SHALE-GAS DEVELOPMENT AND WATER ISSUES

Solutions to energy industry water needs for shale-gas development & operation and long-term water resources sustainability

Thursday March 22 and Friday March 23, 2012
Austin Marriott South, 4415 S IH-35, Austin, Texas 78744

As you may be aware, our nation faces a teacher shortage in the critical need areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Noyce Teaching Fellows program is funded through assistance by the National Science Foundation and recruits working professionals with an academic degree in a STEM field. Fellows receive a full cost-of-attendance scholarship to attend Trinity’s nationally-recognized, one-year teacher certification program. They also receive a $12,000 stipend annually during their four-year commitment in the classroom.

General information on the Noyce Scholars program may be found at www.trinity.edu/noyce

The current application process for the Noyce Fellows program may be found at http://web.trinity.edu/x17638.xml

Here is important information concerning the new Louisiana Professional Geoscientist designation. Please read and pass it along to anyone you feel may benefit from it. The Louisiana Board of Professional Geoscientists was created by Act 974 of the 2010 Legislative Session. Like most things run by government, it is underfunded and behind schedule. About the only thing done so far was the election of Dr. Madhurendu Kumar as acting Chairman of the Board, even though there is no board as of yet.

Unfortunately, there are several dates and deadlines involved with the board. Anyone applying for the Professional Geoscientist designation before January 1, 2012 will not be required to submit a written examination if they meet other statutory requirements. Here is the rub: At this time, there is no application, examination, or statutory requirements. Dr. Kumar is offering the following remedy, to “put everyone’s mind at peace.” If you submit a letter to him, stating your name and personal information, and that you intend to apply for Professional Geoscientist designation, he will consider that as an application that can be grandfathered in. And you can even email him. Dr. Kumar explained he is going to lobby to have the grandfather date pushed back, as the board is far from up and running, but that will take an act of the Louisiana 2012 Legislature. There is no way of knowing if and when that will happen. So we are recommending to everyone that is interested in having the Professional Geoscientist designation, they should go ahead and act now.

Dr. Madhurendu Kumar
LADNR-Office of Conservation
617 N. Third, 9th Floor
Baton Rouge, LA 70802

EMAIL: madhurendu.kumar@la.gov
PHONE: 225-342-5501

The Austin Geological Society hosted its fall fieldtrip on November 12, 2011 on a beautiful day in the Hill Country.  There were about 60 attendees that participated on the trip coordinated by Brian B. Hunt, Douglas A. Wierman, Alex S. Broun, C.M. Woodruff, Jr., and Ronald G. Fieseler with contributions from many others.

This trip was a follow-up and compliment to the recent publication titled Hydrogeologic Atlas of the Hill Country Trinity Aquifer (Wierman et al., 2010; click here).  Attendees visited unique locations of the Trinity Group centered along Flat Creek in northern Blanco and Hays Counties.  The trip was a hands-on geologic fieldtrip with hammers, acid, and hand lenses abounding.

Participants first visited a private ranch with unique exposures of the Middle Trinity units. Measured sections were presented that included the Hammett, Cow Creek and Hensel formations. Stops visited portions of those composite sections which focused on the aquitard character of the Hammett Shale, and the aquifer and recharge characteristics of the Cow Creek and Hensel Formations, respectively.  Sites visited included exposures of the Cow Creek via a man-made cave, a slot-canyon formed in the upper Cow Creek, and a unique exposure of the non-conformity between the Cow Creek and overlying Hensel. An overview of the surface and subsurface geology was presented after lunch by Alex Broun. Al brought geophysical logs and cuttings from boreholes in sample jars for attendees to look at.  Doug Wierman discussed some of hydrogeologic aspects of the Trinity aquifer and issues of availability which link Al’s geologic work to the observed water-level data.

The second stop was a measured section that begins in Flat Creek and extends up western Fitzhugh Road–providing a nearly continuous section from the top of the Cow Creek through the Hensel, lower Glen Rose, and into the upper Glen Rose.  The focus of discussions was on the stratigraphy of the units and their hydrogeologic character.  Chock Woodruff discussed his work on the so-called “marls” of the Glen Rose (no, there are not any) and Bill Rader discussed some the fauna at the Corbula Marker bed.

The guidebook contains new material from the fieldtrip and also a complete copy of the Hydrogeologic Atlas in 11×17 color format.  There are two additional (optional) fieldtrip stops in the guidebook that were not visited.  The Sycamore Sand (Lower Trinity Aquifer) is discussed by Eddie Collins in Pedernales State Park; the other is a discussion and measured section of the contact of the Trinity and Fredericksburg strata in Blanco County near the town of Blanco.

AGS Guidebook 33 is available at the BEG Bookstore for $35.

Surface to Subsurface Trinity Lithostratigraphy: Implications for Groundwater Availability in the Hill Country, Eastern Blanco and Northern Hays Counties, Texas

Field trip stop along Flat Creek in Blanco County looking at the regional aquitard unit (Hammett Shale).  Brian Hunt speaks to some of the attendees about the Hammett Shale exposed in a road cut next to the creek (not shown).  The cliffs in the background are the Cow Creek and the subject of subsequent stops.

Alex Broun discusses his geologic work in the subsurface using geophysical logs and borehole cuttings.

Click here for a copy of Peter R. Rose’s letter to TBPG on behalf of the AGS membership.

