AASG Executive Committee Conference Call

AASG 2012 Mid-Year Meeting

Hilton Charlotte City Center, Graves Room, 3rd Floor

Charlotte, North Carolina

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

7:00 AM – Breakfast

8:00 AM – Welcome, Introductions

Presentation of the 2012 John C. Frye Memorial Award

Citation by Vince Matthews:

Environmental geology has steadily risen in prominence over recent decades, and to support the growth of this important field, the John C. Frye Memorial Award was established in 1989 by GSA and AASG. John C. Frye joined USGS in 1938, he went to the Kansas Geological Survey in 1942, he was its Director from 1945 to 1954, he was Chief of the Illinois State Geological Survey until 1974, and he was GSA Executive Director until his retirement in 1982, shortly before his death. John was active in AASG and on national committees, and was influential in the growth of environmental geology.

The John C. Frye Memorial Award is given each year to a nominated environmental geology publication released in one of the three preceding calendar years, either by GSA or by a state geological survey. The nominated publications identify a geologically based environmental issue, provide sound and substantive information pertinent to the problem, relate geology to the issue, and present information directly usable by geologists, other professionals such as land-use planners and engineers, and ideally also by informed laypersons. The selection committee assesses uniqueness, significance as a model, and overall worthiness.

This year, six excellent nominated publications were quantitatively scored by a selection committee chaired by State Geologist of Kentucky Jim Cobb, using the advertised guidelines as the basis of the scoring. Although all of the nominations were superb, and the competition was very close, one nominated publication stood above the rest, and the committee was unanimous in their choice. On behalf of AASG and GSA, it therefore gives me great pleasure to announce that the winner of the 2012 John C. Frye Memorial Award for publications in environmental geology is “Natural Acid Rock Drainage Associated with Hydrothermally Altered Terrane in Colorado”, by John T. Neubert, Jeffrey P. Kurtz, Dana J. Bove, and Matthew A. Sares; published in 2011 by Colorado Geological Survey, and nominated this year by Vince Matthews, State Geologist of Colorado. Congratulations to the authors, and we are pleased that Matt Sares is here to receive the award on behalf of himself and his co-authors.

Remarks by Matt Sares.

8:10 AM – Presentation by Lee Allison on Geothermal & Info

As summarized by Lee a few days after GSA: “We envision opportunities to use the US Geoscience Information Network (USGIN) to power additional projects like the National Geothermal Data System (NGDS) to the benefit AASG. One such opportunity has come forward in the past few days.

We will participate in a webinar workshop with DOE on Nov 28, to demo the AASG State Geothermal Data project results and potential as related to the Energy-Water Nexus. The DOE Geothermal Technologies Program selected us to make the presentation as having the greatest potential for their program on this topic.

Two Energy-Water Nexus workshops have been held on the topics of Cooling for Electricity Generation, and Water for Energy Production, including but not limited to biomass, fracking, and enhanced oil recovery. We will address the area of Datasets and Models at the Energy/Water Interface. Our intent is to demonstrate the vast amount of water and energy data we are already making available and interoperable, and that the USGIN/NGDS platform is scalable and transportable to serve a wider range of Energy-Water Nexus activities across all of DOE.

The DOE briefing materials state “In its recent report on the Energy-Water Nexus (http://www.gao.gov/assets/650/648306.pdf), the GAO published DOE’s management response which specifically notes DOE’s commitment to pursue further integration of water in existing energy programs. These initial workshops are intended to surface insights that can inform recommendations to DOE leadership regarding the integration of water in DOE energy R&D programs. The goals of the workshops are to help programs learn from each other’s efforts at a more actionable level, and to identify cross-cutting R&D, analytical, and policy challenges and opportunities.”

We have nearly one million petroleum and water wells (and vast amounts of other water and energy data) online and integrated in a national operational and distributed data network through NGDS using USGIN protocols. A year from now, I predict we will exceed 2 million such records accessible through our system. This is a tremendous resource that can be leveraged to meet DOE objectives across all forms of energy production. There is nothing comparable to this in the world (although many projects are hurrying to replicate our architecture and approach).

