Floodplain Management Association Annual Conference

CALL FOR TECHNICAL PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS!
Floodplain Management Association Annual Conference
September 8-11, San Jose, CA
The Fairmont Hotel

Investing in Floodplains for Future Generations: Innovation in Land Use Strategies, Green Infrastructure, Technology and Community-Based Partnerships

You are invited to participate in this year's premier conference in Floodplain Management in the U.S.!

Join experts and policy makers in addressing the most urgent and critical issues in floodplain management including new funding for floodplain infrastructure; solutions for leveraging local, state and federal resources; cutting edge tools for floodplain mapping, analysis and sustainable development; and innovative partnerships with community-based organizations. As the premier conference in floodplain management in the U.S., this event brings over 500 attendees from around the world and a world class exhibition program, offering extraordinary networking and professional development opportunities.

Review the Presentation Guidelines and upload your presentation by visiting the on-line Abstract Submittal Web Page or our Conference Page. Deadline: May 29!

Technical Program

The technical component of the conference will include oral presentations, workshops and posters highlighting programs and projects in a number of areas including the following:

• Financing Floodplain Management Projects
• Innovative Mapping and State of the Art Tools and Technology
• Green Infrastructure Design
• Sustainable Floodplain Development
• Flood Management Solutions
• Multi-Objective Floodplain Management
• Watershed Management Approaches
• Geomorphic Processes and Stream Restoration
• Water Quality & Stream Sustainability
• Climate Change
• Alluvial Fans
• Coastal Floodplains
• Floodplain Mapping and Database Management
• Mitigation Planning
• Disaster Preparedness and Response
• Public Education and Outreach
• Economic Partnerships and Cost-Sharing
• Working through Community-Based Organizations
  

We look forward to another outstanding conference!

Sincerely,

Iovanka Todt, Executive Director

Floodplain Management Association
www.floodplain.org

Next Meeting - March 26th, 2009

Dear AEG Members, Professional Colleagues, Students, and Friends:

The Arizona Section of AEG is pleased to announce that our next meeting will be held on Thursday, March 26, 2009 at Pizzeria Uno in Tempe. The hosted social hour begins at 6 PM (thanks to Geomechanics Southwest, Inc.), dinner is usually around 7 PM and the talk will begin shortly after dinner. The presentation topic is "Something to Chew on- Rock is More Nutritious than Dirt" presented by Dr. Edmund Medley, Ph.D., PE, CEG, F.ASCE. Dr. Medley is the 2009 Jahn's Lecturer and we are thrilled to hear him speak. Hope to see you all there!

Please RSVP, Heather Hespeler(hhespeler@ninyoandmoore.com) by Monday, March 23rd.

Geoenvironmental Engineering Conference

Second Call for Abstracts

April 15, 2009 - Submission of Abstracts
April 30, 2009 - Acceptance of Abstracts
June 1, 2009 - Submission of Power Point Presentations

E-mail: gee2009@civil.ubc.ca

Conference website:
http://gee2009.civil.ubc.ca


Loretta Li, Ph.D., P.Eng.

GEE2009, Conference Chair
Associate Professor

Department of Civil Engineering

The University of British Columbia

6250 Applied Science Lane

Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4

Tel. 604 822-1820

Fax: 604 822-6901

E-mail: lli@civil.ubc.ca

Geothermal Energy in the West Conference

Geothermal Energy in the West

March 26 & 27, 2009

Los Angeles, CA (Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles)

For attorneys working with renewable energy, here is an excellent opportunity for up-to-date information on geothermal energy. Our panel of leading lawyers, agency officials, developers and utility managers will provide expert analysis on:

• Provisions of the stimulus package for geothermal developments
• Lease issues including BLM's new leasing policies
• Permit requirements and key recent de velopments to streamline process
• New water rights, water use, lease, markets and injection issues
• Using tax credits, tax equity and other financing issues
• Selling to the California market and green designations
• New technologies
• Transmission issues, and more

Sign up soon.

Program Chairs: Edwin F. Feo, Esq. of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP, William H. Holmes, Esq. of Stoel Rives LLP, and Kevin R. McSpadden, Esq. of Vulcan Power Company

Intended Audience

Attorneys, industry executives, public officials, and consultants interested in geothermal development as a low carbon emission technology and as a way for meeting renewable portf o lio standards

Registration

Register here or call us at (800) 854-8009

Credits Available:

• CA MCLE 13
• NV CLE 12.5
• OR CLE 13.75
• WA CLE 12.75
• Call about others

I hope to see you there.

