Next Meeting Wednesday May 26: "Environmental Consulting: Where We're At and Where We're Going"

AEG is excited to announce our next dinner meeting! The meeting will be on held Wednesday May 26, 2010 at El Peñasco located at the SWC of Mill Ave and Broadway in Tempe.

We'll start off at 6:00pm with a hosted happy hour courtesy of Geomechanics Southwest. Dinner will be at 7pm with the presentation starting shortly after dinner.Our speaker is Duane Kreuger, the AEG 2010 President. Duane's presentation is titled "Environmental Consulting: Where We're At and Where We're Going".

We will also be holding officer elections at the meeting. We have an opening for Vice Chair, please consider volunteering!

Please RSVP to Bonnie Whitley at bonniewhitleype@gmail.com by noon on Monday May 24th.

Thank you and hope to see you there for this rare Wednesday meeting!

Bonnie Whitley, P.E.

Geologists: "We May Be Running Out of Rocks"

The always insightful news source The Onion brings attention the very real threat of running out of rocks. What we all do !?!

How Badly are Arizona Budget Cuts Hurting Agencies Like ADWR and ADEQ?

There is an interesting article in today's Arizona Republic about the affects of budget cuts on state agencies like ADWR and ADEQ. It should be no surprise that the outlook is fairly grim. And while it's actually a decent article, if anything, the situation is actually much worse than the article hints at.

News and Updates

I apologize that it’s been so quite around here – it’s a combination of me being pretty busy and not so much to report. I’m off to AEG mid-year Board of Directors Meeting in St. Louis this weekend and am looking forward to it. So, here is a bit of summary of some interesting things going on.

• The April Arizona Section newsletter is available. Please give it a read – included are upcoming meeting date and other interesting information. The next meeting is on WEDNESDAY, May 26th at El Peñasco. The speaker is AEG President Duane Krueger and the topic is “Environmental Consulting: Where We’re At and Where We’re Going”. Please join us.
  
• As usual, the Arizona Geology Blog is full of interesting and useful information. A few highlights:

-USGS wants to stop calling them “100-year floods”
-Lots of information on the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano (Iceland) eruption
-AZGS is Hiring!
-Underground Gas Storage Project in Eloy

• The Arizona Hydrological Society (AHS) and the AHS Foundation will award three $2,000.00 student Scholarships in 2010. The purpose of this award is to encourage full-time students of hydrology, hydrogeology, or any other water-resource-related fields at any Arizona university or college to excel in their area of study. Any junior, senior or graduate student who fits this description can apply. The Scholarship application deadline has been extended to May 28, 2010!
  
  
  

ADWR Funding Slashed

The FY 2011 budget for Arizona that has been passed by the legislature (but not signed into law yet) includes a cut of 60% for ADWR, which has already been cut significantly in the past 2 years, including a mass lay-off of over 25% of its workforce. Obviously these additional cuts would cripple and already under-funded agency that plays a critical role in the geoscience community and in the health, safety, and future of Arizona residents. I urge all AEG members and non-members reading this to consider writing letters to their representatives (follow this link for who and how to contact), the governor’s office (contact), and even the head of ADWR (contact) to plead for programs you feel are critical. The list of potential areas of cuts is long and includes things like InSAR and subsidence monitoring, well permitting, well data, the GWSI, the ability to regulate water usage, dam safety and many of the other key roles filled by ADWR.

I haven’t checked how other agencies fair in this proposed budget, but my guess is that agencies like ADEQ, AZGS, ADOT, State Lands, and others are hurt equally as bad.

I always find it ironic that legislators that speak of how important jobs are to the residents of Arizona cut so many of the jobs they actually have direct control over.

Landslides are Cool

Ok, landslides may be cool, but they can also be very tragic, so please don't pay much attention to the title. Anyway, there is a spectacular video of a landslide in Maierato, Italy. For more detailed info, head over to Dave's Landslide Blog, but the video is below.

