AIPG-TX

The Wise Report
Henry M. Wise, P.G., C.P.G.

November 16, 2024

The Texas Legislature will be back in session January 14, 2025 through June 2, 2025.  On November 12, 2024 bills began to be filed.  I’m currently checking these bills and have found 14 of general interest to geologists in Texas.  Thanks to Kevin Coleman for letting me know about HB710, which may affect the Texas Professional Geoscientist license and Matthew Cowan for his input on the potential ramifications of the law if it gets passed.  As usual, I’ll be filing updates as new bills come in.  New information is in bold.

HB 279, by Guillen, Relating to procedural requirements for uranium mining production area authorizations.  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB279.

HB 457, by Christina Morales, Relating to an alert system for notification of the release of toxic chemicals by a manufacturing facility.  “If the responsible state agency determines that a release will substantially endanger human health or the environment, the agency shall, not later than 30 minutes after making the determination, notify persons in the area in which the facility is located of the release using the alert system established under Subsection (d). When the agency determines a release is no longer a threat to human health or the environment, the agency shall notify persons using the alert system.”  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB457.

HB 553, by Patterson, Relating to the permitting of renewable energy generation facilities by the Public Utility Commission of Texas; authorizing fees.  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB553.

HB 710, by Harrison, Relating to the recognition of occupational licenses and government certifications issued in other states; authorizing a fee.  Filed 11/12/2024.  Regardless of what the rules for a Board are, if an individual has a license in another state the Board must issue a license to them provided they meet the provisions of this particular statue. In addition, if a person does not have a license because their state does not require one, the Board must give them a license if they meet the Board’s requirements. This would eliminate reciprocity to a degree.  the Texas Board of Geoscientists does not have reciprocity with states that do not recognize our grandfathered licensees but other states would have their grandfathered individuals come in and practice.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB710.

HB 736, by Flores, Relating to certain procedures for civil suits brought by local governments or certain other persons for violations of certain laws under the jurisdiction of, or rules adopted or orders or permits issued by, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.  Amends current law.  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB736.

HB 859, by Reynolds, Relating to the establishment of the Texas Environmental Justice Advisory Council.  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB859.

HB 866, by Reynolds, Relating to the creation of the Climate Change Impact Assessment Council.  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB866.

HB 1089, by Paul, Relating to creation of the gulf coast protection account to be administered by the General Land Office.  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB1089.

HB 1145, by Morales Shaw, Relating to a study regarding the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals in hydraulic fracturing.  Report by thy University of Houston, in collaboration the the Railroad Commission of Texas and the Texas Commision on Environmental Quality is to be submitted by December 1, 2026.  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB1145.

HB 1190, by Christina Hinojosa, Relating to the reduction of methane gas flaring on land dedicated to the permanent university fund.  “The board of regents of The University of Texas System shall adopt a formal policy goal to eliminate routine methane flaring on university lands by 2027.”  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB1190.

HB 1237, by Guillen, Relating to the renewal by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality of certain expired occupational licenses and registrations.  “A person whose license or registration has been expired for at least 90 days but not more than one year may apply for renewal of the license or registration by paying to the commission a renewal fee in an amount prescribed by commission rule not to exceed two times the normally required renewal fee.”  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB1237.

HB 1238, by Guillen, Relating to the inspection of the location of a proposed Class I injection well.  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB1238.

HB 1341, by Reynolds, Relating to establishment of maximum allowable ground-level concentrations of hydrogen sulfide by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.  Filed 11/14/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB1341.

SB 212, by West, Relating to certain public meetings and public hearings concerning permits issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.  Mandates location of public meetings for permits.  Filed 11/12/2024.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Authors.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=SB212.

Henry M. Wise, P.G.
The Wise Report
11/16/2024

The Wise Report
Henry M. Wise, P.G., C.P.G.

October 19, 2024

The Ecological Screening Benchmark Tables have been updated and posted to the TCEQ’s Ecological Risk Assessments webpage.

The Ecological Screening Benchmarks are numeric values for surface water, sediment, and soil that can be used to screen non-bioaccumulative chemicals of concern from further evaluation under Tier 2 Screening-Level Ecological Risk Assessments.

Additionally, the West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) Ecological Protective Concentration Levels Calculator (“PCL Database”) has been re-released using updated programming language. Registered users may receive an email from WTAMU with instructions for password reset.

Please contact the Remediation Division Technical Program Support (TPS) Team at techsup@tceq.texas.gov if you have any questions.

Henry M. Wise, P.G., C.P.G.
The Wise Report

Dr. Roger Lee, P.G., and Bruce Handley, P.G. manned a table again at the recent Texas Hydro-Geo Workshop held near Boerne, Texas. They spoke to many students and young professionals about joining the AIPG and about the AIPG-TX Scholarship and Awards program, and especially about the the approaching AIPG-TX GeoDayz training program in the spring of 2025.