At the upcoming AGU Fall Meeting, we will be ‘branding’ our project under the NGDS banner for the first time at the exhibit booth and promotional/informational materials. We took over the NGDS website and sustainability duties this fall, so that the AASG project is now the voice (and effectively the manager) of NGDS.

President Thorleifson indicated that Lee has the full support of AASG.

8:40 AM – Update on AASG Foundation, AASG Foundation President David Wunsch

AASGF President Wunsch has received the documents from Jamie Robertson from our investment firm, based in Wisconsin, to transfer signatory and management authority of financial resources; he completed his portions of the forms, and forwarded them on to AASGF Treasurer Scholle. Treasurer Scholle has prepared a draft proposal for a student intern initiative.

AASGF President Wunsch has spoken with Congressional Fellow Kelly Kryc, who previously worked as a grant program director for the Moore Foundation. She provided a wealth of information such as the importance of how and why to match up an organization with and appropriate donors, using subscription data bases, and crafting an effective message. He followed up with Kelly recently, and asked if she might be interested in performing a small consulting service to AASGF, such as:

• Review the AASGF website, mission, promotional materials currently in development, and offer a critique; provide tips based on her experience as a grant program director

• Evaluate our materials for the effectiveness of our message, key words to either include or refrain from using

• Suggestions for tools and database services to consider using for matching our needs with potential donors; pros and cons of AASGF potentially partnering with another similar geoscience NPO, or sharing the use of these types of services

9:00 AM – Call to order, Agenda, Minutes

States represented by Members or their designates: AL, AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MI, MN, NC, NM, NV, PA, SC, TX, VA, WI, WV

A quorum was present. The agenda was agreed to.

Motion and second to approve Austin 2012 Annual Meeting minutes; carried.

Report of President Thorleifson

• Appreciation was again expressed to Vicki McConnell for the excellent job she did as 2011-2012 AASG President. It was a pleasure to present a plaque to Vicki at the superb Austin meeting.

• I emailed remarks from the Incoming President to the AASG community on June 14th.

• My Incoming President remarks included an indication that the Mid-Year would be a closed, AASG planning session.

• Effort in late June & July to finalize our hydraulic fracturing position statement went well; there was no precedent for the procedure we should use for something this sensitive – we simply worked by consensus, with the objective being to produce something that all Members were adequately comfortable with.

• Excellent willingness to fulfill AASG volunteer roles was expressed by all as committee membership & appointments were confirmed, and sent out in July.

• The Ex Officio Statemap panel position has been left vacant, with no firm plan for the future; USGS was looking for cost-cutting opportunities.

• Annual meeting resolutions were distributed to intended parties.

• ‘Officer Duties’ were updated and distributed.

• ‘Liaison Procedure’ was updated & forwarded to the President Elect along with digital & hard copy files.

• Discussion with MI resulted in their request that Al Kehew be the AASG Member; our bylaws say that Members are directors of state geological surveys; the Statistician determined that Alan’s group is the survey – this indicated Al should be the Member; within the State, our good friend Hal will be known as the State Geologist, as the person with this title has regulatory functions; this has happened before, where the State Geologist is not the AASG Member

• I asked newly appointed Committee chairs to review and comment on relevant portions of the USGS plan.

• I wrote to new Members to welcome them to AASG.

• A draft dues plan was shared with Executive and a few past Executive members in late July; discussion focused on the pros and cons of tiered dues.

• Much effort was invested into following up on the Information Strategy led by Vicki; focus was on document handling, with the objective being to be able to find any document going back a century within seconds, and also to be able to recognize if a key document is missing; we are merging the historic & born-digital archives, in pdf or doc format; Simone in AK & Jerry in KY are now leading the way.

• Jay & I met with USGS and NASA personnel in August to discuss strategy for nationwide lidar; I provided info to the AASG community.

• I spoke with people at AGU, and indicated that we would be happy to try to help arrange an AASG speaker for their spring policy conference, while strongly hinting that a financial partnership is unlikely.

• I will work with the Awards Chair to find an appropriate implementation for the Mankin Award.

• I wrote to each member, asking them to update the status of their Associates appointments & info.

• I wrote to appropriators to advocate for retention of EarthScope seismic monitoring stations.

• I wrote to appropriators to discourage the deep cuts to USGS proposed by the House.