Arizona Geo-News

As usual all of the Arizona Geo-News I have comes from the Arizona Geology Blog - something I recommend that everyone follow.

• DOE is reportedly going to retract it's application for Yucca Mountain


• There is lot's of news regarding the fate of the Department of Mines and Minerals and the Mining and Mineral Museum.


• The Arizona Snow-pac is 232% of the 30-year average.

• Did subsidence cause flooding in Whendon?

• 'Y Crack' earth fissure re-opens

• Geothermal powerplant proposed near St. Johns

The New and Improved Earth Fissure Viewer at AZGS

The AZGS has just released the newest version of the Earth Fissure Viewer: http://www.blogger.com/www.azgs.az.gov/efv.shtml. It is much improved and incorporates a Google maps environment, complete with search engine. (http://www.blogger.com/www.azgs.az.gov/efv)

Some features:

Earth Fissure Viewer http://www.azgs.az.gov/efv provides an interactive and searchable map that displays over 330 miles of earth fissures in Cochise, Maricopa, Pima and Pinal Counties.

Principal Features of the Earth Fissure Viewer

• A Google Maps environment:
  > choice of street map or terrain background.
  > maximum zoom scale 1:18,000 (1 inch = 1,500 feet).
  > rapid address search via Google search engine.
• Shows earth fissure study areas (e.g., Scottsdale, Luke)
• Color-coded earth fissure key
• Fissure study area maps available for download (*.pdf)

AEG Foundation Silent Auction

2010 is well underway and so are plans for this year’s AEG Foundation Silent Auction. This year the money that is raised by the auction will support the Lemke Fund. The Lemke fund supports the scholarly and professional development of student members of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists by awarding grants intended to offset part of the cost of attending and participating in the association’s Annual Meetings. These grants are awarded to students at the undergraduate or graduate levels. The AEG Foundation will make the awards to deserving student members who are sole author or first author of a paper or poster that they personally present at the annual meeting. Students are the future of AEG, so let’s start now thinking about making a contribution to this year’s auction and by contributing you will be supporting not only the association, but our students.

Attached you will find two documents that were developed for this year’s auction. One is a Donation Form and the other is the Silent Auction Newsletter. Please review and if you have questions concerning either document, please contact Donna Schmitz, AEG Foundation – Silent Auction-Chair at donnas@ext.msstate.edu.

On behalf of the Foundation, thank you for your continued support!

ASU Student-Professional Meet and Greet

Greetings AEG Members and Supporters,

As part of our attempt to outreach to ASU students and faculty, AEG has been working closely with ASU’s GeoClub, a student organization within the School of Earth and Space Exploration. GeoClub will be hosting a Student/Professional Meet and Greet evening on Tuesday March 9th at 5:30 pm. The purpose of the meet and greet event is to provide an informal setting where students can meet with professionals and ask questions related to work in engineering, geology and geology related fields and how they can tailor their course choices and other trainings to prepare for work in the engineering and geologic consulting industry. It is anticipated that refreshments and networking will be the order of business from 5:30 to 6:00 pm with student/professional interaction following.

GeoClub has solicited the support of AEG’s professional membership by attending the event and meeting with students to answering their questions.

If you are a practicing professional, please consider supporting this event by attending and meeting informally with students to answer their questions. Official announcement of this event is expected from ASU’s GeoClub soon and will be forwarded to you upon receipt.

If you are interested, please contact me at the e-mail address provided below.

Best regards,

Gregg Mitchell, R.G.
Student Liaison, Arizona Section, AEG
mailto:user.name@hdrinc.com

PS Please also start thinking about supporting the upcoming Fifth Annual AEG/AHS Student Night event. This year’s event will be held at ASU’s Tempe campus on Tuesday, April 6th. The event is being promoted by the ASU School of Sustainable Engineering and the Build Environment’s Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering program, the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and GeoClub. Formal announcements are being formalized and will be forthcoming.