As I was driving four hours through the east Texas Piney Woods in the rain just to attend an AAPG leadership meeting in Shreveport, I thought about all of the great volunteers AAPG has, and has had over the years, who make AAPG a worthy and functional organization. In previous installments of the EMD President’s Column, you may have read a plea for new members. To me, this seemed a little like attempting to create a response by yelling “theater” at a crowded fire. Although the Energy Minerals Division has recently lost members commensurate with the decline in general AAPG membership, EMD’s total membership remains healthy with more than 3,000 members. Our membership is composed of a diverse group, representing a wide range of geological experience levels from industry, academia and government.
Rather than focusing on a pure numbers game, EMD’s focus this year will be on servant leadership. Our challenge is to identify members who are willing to participate in one of our many committees and serve as new leaders to replace the current committee chairs and officers, many whose terms will expire in 2019. We currently have a vacancy for chair of the Oil Shale Committee, for example.
Please visit the EMD page of the AAPG website at AAPG.org/division/EMD and browse the EMD committees. The intent of these committees is to provide resources to all AAPG members to promote the geology of unconventional and alternate energy by providing periodic reports and other information. More importantly, these committees provide a forum to meet and converse with other geologists who share a common interest. Contact one of the chairs of the commodity committee that interests you to learn how you may become involved.
EMD Officer Election Results
Continuing with the servant leadership theme, I would like to introduce and welcome the new EMD officers. The ballot for EMD officer election opened on Sept. 24, and closed Oct. 7. Each will serve a one-year term for the remaining fiscal year, except for the secretary position which is for two years.
- President-Elect (2018-19): Edith Wilson, Rock Whisperer LLC (Oklahoma)
- Vice President (2018-19): Robert Coskey, Rose Exploration (Colorado)
- Secretary (2018-20): David Barnes, Chevron (California)
In addition to the newly elected officers, the following officers continue to serve on the executive committee:
- Past-President (2018-19): Doug Wyatt, AECOM and NASA (Florida)
- President (2018-19): Wayne Camp, Anadarko Petroleum (Texas)
EMD 40th Anniversary
One of EMD’s major goals this year it to improve member engagement. One way we are doing this is by updating the content on our website with the assistance of AAPG web producer Bogdan Michka, and increasing the frequency of articles and news. In the works is a retrospective article by members Michael Campbell, Brian Cardott and Bill Ambrose on the founding and history of EMD to celebrate our 40th anniversary in 2017. If you would like to be part of this and have any interesting story or historical insight, feel free to contact me so it can be forwarded. This will appear in an upcoming issue of the EXPLORER. Other upcoming articles include an update on the canadian oil sands by Milovan Fustic and gas hydrate research by Timothy Collett.
ACE 2019 in San Antonio
EMD Vice Chair Ursula Hammes reports that there is again a strong interest in domestic and foreign unconventional energy for the 2019 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition to be held in San Antonio, May 19-22. There are two EMD-sponsored general themes for the technical sessions – Theme 5: Unconventional Resources, and Theme 9: Exploration Frontiers, Energy Minerals, and Planetary Geology. As of Oct. 1, the Unconventional Resources theme currently leads the total number of submitted abstracts for the convention. Hopefully you had an opportunity to submit an abstract by the Oct. 11 deadline to highlight your professional work. Final sessions will be organized by 2019 ACE technical committee based on the number of quality abstracts received. EMD has also proposed short courses, the joint EMD/Division of Environmental Geosciences Luncheon, special sessions and hosts the always lively Unconventional Reservoirs Research Committee Session.
GSA Niobrara Session Call for Abstracts
As part of AAPG’s goal to increase inter-society cooperation, EMD has proposed a technical session titled, “Niobrara: Outcrop to Foreland” for the Geological Society of America combined South-Central, North-Central and Rocky Mountain Section Meeting to be held March 25-27, 2019 in Manhattan, Kan.
The Niobrara is an important unconventional energy resource for the Rocky Mountain and surrounding geographic area that may be underappreciated by non-petroleum geologists. Note, there currently is not a Niobrara subtheme for the San Antonio ACE, so please consider submitting an abstract to help improve the understanding and development of this resource, which is currently the focus of considerable political debate in Colorado. For more information visit GeoSociety.org. Abstract deadline is Dec. 4, 2018.
What’s in a Name?
I am occasionally asked, “What is an energy mineral?” None of the past explanations that I have heard are totally satisfactory to encompass the wide range of unconventional and alternate energy sources that our division represents. Which begs the question, “Should EMD change its name to better describe what we represent as a division?”
Because EMD has a long history, there is some risk in losing our recognized brand, “EMD,” if we changed our name to something that did not fit the EMD acronym. A few suggestions have been made in the past, without much agreement, and so the energy mineral name has been retained. SEPM was faced with a similar quandary when they decided to replace their name from what their members felt was an archaic reference, “Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists” to the new “Society for Sedimentary Geology.” Their solution was to keep the SEPM moniker and append it with the new name: SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology.
EMD could adopt a similar solution such as “EMD Unconventional and Alternate Energy Division.” We would also need to modify the EMD logo.
Tell me what you think by logging in and leaving a comment below (if you’re reading this online) to begin a conversation, or contact me privately by email: [email protected].