ALEXANDRIA, VA - The American Geological Institute (AGI) welcomes the Geothermal Resources Council (GRC) to the Federation, bringing to 41 the number of member societies. The AGI Member Society Council unanimously approved the GRC's petition at its Council meeting held in Salt Lake City on May 12, 2003, during the annual conference of American Association of Petroleum Geologists. "The addition of the GRC clearly demonstrates that the geosciences encompass a broad spectrum of disciplines," said AGI Executive Director Marcus E. Milling, "and while each of our member societies has unique missions and goals, the continued growth of the Federation validates our role in providing a forum for discussion and collaboration on common interests and issues."

    The GRC is one of the world's premier geothermal associations and serves as a focal point for outreach, information transfer, and educational activities. With nearly 850 individual members from more than 25 countries, the GRC is an interdisciplinary educational organization comprised of geologists, geophysicists, reservoir engineers, and mining engineers, as well as resource developers, power producers, and equipment manufacturers, who are interested in harnessing the Earth's natural heat for a myriad of beneficial uses. "The affiliation of GRC with AGI provides a flow of new geologic and technical thought to both organizations," said Stuart D. Johnson, GRC President (2003-04). "The geothermal industry is too often caught up in the unique aspect of this resource and overlooks the contributions of the greater geologic community. Similarly, new geologic insights from the geothermal community are often overlooked in our limited exposure publications."

    Established in 1972, the GRC encourages the development of geothermal resources worldwide through the collection and timely distribution of data and technological information and provides a public forum for the geothermal community. It publishes the GRC Bulletin (6 issues per year), which offers articles on geothermal resource and development issues and technical topics, as well as commentary and news briefs. The GRC also makes available the most comprehensive online geothermal library anywhere in the world, featuring over 35,000 individual bibliographic citations from books, articles, papers, and other publications. Its Annual Meetings feature technical and poster sessions, short courses, field trips, and an allied trade show. For more information about the GRC, visit http//:www.geothermal.org.

    The American Geological Institute is a nonprofit federation of 41 scientific and professional associations that represent more than 100,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in our profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society's use of resources and interaction with the environment. More information about AGI can be found at http://www.agiweb.org/. The Institute also provides a public-outreach web site, http://www.earthscienceworld.org/.

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