This monthly review goes out to members of the AGI Government Affairs Program (GAP) Advisory Committee, the leadership of AGI's member societies, and other interested geoscientists as part of a continuing effort to improve communications between GAP and the geoscience community that it serves.
Senate Passes Energy Bill, Next Stop House-Senate Conference
Yucca Mountain: House Panel Votes to Override Nevada Governor
Science at EPA Getting Mixed Signals, Fellowships Threatened
AAPG Testifies on Oil and Gas Assessment Methodology
Geoscientists Respond to Snub in EPA Proposed Rule
FCC Rule Inhibits Use of Ground-Penetrating Radar
UN Climate Panel Gets New Leader
Minerals Management Service Releases Next Five-Year Leasing
Plan
AGI Provides Testimony in Support of NSF, USGS, DOE Programs
Geotimes Special Policy Issue Features EarthScope
AGI Selects New Congressional Science Fellow
New Material on Web Site
********************
Senate Passes Energy Bill, Next Stop House-Senate
Conference
The Senate spent much of the past three months debating its version
of comprehensive energy legislation (S. 517) before taking a final 88-11
vote on April 25th. The large number of supporting votes reflected a desire
by both the Senate leadership and the White House to complete action and
move to a House-Senate conference. The administration and congressional
Republicans hope to use the conference to restore key provisions found
in the House counterpart, H.R. 4. Senate conferees have already been announced
and the House is expected to make its announcement in the first half of
May. Unlike its House counterpart, which passed that chamber last August,
the Senate energy bill does not include a provision opening the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil exploration. Instead, the bill calls
for opening a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope of Alaska to the
state's southern coast. The Senate bill contains $14 billion worth of tax
incentives for energy efficiency and increased domestic energy production,
heavily weighted toward renewable energy sources. The House bill, passed
last August, includes $33 billion in tax breaks with a greater emphasis
on incentives to increase production from more traditional energy sources.
An AGI Special Update comparing the two pieces of legislation will be sent
out in the first week of May. More at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis107/energy.html.
Yucca Mountain: House Panel Votes to Override Nevada
Governor
On April 8th, Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn (R) submitted his Notice of Disapproval
to Congress, signaling the state's official objection to the proposed Yucca
Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository site. As provided by the Nuclear
Waste Policy Act of 1982, Congress has 90 working days to override the
governor's objection by passing a resolution approving the site.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce responded quickly to the governor's
disapproval, holding a hearing the following week to consider House Joint
Resolution 87. Introduced by subcommittee chairman Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX),
the resolution only needs a simple majority in both chambers of Congress
to override Nevada's objection. At the hearing, Secretary of Energy Spencer
Abraham emphasized that site selection was not a final step in repository
development and would lead to additional studies to answer remaining questions
about the repository. The General Accounting Office and Nuclear Waste Technical
Review Board also provided testimony on the status of DOE site investigations.
Both of Nevada's representatives and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) testified
against the resolution. A week later, the committee voted 41-6 in favor
of the resolution, paving the way for a vote by the full House in early
May. More at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis107/yucca.html.
Science at EPA Getting Mixed Signals, Fellowships
Threatened
Congress has taken a strong interest in elevating the role of science
at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but the agency's own interest
is less certain. Last year, Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) introduced legislation,
the Strengthening Science at the EPA Act (H.R. 64), that would establish
a new Deputy Administrator for Science and Technology at the agency.
On April 30th, the House passed the bill by voice vote, sending it to the
Senate for consideration. In a House Science Committee press release,
Ehlers states that he believes the bill "will be a big step forward in
ensuring the scientific accountability of EPA decisions." Meanwhile, one
of the few programs within EPA targeted specifically at environmental science
is faced with elimination in the president's budget request for fiscal
year (FY) 2003. EPA did not request funding for the Science to Achieve
Results (STAR) Fellowship program, which funds graduate research in a range
of disciplines. An AGI staff analysis suggests that nearly twenty percent
of the 800 fellowships issued since the program's inception in 1995 have
gone to projects in earth science-related disciplines. EPA budget documents
state that "funding for EPA's STAR Fellowship Program was eliminated in
FY 2003 as part of a larger effort to increase environmental science education
programs at the National Science Foundation." But the NSF request did not
specify funds for such fellowships. In the meantime, students who applied
for the coming year all received letters from EPA stating that only existing
fellowships would be funded and no new ones would be issued. The National
Council for Science and the Environment is heading up a campaign to help
protect these fellowships from elimination. More information at http://cnie.org/NCSE/SciencePolicy/?FID=1682.
