The Division of Environmental Geosciences' primary mission
is to help educate the Association about environmental issues —
and in my opinion, we are being underutilized.
DEG members are poised to offer help to any AAPG member wanting
more information or direction for a particular environmental topic
or problem.
Articles about environmental strife, sustainability and the increasing
role of globalization occur regularly. Depending upon the writer's
frame of reference, the facts can be torqued in various ways to
fit the image the publication desires — both positive or negative,
from "our" point of view.
A recent article about the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
and oil exploration that I read became an exposition on why there
should or should not be development based on environmental concerns
for the tundra. This particular article would have benefited from
an environmental geology perspective. As it was written, the casual
reader would have been left with the impression that the oil and
gas companies have no interest in or practices in place to protect
the environment beyond complying with minimal governmentally imposed
regulations.
The planning and incorporation of environmental concerns during
exploration, extraction or maintenance of oil, gas and water are
rarely discussed or highlighted. If these articles would provide
the steps that the industry takes to preserve the environment, they
then might help to educate the average reader about the complex
problem of balancing exploration for and development of our petroleum
resources while protecting the environment.
An understanding of various aspects involved in exploration might
help to resolve the extensive debate over wilderness preservation
and proposed petroleum exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge.
The general public is always in need of reassurance and sound
information about the geologist's concern for the environment during
every project.
My point in introducing this topic is to remind AAPG members about
one of the reasons why DEG was formed. We evolved from an AAPG ad
hoc Committee on Environmental Geology. The membership, currently
at slightly less than 2,000 members, comprises at its very core
a cadre of seasoned geologists experienced with a kaleidoscope of
environmental projects.
Our mission is to offer AAPG members an opportunity to increase
their knowledge about the environment. We support approaching basic
environmental issues from a geological perspective so that professionals
dealing with the environment use and apply principles from geology,
chemistry, geophysics and hydrogeology to help solve environmental
problems.
Our publication, Environmental Geosciences, offers peer-reviewed
articles on diverse issues affecting the environment, often with
respect to petroleum exploration and extraction but also encompassing
broader themes.
You do not have to be a DEG member to tap into our human resources
or our knowledge base. Look at our Web site at deg.aapg.org, or
call up our committee chairs and officers. Just ask and you will
find a network of resources to provide you with viable and potentially
valuable information.
If you know of someone in your company or clientele who needs
environmental information, let him or her know about DEG.
AAPG should be the main source of information globally about the
issues relating to the oil industry's role in protecting the environment.
The DEG is here to do our part in making this happen.