• I organized two Executive teleconferences - brainstorming sessions with no minutes

• A summary of AASG planning shared on October 28 included the suggestion that a dues increase be deferred due to lack of pressing need, and that a change in tax status not be considered at this time.

Report of Past President McConnell

The Past President was absent, although preparations are in place regarding awards and nominations; the Past President also was active in the successful Earth Science Week Geologic Map Day.

Report of President Elect Parrish

A successful Liaison was held September 9-12, attended by 8. Spring Liaison is March 10-13, with Pick and Gavel on March 12. Discussion focused on how important Liaison is, with twice a year the minimum frequency.

Report of Vice President Arthur

2012 Annual Meeting: 166 total pre-registered; 38 State Geologists; 14 Associates; 17 Honoraries; 20 State & Federal Employees (13 USGS); 9 invited speakers; 6 geo-society representatives; 38 spouses and guests, 7 kids, 14 BEG Staff, 3 Foundation sponsors. USGS again provided a meeting grant of $10k. Sponsorship was also provided to BEG from additional gracious donors. The AASG Foundation supported the Screening of Switch, as well as travel for State Geologists that applied. The Annual Meeting poll was completed and results distributed to the membership. Comments on the meeting were overwhelmingly positive, which many thanks extended to our Texas host.

2013 Annual Meeting: Deadwood, South Dakota, June 9-13, 2013. All meeting plans and field trips have been set and finalized. Target meeting registration maximum cost is $400 if no USGS funding. Meeting agenda in development – session input welcomed – contact your local VP. Pre-meeting field trip Sunday, June 9, Badlands NP with NPS paleontologist and SDGS staff leading. Mid-meeting field trip to Sanford Underground Research Facility – Homestake Gold Mine. Post-meeting field trip, Thursday, June 13, Mammoth Site – Hot Springs, then Wind Cave NP led by NPS staff.

Future Annual Meetings

2013 – Deadwood, SD – June 9-13, 2013

2014 – Lexington, KY – June 8-12, 2014

2015 – Arizona

2016 – Fairbanks, AK

2017 – Missouri

2018 – Pleased to announce a welcome and appreciated invitation from DELAWARE!

2019 – Montana

Post cards have been shared, in addition to current GSA, at NCSL (Chicago, August, 2012; Thank you Don McKay), MINExpo (Las Vegas, September, 2012; Thank you Jon Price) and next stop is 2013 NCSL Legislative Forum will be held in Atlanta Georgia, August 12-15, 2013. AASG booth at GSA, Charlotte NC, November 4-7 is #635 in the Exhibition Hall. Post cards continue to be highly popular, especially among students. The Geothermal program has paid ½ of the booth rental, $475, for a total cost of $950. An inventory of postcards will be completed after this meeting and a call made to replenish supplies.

Report of Secretary Gillman

Secretary was absent, and minutes were taken by Greer Price. Annual Meeting minutes were prepared and circulated in time to be approved at the current meeting. Documents were submitted to the web site.

Report of Treasurer Hohn

Budget: A table of income and expense and the approved budget were provided. Expenses to date were also shown.

Dues Income: Forty-eight states have now paid 2012 dues.

Communications and Meetings: Details on closeout of the 2012 Annual Meeting are pending. We received $8,206.66 for Pick and Gavel expenses from the AASG Foundation. Note: Income exceeds the budget in 2012 because the expense was incurred in the previous fiscal year, and payment received in the current year. Expected reduction to $4,000 in AASG Foundation support for Pick and Gavel will occur in 2013-14 fiscal year. The Modified Budget reflects this reality.

Dues and Contributions Paid to Other Organizations: Dues or contributions have been paid to AGI ($5,000), AGI Government Affairs ($3,250), USGS Coalition ($300), and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers Field Camp Scholarship Program ($1,000).

Administration: Our tax preparer, Paul Armour, submitted IRS form 990 on October 14, 2012.

Meetings: All invoices for Fall Liaison were paid; because of relatively low attendance, expense exceeded income from the registration fees collected. Invoices were sent out for this Mid-Year meeting and some checks received. The anticipated amount to be received based on preregistration ($690) is entered on the budget spreadsheet, although not yet included in the year-to-date cash flow. Spring Liaison expenses this period were for the spring 2012 meeting.