The posted letter is the AGS Executive Board’s response in opposition to the proposed Texas Board of Professional Geologists (TBPG) rules changes for licensing. Among those practices impacted by the proposed changes are the private practice of oil and gas geologists and the independent research of academic institutions. Although these proposed changes have been pulled back by TBPG, we feel that the issue is not yet resolved. We encourage each of our members to communicate their opinions to the TBPG board members.

Texas Mining and Reclamation Association
Annual Meeting
Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa
October 23-26, 2011

TMRA will hold courses for Professional Geologists to obtain Professional Development Hours (PDH) on Sunday morning, October 23rd, from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. in Austin A and Austin B meeting rooms.  A maximum of 15 individuals per course will be allowed to register.   Certificates will be distributed after the sessions are complete.  Coffee, soft drinks, and snacks will be available during the sessions.  In addition, lunch will be provided for all course participants and instructors.

Participants need not register for the full meeting.

Fees:

• Members                                                $100
• Non-Members                                       $200
• Austin Geological Society Members $125

Information:

Rick Jacobi
512-656-4765
rjacobi@jacobiconsulting.net

AGENDA

TMRA PG CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSE

OCTOBER 23, 2011

8:00 AM      Introduction and Announcements

Rick Jacobi, Course Moderator

Jacobi Consulting

8:15 AM     Developing Water Resources in East Africa: Technical, Sociological, and Economic Challenges

Bruce Darling, Ph.D., P.G.

Southwest Geological Consulting Services

9:00 AM     Ethical Considerations in the Practice of Geoscience

Jep Hill, JD

Attorney at Law

10:00 AM     Break

10:30 AM     Sustainable Mining and Groundwater — Both in Demand, Both Limited

Allan Standen, P.G.

Allan Standen LLC

11:15 AM     The Great Wenchuan Earthquake (M 7.9), May 2008: surface rupture, landslides, quake lakes, and infrastructure damage

Jeff Paine, Ph.D., P.G.

Noon              Adjourn

http://tmra.com/sites/default/files/Registration%20Form%20-%202011.pdf

MONDAY October 3, 2011
7:00 ~ 8:30 PM
BEG MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM
BUILDING 130, PICKLE RESEARCH CAMPUS

6:45 PM: AGS registration/renewal and pizza; 7:00 PM: Announcements and Awards; 7:20-8:00 PM: speaker will be Dr. Earle McBride presenting:

Dr. McBride is Professor Emeritus and J. Nalle Gregory Chair in Sedimentary Geology with UT-Austin, Jackson School of Geosciences, Department of Geological Sciences. He earned his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Geology in 1960 and taught from 1959 to 2005. Dr. McBride became interested in geology of the Marathon Basin in 1960 and spent 10 years there fighting lechuguilla and catclaw. His chief geological interest is sandstone petrology and diagenesis.

AGS started the year with a very well attended panel discussion about ethics.  No attendance numbers were available, but the room was filled to capacity which usually means >100 attended.  Panelists gave a few minute overview of ethical situations from their professional experiences, and then questions were fielded from the audience. Panelists included:

Ann F. Ardis, P.G. – USGS Texas Water Science Center, Austin
Kirk Holland, P.G. – Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District
Robert S. Kier, PhD, P.G. – Robert S. Kier Consulting, Austin, TX
Ernest Lundelius, PhD, Emeritus Professor – UT Austin Department of Geological Sciences

AGS thanks all four panelists for a great meeting.

Photograph of Ann Ardis giving her opening presentation.

Patricia Dickerson addresses one of the questions from the audience.

The Petroleum History Institute (PHI), in collaboration with the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program, held its 2011 annual symposium and field trip at historic Marietta, Ohio, on the banks of the Ohio River.  Participants were treated to a wide variety of talks and poster presentations ranging from the history of oil and gas in Ohio to the many contributions to the industry from Baku.  On the field trip the group visited the Thorla-McKee Well, a salt water well drilled in 1814 that produced the first commercial oil in Ohio, as well as seeing an old, but still operating, natural gas engine attached to a very large band wheel driving several pump-jacks (shackle line) – still producing Ohio crude after about 100 years, and a wonderful stop at the Parkersburg Oil and Gas Museum in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The trip ended with a tour of the Petroleum Engineering Department at Marietta College.  The next Oil History Symposium and Field Trip will be held in Houston, Texas, March 8-10, 2012.

In the past, we have held the symposium in Oil City, PA, Long Beach, CA, Wichita, KS, Shreveport, LA, Lafayette, LA., Oil Springs, Ontario, and in WV.

Mission of PHI: To pursue the history, heritage, and development of the modern oil industry from its 1859 inception in Oil Creek Valley, Pennsylvania, to its early roots in other regions in North American and the subsequent spread throughout the world to its current global status.  www.petroleumhistory.org.

PHI also publishes a yearly journal, Oil-Industry History.  Our membership includes geoscientists, engineers, historians, museum curators, authors, etc.

We look forward to another stimulating symposium next year at the Houston meeting, March 8-10, 2012.  The abstract deadline is January 15, 2012, so start thinking about your subject and send the abstract to Bill Brice, wbrice@pitt.edu.

For more information contact Jeff Spencer (spencerj320@gmail.com).   Plans are to hold a meeting soon for those interested in serving on the 2012 oil history symposium committee.