I’ve written this article to invite your active involvement in the AAPG’s Division of Environmental Geosciences. Even those who are already DEG members, and especially those who are not, might not realize our DEG has four ad hoc technical committees: the Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Committee, the Environmental Geophysics Committee, the Water Resources Committee and the Fugitive Gases and Emissions Committee. We welcome your involvement in one or more of these committees.
CCUS Committee
The mission of the CCUS Committee is to develop programs for AAPG’s annual, sectional, regional and international meetings, as well as lectures, short courses and publications that will demonstrate the current CO2 sequestration studies and projects as they relate to environmental issues and problems; and to present CO2 sequestration-related subject areas and skills that might be of interest to fellow AAPG geoscientists, including the following areas:
- Carbon dioxide sequestration in geological media
- Regional assessment of CO2 geological sequestration potential
- Methodologies for evaluation of sites for geologic carbon dioxide sequestration
- Experience and new results from current geological sequestration projects
- Modeling and simulation of carbon dioxide geological sequestration
- Monitoring sequestration performance
- Economics and regulatory aspects of carbon dioxide sequestration
Other Committees
The Environmental Geophysics Committee’s main subject matter of current interest is induced seismicity, although understanding high-resolution microseismicity in deep underground mines is also of interest to the committee.
The Water Resources Committee’s mission is to develop hydrogeology, soil, groundwater cleanup and water management programs for AAPG annual, sectional, regional and international meetings, as well as lectures, short courses and publications that will demonstrate the current applications of hydrogeological techniques to environmental problems. Goals of the Committee are also to promote AAPG (along with its DEG) as an organization relevant to hydrogeology, to attempt to identify what the average AAPG member needs to know to be a more effective hydrogeologist and environmental geoscientist, to present hydrogeology-related subjects and projects and to develop skills that might be of interest to fellow AAPG geoscientists, including these areas:
- Water resources
- Groundwater contamination and remediation
- Groundwater modeling-water resources and contaminant flow transport
- Site assessment and conceptual site models
- Groundwater geochemistry
The Fugitive Gases and Emissions Committee’s mission is to better understand, measure and mitigate fugitive gases (primarily methane) and gas emissions associated with oil and gas operations, as they are a source of direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, such emissions are also difficult to quantify with a high degree of accuracy.
If you’d like to become involved in one or more of the above technical committees, or better yet are willing to chair one, please let me or one of my fellow DEG officers know.
Thanks to Fellow Officers
In closing, I again want to thank our membership for permitting me to serve as your 2023-24 DEG president, and I also acknowledge and voice my appreciation of the service of my fellow DEG officers: Mattias Imhof, president-elect (2023-24); Sherilyn Williams-Stroud, vice president (2023-25); Disnahir Pinto, secretary-treasurer (2023-25); and Autumn Haagsma, editor (2023-25).
I can be reached at [email protected].