The Wise Report
Due to Hurricane Harvey, the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists (TBPG) has implemented the following for PG licenses, GIT certifications, and Geoscience Firm registrations in a Governor-designated disaster county that were scheduled to expire between August 31, 2017 and November 30, 2017 shall expire on December 31, 2017.
- Licenses that would have expired, but haven’t because of this emergency provision will not appear in a public license search. TBPG will have a list of impacted licensees available as a supplemental license search.
- Late renewal fee. Normally if a license is renewed 60 days or more after it is expired, a $50 late fee applies. Extending the expiration date of these licenses also extends the date the late renewal fee is assessed. Licenses in disaster counties that would have expired at the end of August, September, and October, and November 2017 can renew late as December 31, 2017 without any gap in licensure. Licenses that expire December 31, 2017 and that are renewed on or after March 1, 2018, will be subject to the 60-day late renewal fee.
- Upon the renewal of each Professional Geoscientist license, GIT certification, and Geoscience Firm registration that was extended by this emergency rule, the renewal fee shall be the same annual renewal fee for the license, certification, or registration listed in §851.80.
A Professional Geoscientist or a Geoscientist-in-Training who resides in Governor-designated disaster affected counties is exempt from the continuing education requirement as long as the license or certification is renewed before August 31, 2018. Please see: Licensees Temporarily Exempt from CE through August 31, 2018:
/TBPG-LicenseesExemptfromCE-2017.pdf
If your PG License, GIT certification, and Geoscience Firm registration certificates or renewal wall/wallet cards were lost or destroyed in the storm, please contact the TBPG staff. We can provide a replacement at no cost.
Effective March 14, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is implementing a final rule to amend the CERCLA Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries of contaminated sites. The rule recognizes the two ASTM standards (ASTM E1527-13 [previous] and ASTM E2247-16 [new]) as consistent with the All Appropriate Inquiries Rule for prospective purchasers of relatively large tracts of rural property or forestlands, including such purchases under a brownfields grant.
The rule applies to prospective purchasers of forest and rural lands who intend to claim a limitation on CERCLA liability in conjunction with the property purchase. For a link to the rule, go to: http://ngwa.informz.net