^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ AWG E-MAIL NEWS No. 2000-46, October 30, 2000 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ CONTENTS: 1) CALLING ALL WOMEN VOLCANOLOGISTS 2) NEW HAMPSHIRE PASSES PG LICENSING BILL 3) AGI GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS PROGRAM SPECIAL UPDATE: 10-25-00 4) HISTORY OF THE OIL INDUSTRY: A SYMPOSIUM AND FIELD TRIPS: JUNE 20 - 23, 2001 5) POSITION OPENINGS ***University of Florida-Low Temperature Geoschemistry ***US Geological Survey-3 positions 6) STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES ***University of Kansas-Grinnell Fellowships 7) SUBMISSION & MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 111 1) CALLING ALL WOMEN VOLCANOLOGISTS Looking for a few--make that a lot--of good women who work on/with volcanoes. I'm preparing a manuscript for a nonfiction book on women volcanologists, and want to interview as many as possible. If you would like to be interviewed, please contact me via email at or call (360) 455-4607. (That's the Olympia area in Washington state.) Janet M. Cullen Tanaka 22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222 222 2) NEW HAMPSHIRE PASSES PG LICENSING BILL New Hampshire passed a PG licensing bill in 2000. There will be a 12-month grandfathering/grandmothering period that will start after administrative rules for the new PG board have been adopted and approved. To be placed on a list to receive an application package when one becomes available, contact the NH Joint Board of Licensure and Certification, 57 Regional Drive, Concord, NH 03301, or visit its website at www.state.nh.us/jtboard/home.htm. 33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 333 3) AGI GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS PROGRAM SPECIAL UPDATE: 10-25-00 *** Congress Sets Spending Levels for NSF, NASA, EPA, DOE IN A NUTSHELL: With the election looming, Congress is finally making headway on appropriations bills. Both the House and Senate have passed a merged Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 VA, HUD & Independent Agencies and Energy & Water bill. The president is expected to sign. Final negotiations provided substantially higher figures for most agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), which receives $4.43 billion, up 13.6 percent over FY 2000 levels. Funding for research programs - including the Geosciences Directorate - is up 13.2 percent, but no funding was provided to initiate the EarthScope project. This update also highlights geoscience programs within NASA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Energy (DOE). ********************** After weeks of closed-door negotiations, the dust has finally settled on two of the most important appropriations bills for the geosciences -- the VA, HUD, & Independent Agencies bill (which funds NSF, NASA, and EPA) and the Energy & Water bill (which funds most of DOE). These two pieces of legislation were combined after the president vetoed an earlier version of the Energy & Water bill over a non-spending provision to block revision of Army Corps of Engineers policies for the Missouri River. With that provision removed, the merged bills passed the House by a vote of 386-24 and the Senate by 85-8. A presidential signature is expected this week. For more details on this legislation or other appropriations bills, please visit http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis.html#approps. *** National Science Foundation As negotiations with the White House progressed, congressional leaders found more and more money for domestic spending. As a result, the final bills generally contain higher spending levels than either the previous House-passed or Senate-passed versions. NSF did particularly well in this regard. In his request, the president asked for a 17.5 percent increase. The House provided a 4.3 percent increase, the Senate a 10.3 percent increase. But the House-Senate conference negotiated a 13.6 percent increase to $4.43 billion for the foundation. Within that total, the Research and Related Activities account that funds most of the directorates (including the Geosciences Directorate and Office of Polar Programs) will receive $3.35 billion, up 13.2 percent from FY 2000 but down 5 percent from the request. According to a Senate Appropriations Committee press release, that figure includes funding for three initiatives: $215 million for information technology research (up $125 million), $150 million for nanotechnology (up $52.7 million), and $75 million for biocomplexity (up $25 million), as well as a $65 million earmark for plant genome research. Neither the bill (H.R. 4635) nor its accompanying report language (H. Rept. 106-988) specifies dollar amounts for the disciplinary directorates, leaving the allocation up to NSF based on the president's request. The Geosciences Directorate requested a 19.5 percent increase, and within it the Earth Sciences Division requested a 16.6 percent increase. These figures were similar to the requested increases for other directorates. As a result, the geosciences should see increases in the 11-13 percent range. The big disappointment