The Wise Report
The Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists (TBPG) General Issues Committee (Members are Krenz-Doe, Knobloch, Mathewson, and McNamee) met on February 14, 2014 in Austin. Matt Cowan, President of Texas Association of Professional Geoscientists, and myself, as President of American Institute of Professional Geologists – Texas Section, attended the meeting. The discussion I was most concerned about was the licensure of environmental professionals.
As it turns out, the agenda announcement wasn’t correct. There was no intent to discuss the licensure of environmental professionals but to discuss the boundaries of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ’s) Corrective Action Project Manager (CAPM) license. Dr. Mathewson teaches a TEEX class for CAPMs. A recent class had eight CAPMs in it. Only one of them was a Texas PG, the rest were biologists and chemists. One of the biologists had been fined by the TBPG for practicing geology without a license. I don’t have all of the facts, but, in a nutshell, he drilled a well and collected a water sample for analysis for micro-organisms. I don’t know if he described the drill cuttings or not, but, as a biologist, he was within his realm of expertise for the water sample’s purpose.