AAPG Testifies on Oil and Gas Assessment Methodology
At a hearing on April 18th, the House Energy and Mineral Resources
Subcommittee addressed the methodology used to assess domestic oil and
gas resources on public lands. The hearing was prompted by a RAND Corporation
report: "Assessing Gas and Oil Resources in the Intermountain West: Review
of Methods and Framework for a New Approach". RAND is the original "think
tank" with much of its work funded by the federal government and particularly
the military, but this particular study was commissioned by the Hewlett
Foundation. The report criticizes the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and
other agencies for using technically recoverable resources as the basis
for reporting assessment results. Specifically, the RAND report criticizes
such an approach for failing to fully account for economic factors controlling
resource availability. Testifying on behalf of the report was Debra Knopman,
Associate Director of RAND Science and Technology, who was one of the authors.
She called for assessments to report economically "viable" resources. American
Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Secretary Charles J. Mankin
told the House that "technically recoverable resource is the correct base
to use when making policy decisions on competing use of federal lands.
Although further analysis of this resource base is perfectly justified
depending upon policy issues to be addressed, only the total resource base
can be used to balance against other competing social and environmental
uses or preservation of these lands." Mankin is Oklahoma State Geologist
and Director of the Sarkeys Energy Center at the University of Oklahoma.
Witness testimony can be found at http://www.house.gov/resources/107cong/energy/2002apr18/agenda.htm.
The RAND report is at http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1553.0/.
Geoscientists Respond to Snub in EPA Proposed Rule
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed "paperwork reduction"
regulations that recognize only Professional Engineers and Certified Hazardous
Materials Managers for a number of responsibilities under the Resources
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Those responsibilities include the
authority to sign off on issues related to hazard waste generation and
treatment-storage facilities, frequency of inspections of hazardous waste
tanks, training requirements, paperwork approval, treatability studies,
and facility contingency plans. During a public comment period for the
proposed rule, AGI and several of its member societies submitted their
concerns on the proposed regulations, arguing that EPA was disregarding
certified and licensed professional geologists. In, the proposed regulations,
EPA extends authority to Certified Hazardous Materials Managers, having
previously recognized only Professional Engineers. The original proposal
announcement was issued in the Federal Register on January 17, 2002 (Vol.
67, No. 12).
FCC Rule Inhibits Use of Ground-Penetrating Radar
Geophysicists are up in arms over a ruling by the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) that would essentially eliminate most commercial applications
of ground-penetrating radar (GPR), a widely used technology for imaging
buried objects. According to an FCC press release, GPR would be limited
to frequencies below 960 MHz and between 3.1 to 10.6 GHz, and its use in
those ranges would be "restricted to law enforcement, fire and rescue organizations,
to scientific research institutions, to commercial mining companies, and
to construction companies." Under the rule, consulting companies
and many other private-sector geophysicists would not be qualified users
of GPR instrumentation. Moreover, opponents of the ruling argue that numerous
GPR applications need the prohibited frequencies to properly image objects
such as conduits beneath concrete runways. GPR proponents also argue that
the FCC ruling jeopardizes the use of this technology for safety purposes
such as identifying buried power and gas lines. The principal driver for
the FCC action appears to be concern from the Department of Defense that
GPR could interfere with military wireless Global Positioning System units.
Complicating matters is FCC's view that the new rule is in fact a relaxation
of existing rules, implying that many current uses of GPR -- many of them
on behalf of the federal government -- are already illegal. A number of
groups, including several AGI member societies, are working to challenge
the FCC ruling. Additional information on their efforts can be found at
http://www.g-p-r.com and http://www.radar-solutions.com.
The FCC press release is at http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/News_Releases/2002/nret0203.html.