Kate JohnsonPresident

AEG/AHS Student Night Reminder

I just want to remind everyone about the AEG/AHS Student Night that is coming up on April 2nd at the University of Arizona Student Union. You can get all the information at the following link:

http://aegarizona.blogspot.com/2009/02/aegahs-student-night-2009.html

Required Reading RE Alternative Energy Development

Last year when I was attending the AIPG/AHS annual meeting here in Flagstaff the best talk I saw was titled "You Say Alternatives Are the Answer...Let's Talk: Resource Constraints on Alternative Energy Development" by James. R. Burnell, the Minerals Geologist with the Colorado Geological Survey.

The talk was fascinating and well presented, and now it's available in print form. A full-length, peer-reviewed article of the same title is pubished in the March/April 2009 issue of The Professional Geologist (a publication of AIPG - scroll down to page 33 for the start of the article). This article should absolutely be required reading for all people involved in policy about alternative energy development. I've copied the Abstract below.

YOU SAY ALTERNATIVES ARE THE ANSWER …LET’S TALK:
Resource Constraints on Alternative Energy Development
James R. Burnell, MEM-0205

Abstract

Public support is growing for the development of energy generation from renewable sources. An aspect of renewables that is possibly unknown by many, however, is the hardware needs for these technologies. The infrastructure requires mined materials, including imported strategic and critical minerals. Silica, copper, gallium, indium, selenium, cadmium and tellurium are required for the dominant photovoltaic technologies. Silver and aluminum are necessary for “concentrating solar power” technology. Zinc, vanadium, platinum group metals, and rare earth elements are key components of power storage, hybrid vehicle, and fuel cell applications. All these materials must be mined. At present, the U.S. is woefully dependent upon import sources for most of these materials and demand is already squeezing the prices. Domestic sources must be found and developed if energy independence is to be achieved using alternative sources.

For the record, I generally consider myself something of an 'environmentalist' and support a what could be classified as a 'liberal' approach to alternative energy development, but I'm also a realist and pragmatist, and science-based assessments such this are critical to the issue.

Opening a Can of Worms - Curriculum Reform at ASU

Yesterday I opened a can of worms by sending a letter to folks over at ASU regarding their plans for curriculum reform and informing other professional organizations who may be interested. This was in immediate response to plans I had heard for them to eliminate the Geology BS degree at ASU. It was also in part an attempt at re-engagement with ASU in respect to curriculum. I had provided input to the department as they created the School of Earth and Space Exploration out of the department of Geological Sciences and the department of Astronomy (there may have been others as well) back in 2005. During the planning stages I had some great interaction, but once the department was formed and a new director hired, I heard nothing. My attempts at contact were unanswered - the professors I had dealt with previously were responsive but no longer in places of authority and it appeared that the those in authority were too busy with other things. Before long I simply gave up as I was also busy with other things. Anyway, I digress.

The letter I sent was lengthy and essentially provided suggestions for curriculum as well as research directions important to the practice of geology. As a public university (regardless of how poor the state funding is at the moment) I feel that ASU has a responsibility to the people of Arizona to provide education needs for the state. From the perspective of practicing geologists, ASU has been falling short for some time and the trend heading in the wrong direction. I hope to work with ASU reverse this trend.

Lee Allison (the State Geologist) posted an email response to me from Tom Sharp, the Associate Director for Undergraduate Studies in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and I've copied what he posted below:

Let me clarify what we are doing with our degrees. Currently we have a B.S. in Geological Sciences and a B.S. in Earth and Space Exploration. We are going to make the degree in Geological Sciences a concentration within the Earth and Space Exploration B.S. Although this is technically doing away with the BS in Geological Sciences, in reality is is simply putting it under the umbrella of Earth and Space Exploration. Under that umbrella, the degree is more rigorous and has an engineering component.

There will be several other Earth and Space Exploration tracks that students can select including astrophysics, earth and space exploration (earth and space science combined with engineering), and instrumentation. Already, our geology majors are sharing classes with Earth and Space majors and engineers. I think that we should consider a concentration in engineering geology.

We are also creating a new degree, which is a B.A.in environmental earth science. This is not as rigorous as our geology degree, but we feel that there is a market for such a degree and that it might help grow all of our programs.

One of the issues that I am also dealing with right now is field geology. With all the budget cuts and a change in student fee accounting, we are having difficulty paying for field trips and field classes. We all agree that these are critical, but we have to be creative about how to finance these. We will be setting up a foundation account specifically to support field studies and requesting that alumni and local industry contribute to make sure that we can keep a strong field program going in spite of cuts in state funding.

His response is a little reassuring but mostly troubling. I hope that the new degree track will indeed be more rigorous and that it will return to a strong geology degree. But, I think that generally re-aligning degrees in this manner often lowers the bar rather than raises it. I fear that if the bar is lowered any further that it could adversely impact the practice of geology in the state of Arizona. However, this does seem to be the beginning of a dialogue - potentially a very productive dialogue, so I do have hope.