in the final NSF appropriation is the $121 million allocated for the Major Research Equipment account, down 24.7 percent from FY 2000 and down 12.2 percent from the request. Congress failed to fund two new projects proposed in the president's budget request -- EarthScope (which was to include the USArray seismic network and San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth) and the National Ecological Observatory Network. Both initiatives are expected to re-appear in the FY 2002 request. Report language made clear that the lack of funding "does not reflect on the quality of research proposed to be developed" by either program but simply budgetary realities. Congress did provide $12.5 million to fund the High-Performance Instrumental Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER), a high- altitude aircraft that was not in the president's request but had received congressional funding the previous year. Funding for the Education and Human Resources programs totaled $787.4 million, a 3.6% increase from the budget request and a 8.8% increase over last year's funding. This total includes $75 million for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) directed at smaller research institutions and smaller states "to allow for renewed emphasis on research infrastructure development." The Graduate Research Fellowship program receives $55.2 million, and the Graduate Teaching Fellowship in K-12 education receives $19.8 million. *** NASA The grand total for NASA comes to $14.3 billion, including $6.19 billion for science, aeronautics and technology. Within the science accounts, $1.50 billion is directed toward earth science programs, up from $1.44 billion last year and a $1.41 billion request. Report language regarding the Earth Science Enterprise goes into detail regarding congressional concern over reprogramming funds and not following the report language in the FY 2000 appropriations bill. "The conferees direct NASA to report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House and Senate, by March 15, 2001 with a ten-year strategy and funding profile to extend the benefits of Earth science, technology and data results beyond the traditional science community and address practical, near-term problems." Funding for the Earth Observing System Data Information System (EOSDIS) totaled $277 million, a $35 million increase over last year's allocation. *** Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received a total of $7.8 billion, an increase of $633 million above the President's request and $395 million above FY 2000 enacted level. According to the House Appropriations press release, the EPA "is funded with an emphasis on state grants, particularly in the areas of clean water and safe drinking water." The Superfund program was provided $1.27 billion, roughly equivalent to last year's allocation. Funding for the Climate Change Technology Initiative totals $123 million, and funding for the Global Climate Change Research (USGCRP) totals $20.6 million. As in previous years, report language was included "prohibiting EPA from spending funds to implement the Kyoto Protocol." This language reaffirms the Senate's Byrd-Hagel Resolution passed in 1997 and reflects concerns among Republicans that the Clinton Administration might seek to implement parts of the Kyoto Protocol without congressional consent. Also within the environmental program section of the Conference Committee report was a section on the agency's decision to implement Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) standards related to the Clean Water Act. "The conferees directs EPA to contract expeditiously with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for a review of the quality of science used to develop and implement TMDLs, and direct that the final report be submitted to Congress by June 1, 2001." Similar concerns over EPA regulations on dioxins and on radon in drinking water were addressed in the report. The report also gave details on funding within the science and technology programs, which totaled $696 million. *** Department of Energy The Energy & Water bill includes most of the Department of Energy except for the fossil fuel and energy efficiency programs, both of which are covered in the Interior and Related Agencies bill. (For those numbers, see last week's special update at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis106/interior_update.html.) The DOE Office of Science received a boost in its funding to total $3.2 billion, compared to the $2.8 billion in the House and the proposed $2.9 billion in the Senate. Within that, the Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program receives $1.0 billion, including $40 million for the engineering and geoscience subdivision, a slight increase over the budget request. For comparison, BES programs in materials sciences received $456 million, chemical sciences received $223 million, and energy biosciences received $34 million. Nuclear Waste Disposal programs received $191 million for civilian and $200 million for defense-related nuclear waste disposal, both of which are primarily directed toward the Yucca Mountain site