As the president of the Division of Environmental Geosciences, I have been asking many questions, with the most important being “What does, or did, the DEG do?” and “What should we do to move forward?”
Not surprisingly, the answer to the first question is that DEG members are doing a lot.
Starting with the International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy, the Energy Minerals Division and the DEG jointly host a luncheon with a distinguished guest speaker. This year, our speaker was Dr. Benjamin Burke, CEO of Gradient Geothermal, Inc. In his presentation entitled “New Energy in New Energies: The Broadening of Energy Minerals Takes Hold,” Dr. Burke took us on a walk across earth, water, air and fire all the way to the moon and beyond to examine the broad market trends in these new energy resources and to offer perspectives on what the new markets can learn from the incumbents and vice versa.
Although not branded as such, DEG also participated in post-convention workshops on critical minerals, carbon capture and storage and reservoir characterization, sustainability and orphan wells.
Orphan Wells, Among Other Webinars
Orphan wells are a core concern for the Division. Depending on one’s point of view, orphan, idle, abandoned and marginal wells are either a problem or an opportunity, or maybe both at the same time. Given the large number of such wells, there is great need to plug or repurpose wells, to reduce emissions and protect water supplies, or to extend their life. Over the past few years, we held multiple workshops, conferences and webinars on this topic with the next scheduled for February 2025 (see accompanying image for details).
On the topic of webinars, during the past two years, I discovered the value of them. Not constrained by time nor space, they offer a quick fix for learning and curiosity. I learned about orphan and marginal wells, natural hydrogen, geothermal, hydrology and geothermal energy. Independent of branding, I learned a lot about needs and opportunities in the energy transition.
Last but not least is the annual CCUS Conference in Houston, whose organizing committee was seeded from the now defunct DEG CCUS Committee.
In summary, there are many activities organized and influenced by DEG members. Thus I will answer my second question with another: “How can we use these activities to grow a community of environmental geoscientists?”
Most of the ingredients are there already. Maybe we can complement it with additional activities, for example with a webinar series or by involving our local chapters, and spice it up with branding and information? Stay tuned …