IPCC Gets New Leader
Marking a transition point for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), the group has elected the current IPCC Vice Chair, Dr. Rajendra
Pachauri of India, as the new Chairman. Pachauri replaces Dr. Robert Watson
of the World Bank, who was seeking a third term but was opposed by the
Bush Administration. A former Clinton White House official, Watson oversaw
the IPCC's Third Assessment Report. The United Nations Environment Programme
established IPCC in 1988 "to assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic
information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced
climate change." Unlike Watson, Pachauri is not an atmospheric scientist;
his area of expertise is economics and technology. He will chair
the group as it prepares for the fourth assessment on climate change, which
is expected to be released in 2007. The IPCC press release can be found
at http://www.ipcc.ch/press/pr20042002.htm.
Minerals Management Service Releases Next Five-Year
Leasing Plan
The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS)
announced in the April 19th Federal Register that it has issued a proposed
final five-year program for outer continental shelf (OCS) oil and gas leases.
MMS issued its draft plan last October, along with a draft Environmental
Impact Statement. The plan would schedule 20 leases in eight OCS
regions over the next five years. According to the MMS press release,
the only change made in the final proposal is one that would effect two
lease sales in the Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin area (off the northwestern edge
of Alaska) that would be designated as "special" lease sales. Under this
type of sale, MMS would issue a request of interest for each year of the
5-year plan. If industry expressed an interest, then MMS would continue
with the normal leasing process; otherwise, if no interest was expressed,
then the sale process would end. MMS submitted the plan to Congress and
the White House, setting the stage for Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton
to finalize the plan and put it into effect starting on July 1, 2002.
More at http://www.mms.gov/5-year/.
AGI Provides Testimony in Support of NSF, USGS, DOE
Programs
On April 16th, the American Geological Institute (AGI) provided both
oral and written testimony in support of the National Science Foundation's
geoscience programs to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD
& Independent Agencies. Like earlier testimony submitted to the subcommittee's
Senate counterpart, the testimony expresses concern over the president's
requested program transfers and calls for enhanced support for core programs
in the Geosciences Directorate. The testimony also calls for expansion
of the Major Research Equipment account to accommodate both existing projects
and the requested new starts, including the EarthScope initiative (which
is featured in the April issue of Geotimes at http://www.geotimes.org/april02).
On April 4th, AGI provided written testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies in support of budgets for the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Energy's Fossil Energy Research and Development program, and other geoscience-related programs within the subcommittee's jurisdiction. The testimony urges the subcommittee to reject proposed cuts to these programs. The text of these statements is on the AGI web site at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/testimon.html.
AGI Selects New Congressional Science Fellow
AGI is pleased to announce the selection of Larry Kennedy as the 2002-2003
AGI Congressional Science Fellow. He will succeed current fellow David
Curtiss, who is serving on the staff of Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK), chairman
of the House Republican Conference. Kennedy is currently pursuing a masters
degree in hydrology at the University of Nevada, Reno following a 15-year
career in mineral exploration. Prior to entering the mining industry, he
received a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Western Ontario and
a B.A. in earth science from Wesleyan University. Kennedy will join fellows
from GSA, AGU, SSSA, and more than twenty other science and engineering
societies for an orientation session in September followed by placement
in the office of a representative, senator, or congressional committee
for the following year. The AGI fellowship is supported by a generous grant
from the AGI Foundation. More on the fellowship at http://www.agiweb.org/gapac/csf.html.
The May 2002 issue of Geotimes includes a column by David Curtiss
on "Becoming a Standard Bearer"; see http://www.geotimes.org/may02/scene.html.
Geotimes Special Policy Issue Features EarthScope
The April 2002 issue of Geotimes is the seventh annual special
geoscience and public policy issue. The cover story describes the EarthScope
initiative, the first-ever earth science project to be requested as part
of the National Science Foundation's Major Research Equipment account.
A related Political Scene column addresses the challenge faced by the geoscience
community in turning the president's budget request for EarthScope into
actual appropriations. The second feature focused on the role of geology
on Native American lands, particularly the role of the USGS. The Comment
is by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), chairman of the House Science Committee.
Most of these articles can be found on the web at http://www.geotimes.org/april02/.
New Material on Web Site
The following updates and reports were added to the Government Affairs
portion of AGI's web site http://www.agiweb.org/gap
since the last monthly update:
Sources: E&E News, Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Communications Commission, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Radar Solutions, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, House Resources Committee, House Science Committee.
Please send any comments or requests for information to AGI Government Affairs Program at govt@agiweb.org.
Posted May 3, 2002
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