characterization effort. The House/Senate conference report stresses Congress's expectation that DOE release its site recommendation report on Yucca Mountain by July 2001. "In addition, the conferees recommend that $10,000,000 of funds previously appropriated for interim waste storage activities in Public Law 104-46 may be made available upon written certification by the Secretary of Energy to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations that the site recommendation report cannot be completed on time without additional funding." Nevada will receive $2.5 million as reimbursement from DOE for expenditures. Also, local governments around the site will receive $6 million for oversight activities. Funding for the DOE Energy Supply programs, including renewable energy resources and nuclear energy, received a total of $660.6 million, a compromise between the House figure of $616.5 million and the Senate figure of $691.5 million. Funding for the Renewable Energy programs includes $113 million for biomass/biofuels, $27 million for geothermal, $30 million for hydrogen resources (including targeted funding for such activities as the gasification of Iowa switch grass and a program to develop underground mining equipment fueled by hydrogen in Nevada), $5 million for hydropower, $111 million for solar energy, and $40 million for wind energy Nuclear energy programs received a total of $259.9 million, including $47.5 million for research and development and $53.4 million for uranium programs. -Special update prepared by Margaret Baker and David Applegate, AGI Government Affairs Program 44444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444 44 4) HISTORY OF THE OIL INDUSTRY: A SYMPOSIUM AND FIELD TRIPS: JUNE 20 - 23, 2001 In America's first oil belt, The Drake Well Foundation and several other organizations with an interest in the history of the oil industry are sponsoring a three-day symposium on the development of the oil industry. In addition to poster and oral presentations, there will be a special half-day visit to the site of the Drake Well, the Drake Well Museum, and the Drake Memorial Tomb in Titusville, PA, and a one-day field trip to other historical sites in the early oil fields. Sponsors: The Drake Well Foundation; Drake Well Museum History of Geology Division/GSA I. C. White Memorial Foundation History Committee/AAPG FEE: $150.00 (Until March 31, 2001) Includes most meals/field trips/etc. CALL FOR POSTER-TYPE PRESENTATIONS We are seeking poster-type papers on subjects concerning any aspect of the development of the oil industry worldwide. For authors who wish to contribute their paper, a proceedings volume of papers will be published in Oil Industry History (a new journal published by the Drake Well Foundation). Please follow the format below for submitting an abstract of 250+/- words for consideration. E- mail submissions are encouraged; please use either Microsoft Word or WordPerfect word- processing formats as an attached file or send the abstract as an e-mail message. NAME ADDRESS/AFFILIATION Body of abstract text: 250 words+/- DEADLINE: APRIL 20, 2001 SEND TO: William R. Brice, wbrice@pitt.edu Geology & Planetary Science, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Johnstown, PA 15904; 814/269-2942; FAX 814/269-2022 Web site for registration form: http://www.pitt.edu/~upjgeol/ 55555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555 555 5) POSITION OPENINGS ***University of Florida-Low temperature Geochemistry The Department of Geological Sciences invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position to begin with the 2001-2002 academic year in the general area of low- temperature geochemistry. Preference will be given to individuals who will develop a vigorous, innovative research program focusing on organic, aqueous and/or sedimentary systems from a geochemical perspective. Possible specialties include biogeochemistry, organic geochemistry geochronology, environmental geochemistry and other areas which complement existing departmental strengths (see web.geology.ufl.edu for information on the Department and its programs). The successful candidate will also be committed to excellence in undergraduate and graduate education. A letter of interest including a statement of research and teaching goals, a curriculum vitae, and the names and addresses of three referees should be sent to: Dr. Jonathan B. Martin (jmartin@geology.ufl.edu), University of Florida, Department of Geological Sciences, 241 Williamson Hall, Box 112120, Gainesville, FL 32611-2120. Ph. (352) 392-2231/FAX (352)-392- 9294. Candidates are urged to apply before 15 December 2000, and no applications can be accepted after 15 January 2001. The University of Florida is an equal opportunity employer; qualified women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply. ******************************************************************************* ***U.S. Geological Survey-3 positions The U.S. Geological Survey invites applications for the following positions. These positions are located in the Energy Resources Team, Eastern Region, Geologic Division. The Team has responsibility