Many students have shown a strong interest in the 2025 GeoDayz event to be held in April 2025 in Stephenville, Texas. GeoDayz 2025 will be hosted by Dr. Hughbert Collier and his Collier Consulting, Inc. in Stephenville, Texas.

To sign up for additional information, use the code shown earlier in the News.

Achieving a Just and Sustainable Energy Mix by 2040
October 15, 2024
12:00 Noon Central Time

by
James Conca, Ph.D.

Eradicating global poverty, and its evil stepchildren war and terrorism, presents an unforeseen conundrum with respect to human health and the environment. About 3,000 kiloWatt-hours (kWh) per person per year is necessary for someone to have what we consider a good life. For the 10+ billion humans expected to occupy this planet by mid-century, our total power production must grow from 27 trillion kWh/yr to over 40 trillion kWh/yr. This requires all non-fossil energy sources be developed to their full potential if we are to attain a sustainable production without intermittent shortages, security vulnerabilities, extreme costs or environmental catastrophe.

However, each energy source has its own problems of environmental impact and human health effects, as well as its own historical, political and economic development. Fossil fuels have the most impact on both the environment and health, but they are also the easiest to emplace in developing countries who are most in need of energy but where the lack of infrastructure makes anything but coal and oil difficult to emplace quickly. Hence, coal and oil are still the fastest growing energy sources in the world.

Therefore, a rational mix of energy sources must be developed for each state and country with these impacts in mind, requiring international cooperation to a degree unknown in history. Various mixes have been discussed ranging between 1) a business-as-usual two-thirds fossil fuel, one-third everything else, 2) an all-non-fossil mix, something like 1/3–renewables, 1/3–nuclear, and 1/3-hydro+geo+bio+other, and 3) all renewables. Surprisingly, cost is not a determinative factor for the first two, but becomes very important for the last mix. But it is the hidden costs, to humans and the environment, that need to be understood in time to avert collapse of the planetary ecosystems as the population peaks at mid-century. 

To Register for this Webinar, click (here).
John Berry manages this Webinar Series, the proceeds of which go to fund the AIPG-TX Scholarships for Texas university students (here).

The AIPG Texas Section is also offering the GeoDayz Training Program in 2025 (here).

Biography

Dr. Conca  obtained a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1985, a Masters in Planetary Science in 1981, and a Bachelors in Geology and Biochemistry from Brown University in 1979. He is a Trustee of the Herbert M. Parker Foundation at Washington State University in the Tri-Cities. Conca is a Contributor to Forbes on energy issues, and has been an advisor to DOE, EPA, state and federal regulatory agencies, and to President Obama’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future from 2010 to 2012. He worked on the Yucca Mt and WIPP nuclear waste projects for 25 years and served as a Special Advisor in the AAPG EMD’s Uranium & REE Committee for many years.

To Watch Dr. Conca’s Part 1 Webinar, click (here).

To Watch Previous Webinars, click (here).

Henry Wise, P.G., C.P.G., has announced today that AIPG-TX’s GeoDayz 2025 will be held in April 2025. Dr. Roger  Lee, P.G. and Bruce Handley, P.G., both members of the Board of Directors of the AIPG-TX, will be attending the Hydro-Geo Workshop in early October, 2024 near Boerne, Texas. They will be discussing the value of AIPG memberships and about the various training programs, webinars, fields trips, and scholorships. Applications for scholarships are due by early February, 2025. Apply now!

Use the code to register to receive information on the training program of GeoDayz 2025 when the finalized program becomes available. The training program is designed for students and young professionals.

GeoDayz 2025 will be hosted this year by Dr. Hughbert Collier and his Collier Consulting, Inc. in Stephenville, Texas.

Based on discussions among the Texas AIPG Board of Directors, Henry Wise, P.G., C.P.G., President, announced yesterday that planning efforts have moved the date for next GeoDayz program to Spring, 2025. This decision was made to avoid conflicting with the Texas Hydro Workshop, which the AIPG-TX strongly supports. As in the past, Board Members will be managing a booth-table at the Texas Hydro Workshop in early October for the purpose of having discussions with students and young professionals concerning their educational and training needs and to advise them of the coming GeoDayz 2025.

Previous GeoDayz programs at  Nacogdoches and Austin have been rousing sucesses for the students and young professionals, which contributed substantially to the AIPG-TX Scholorship Fund.

In 2025, The Collier Consulting Group will be hosting the GeoDayz program.

Additional information will provided as the program develops here on AIPG-TX.org/News

Dr. Alex Bump will opine on July 16, 2024 – Tuesday that Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a key technology in climate change mitigation. It can be applied to any point source of CO2, and it can abate emissions that are otherwise intractable, such as the process emissions from cement, steel and petrochemical production.  Without CCS, mitigation costs double and the paths to NetZero narrow dramatically, and yet, CCS is increasingly controversial—some see it as prolonging fossil fuel use, some see it as a waste of public money, some see it as dangerous, others see it as routine, and most simply don’t know what to think.This talk will explore the context, geology and future of CCS, with particular emphasis on the geology. Despite its apparent similarity to petroleum geology, the goals, constraints and boundary conditions for CCS combine to create a very different idea of what “good” looks like, with profound implications in the current land rush for storage space.