Another troubling aspect is the last comment regarding field geology and field trips for their geology classes. Field trips and field geology are absolutely essential to the practice of geology. However the funding issues work out, a geology program without field trips is like a restaurant without food - pointless. I hope that solutions can be found for this very troubling development.

I may post the text of the full letter at some point, but for now I think I've rocked the boat enough.

NEPA & EIS Compliance in Arizona: Seminar on March 18

NEPA and EIS Compliance

March 18, 2009

Phoenix, AZ (Wyndham Phoenix Hotel)

View program and register here.

This year's seminar on NEPA/EIS in Arizona looks at important new questions for all legal, real estate and environmental professionals. Will there be more litigation in this clim ate? The NEPA process is implicated in a lot of different ways, and our distinguished faculty will look at NEPA's scope and the extent to which it is involved in small federal actions; the impact of the transfer of Colorado River water rights; and the use of NEPA or tribal master agreements for energy projects on tribal lands. Also featured here is a current, practical, how-to on the ten most important things you need to know about today's EIS process. Sign up quickly.

Program Chairs: Carla A. Consoli, Esq. of Lewis and Roca LLP and G. Van Velsor Wolf, Jr., Esq. of Snell & Wilmer LLP

Intended Audience

Attorneys, environmental and real estate professionals, governmental representatives, planners and consultants

Registration

Register here or call us at (800) 854-8009

Credits Available:

• AZ CLE 6.5


• CA MCLE 6.75


• AICP CM 6.5 inc 1.5 Law CM


• Call about others.

I hope to see you there.

Kate Johnson

President

AEG National Meeting Call for Abstracts

AEG - Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists will host its 2009 Annual Meeting in beautiful Lake Tahoe - Sept. 21 to 26, 2009

You are invited to submit a one-page abstract by April 1st.

For abstract submission instructions, visit the AEG website at: www.aegweb.org or use the following links for more information:

http://www.aegweb.org/files/public/Microsoft_Word_AEG_Call_for_Abstracts_Website.pdf

Or:

http://www.aegweb.org/files/public/2nd_email_blast_document.pdf

AEG Awards Committee Solicitation for Nominations for 2009

The AEG Awards committee is soliciting nominations for the three awards for which our committee is responsible. The Awards are: Claire P. Holdredge Award, Floyd T. Johnston Service Award, and the Douglas R. Piteau Outstanding Young Member Award. Please consider making a nomination. There are many deserving members, but they must be nominated for consideration. Send nominations to the Committee Chair (Roz Munro) for the Awards Committee to evaluate. The AEG Awards Committee consists of: Rosalind Munro (Chair), Jessica Humble, and Kenneth Neal.

1. The Claire P. Holdredge Award is presented for a publication within the previous five years by an AEG Member that is judged to be an outstanding contribution to the Environmental & Engineering Geology Profession. Nominations for this award are made by the membership at large to the Awards Committee. Please submit a nomination with the name(s) of the AEG publication member(s), the title of the publication, and the publisher information.

2. The Floyd T. Johnston Service Award is presented to an AEG Member for outstanding active and faithful service to the Association over a minimum period of nine years to coincide with Floyd's tenure as Executive Director. Contemporary Board members are not eligible until one year after leaving office. Nominations for this award are made by the membership at large to the Awards Committee. For nominations to be valid, they must be endorsed by three members having different AEG Section affiliations. Please submit a nomination with the nominee endorsed by the required three members from different AEG Sections.

3. The Douglas R. Piteau Outstanding Young Member Award is given presented to an AEG Member who is age 35 or under (who is not 36 until January 1 in the year following the Annual Meeting at which the Award is given) and has excelled, either singly or in combination, in the areas of Technical Accomplishment, Service to the Association, and/or Service to the Environmental & Engineering Geology Profession. Please submit your nomination, or a nomination by your AEG Section. Each AEG Section may choose and publicize the name of an individual deserving of the Award and nominate that individual to the Award Committee.

All Award nominations must be submitted to the AEG Awards Committee by March 31st . All nominations for the Awards must be supported by descriptions of the individual’s accomplishments and/or service to the industry or publication’s merit (as appropriate to the award). The AEG Awards Committee, at its discretion, selects the final candidates from the nominees for each Award. Then the AEG Awards Committee forwards the Award selection recommendations to the President for confirmation.

Please send or email your nomination to the Awards Committee Chair at the address below.


Rosalind Munro, Chair

e-mail: rmunro@mactec.com
(323) 889-5366
MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc.
5628 E. Slauson Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90040