for planning and conducting research relating to the oil, gas, and coal resoures of the United States and for the application of the results of these investigations to the explorations, development and assessment of the resources. The full text of the vacancies are at . Applicants must apply online on the Online Automated Recruitment Service (OARS) . *Physical Science Technician, GS-1311-7, 1 position Announcement Number: USGS-2001-0135 Located in Reston, VA Announcment closes on 11/13/2000 Duties: Performs sample analysisand method development of modes of occurrences of trace elements in coal. Conducts laboratory procedures for the analyses of coal and fly ash samples, thin sections, and other types of samples for analytical methods such as SEM, electron microprobe, TEM, etc. *Geologist, GS-1350-7, 2 positions Announcement Number Position #1: USGS-2001-0117 Announcement Number Position #2: USGS-2001-0118 Located in Reston, VA Both Announcements close on 11/13/2000 Duties Position #1: Responsible for developing an interactive Geographic Information Systems (GIS) of the stratigraphic and structural framework of selected parts of the Appalachian Basin in order to better evaluate energy commodoties (coal, oil, gas, and coal bed methane). Responsible for integrating various types of complex geologic and geographic data (i.e. geologic maps, digital elevation models, staellite imagery) with geologic analytical datavases in order to enlarge the scope of geologically based research and to prduce derivative maps. Duties Position #2: Responsible for providing expertise in sedimentary geology and geographic information systems (GIS) applied to energy resource applications primarily in the Gulf Coast and world coal basins. Responsible for compiling geologic data through field work and library research, will perform geologic analysis using GIS and will prepare cartigraphic products and reports digital and hard copy publications. Applicants must be U.S. citizens-Allqualified applicants may apply. The U.S. Geological Survey is an equal opportunity employer. Selection for these positions shall be determined on the basis of merit without discrimination for any reasons such as race, color, age, religion, sex, national origin, politival preference, labor organization affiliation or nonaffiliation, marital status, or nondisqualifying handicap. 66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666 666 6) STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES ***University of Kansas-Grinnell Fellowships The Grinnell Fellowship is a one-year fellowship of up to $20,000 for a qualified Ph.D. student. Subsequent support for three years as an RA or TA will be offered if reasonable progress toward the degree is made. There are three fellowships to be awarded for the next academic year. Details of research programs and facilities at KU are available on the worldwide web at http://www.geo.ukans.edu. You can contact Dr. Douglas Walker [jdwalker@ku.edu, Dept. of Geology, 1474 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 120, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7613 (785) 864-4974)] or the persons listed with each description for further information. Thermochronology and Tectonics. The fellowship recipient will be expected to conduct research in the new (U-Th)/He thermochronology laboratory. Potential research projects include the application of low-temperature thermochronology to regional tectonic problems in the western US, Tibet, and Iran and/or the further development of the (U-Th)/He thermochronometer. Contact Dr. Daniel Stockli (626-395-6177; stockli@gps.caltech.edu) for further information Organic Geochemistry. The student selected to receive this fellowship will be expected to do research in the new environmental organic geochemistry laboratory working with gas chromatography and HPLC. Students interested in studying organic reactions with aquifer materials and other reactive solids used in groundwater remediation are encouraged to apply. For further information, Dr. J.F. (Rick) Devlin, Dept. of Geology, 1474 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 120, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7613 (785-864-4974). Biogeochemistry. The student selected to receive the fellowship will be expected to develop an innovative research project focused on interactions between microorganisms and minerals in subsurface environments. For further information, contact Dr. Jennifer Roberts Rogers, USGS, 3215 Marine St., Boulder, CO 80303 (303-541-3001; jrrogers@usgs.gov). 77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777 77 7) SUBMISSION & MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION ***Thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue of AWG E-Mail News. For submissions to AWG E-Mail News, contact Editor Joanne Kluessendorf at editor@awg.org. For advertising, contact the Ad Editor at ads@awg.org. PLEASE SEND AD COPY OR OTHER SUBMISSIONS AS RTF FILES OR AS PART OF AN E-MAIL MESSAGE ***For membership information or to join AWG, visit our website at or contact our business office at ***E-mail or address changes? Send to office@awg.org, please.