Dr. Alex Bump is a geologist with the Gulf Coast Carbon Center at the Bureau of Economic Geology.He holds a PhD in structural geology and tectonics from the University of Arizona and spent the better part of two decades in petroleum exploration, with experience on six continents. His current work focuses on adapting petroleum exploration tools for CCS to efficiently identify and de-risk carbon storage prospects.

REGISTER ONLINE

Another Webinar

This is another webinar by John Berry. P.G., C.P.G. to be held on November 21, 2024. He will discuss his views on the abundance of natural oil slicks suggesting that approximately 600,000 tonnes of oil seeps into the oceans worldwide every year from oil accumulations in the sediments beneath the continental shelves and slopes. Title of webinar: “The Use of Natural Oil Slicks inExploration and Oceanography.”

Since the late 1980s rapid mapping of these seeps using various types of satellite imagery has been possible and has been used to guide oil exploration offshore, particularly in deep water, as they form the best pre-drilling evidence of an active charge in offshore basins. However, these slicks can tell us about much more than the mere presence of oil in the subsurface: they contain information about the gravity of the oil and about the structures from which it is seeping, as well as information about surface and subsurface ocean currents and weather patterns. In addition, during the process of mapping these slicks it is necessary to distinguish them from slicks of biological origin and from those slicks due to bilge pumping and other types of pollution. One occasionally also observes evidence for seepage of natural gas, arson on the high seas, and underwater volcanic eruptions.

John Berry, currently serves as a Councilor-at-Large on the AIPG Texas Section Advisory Board. He was Editor of The Professional Geologist from 2017-2020, and has been an AIPG Certified Professional Geologist since 1977. He has a BA (Geology) from University of Pennsylvania (1963) and a MA in Geology from Columbia University (1966), with a focus on geophysics, oceanography and Arctic studies. He has been a mineral exploration geologist (Cu, Au, U), oil company research geologist and consultant, and has worked on five continents.

Register soon (here)

Henry Wise, P.G., C.P.G., President, AIPG Texas Section, announced today that the planning for GeoDayz 2024 has begun in ernest. The Collier Consulting Group, located in north-central Texas, will be hosting the GeoDayz 2024 program.

As information becomes available, we will advise the students and young professionals in the Texas and elsewhere on dates, program content, and cost.

Here are summaries for the past GeoDayz programs:

Austin: Ge0Dayz 2022

Nacogdoches: GeoDayz 2018

Stay tuned …

Citation by Letter:

“The Board of Directors of the Texas Chapter of the American Institute of Professional Geologist (AIPG-TX), at the recommendation of the Scholarship and Awards Committee Chair, Dr. Regina Capuano, and by approval of the AIPG-TX President, would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude for your 30 years of outstanding contributions to our organization (1994-2024). Your exceptional work in designing, maintaining, and protecting our website (AIPG-TX.org) and the AIPG Membership Management Google Database, the I2M Web Portal, etc. over the years has been invaluable.

We have consistently been impressed not only by the professional quality but also by the beautiful aesthetics of the site. It rivals those of national organizations and large companies. In recognition of your remarkable talent and invaluable contributions, we are delighted to present you with our Outstanding Contributions Award, accompanied by the enclosed plaque.

We wish you continued success in all your future endeavors.

Best regards,

Henry M. Wise, P.G., C.P.G.
President, AIPG Texas Chapter
and
Regina M. Capuano, Ph.D., P.G., C.P.G.
Chair, Scholarship and Awards Committee AIPG-TX”

[Note: Michael D. Campbell, P.G., P.H., C.P.G., Vice-President – Easterm Texas, abstained from the initiation and any involvement in this award.]

Henry Wise, President of the Texas Section of the AIPG, and Dr. Regina Capuano, Chair, AIPG-TX Scholarships Committee anounced recently that:

1. Kaylah Arnold at the Sam Houston State University has been awarded a Ted H. Foss Undergraduate AIPG-TX Scholarship ($1,000.00)…Presentation (here); (plaque).
   and
2. Jack McLaughlin at the University of Houston has been awarded a Gene Shoemaker Graduate AIPG-TX Scholarship ($2,500.00) …. Presentation (here); (plaque), (citation).
   and
3. Rowann Remie at the Midwestern State University has been awarded a Gene Shoemaker Graduate AIPG-TX Scholarship ($2,500.00)….. Presentation (here); (plaque), (citation).

Formal presentations of the checks, plaques, with photography, were made by the AIPG-TX District Representatives in District III, and District IV and other available AIPG Board Members at the respective Texas universities in May.

For information on the Texas Statewide Virtual Student Chapter of AIPG-TX, see (here).