earnest in the 109th Congress, when the Energy and Mining School Reinvestment Act (EMSRA) was included as part of the House language H.R. 4761 -- Domestic Energy Production through Offshore Exploration and Equitable Treatment of State Holdings Act of 2006.
While parts of H.R. 4761, including EMSRA, had strong bipartisan support, other more controversial parts and late introduction in the 109th Congress precluded any action on the EMSRA legislation. The Senate legislative language, which dealt only with Sale Area 181, passed as part of the larger tax bill H.R. 6111.
In late January a group of association and university representatives, including AAPG and AGI, gathered to initiate strategy discussions on the reintroduction of EMSRA legislation in the 110th Congress. The group agreed to initiate their activities with two significant activities. The first is to assemble a catalog of briefing material reflecting the state of the institutions and disciplines potentially impacted by the legislative initiatives.
This will require significant work not only in preparing succinct one page summaries of the state of various disciplines and institutions, but also some serious analysis of demographics and projections of future needs.
The group of universities and associations will be reaching out to their members as the effort matures for active support. I hope that AAPG members will continue to grow their effort.
♦ Back-to-back sessions on Wednesday morning, April 4, at the AAPG Annual Convention in Long Beach, Calif., will focus on issues that affect the Association.
An AAPG Forum: The Washington, D.C., Office, will explore the first 18 months of our GEO-DC office and provide an opportunity to discuss its future.
The session that follows, “Beyond the Science: Geopolitics and the Energy Industry,” will explore the role of geopolitics and its influence on energy markets through the eyes of several invited speakers addressing resources, reserves, industry manpower and security, climate change and political price premiums in the market.
Invited speakers include:
- Don Paul, vice president for research for Chevron and the chairman of the current National Petroleum Council’s Global Oil and Gas Study.
- Dan Tearpock, AAPG member and CEO of Subsurface Consultants and Associates, who will provide a view of national and global manpower issues, analyzing past trends and events and projecting the future needs and issues.
- Michelle Foss, chief energy economist and head of the Center for Energy Economics at the University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology and a past president of the International Association for Energy Economics, will address market-related influences that impact the ebb and flow of world energy markets.
- A representative from the SPE Oil and Gas Reserves Committee will speak about the new reserves definitions and guidelines adopted by the SPE/ AAPG/WPC/SPEE in an effort to standardize practices within the international community.
The “Beyond the Science” session will conclude a panel/audience discussion and a question/answer session of the material presented.
Throughout the sessions participants will be treated to the scope and impact of these activities and will have the opportunity to see where AAPG members have made contributions to each of these important areas.
♦ Finally, don’t forget about these:
♦ May 1-2 is Congressional Visits Day (CVD), when AAPG members will visit elected law makers in Washington as part of the Annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Science, Engineering & Technology event.
This year’s theme is “Science, Engineering and Technology: Fueling America’s Innovation.”
AAPG’s GEO-DC office became a sponsoring organization for the CVD event last year, and this year we anticipate that twice as many members will participate as were present for the 2006 event.
♦ June 24-26 we’ll have the AAPG/SPE Multidisciplinary Reserves Conference, at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C.
The purpose of this conference is to engage the users of reserves and resources data -- corporate management, accounting, banking, investors and government -- in active discussions with technical professionals who define and generate these estimates.
♦ Please take a look at a new feature added to the GEO-DC page on AAPG’s Web site titled “Recent Events.” We will be using that site to keep members informed of breaking news and events in Washington.