Hudson – Mohawk
Professional Geologists Association
M a y
M E E T I N G
H M P G A
w w w . h m p g a . o r g
The State of Oil
& Natural Gas Rules
May 17, 2017
Speaker: Ona Papageorgiou, P.E.,
Bureau of Air Quality Planning, Division of Air
Resources, NYSDEC
Abstract: The oil and natural gas sector is rapidly changing and
frequently in the spotlight as the general public becomes more
aware and concerned about methane and other air
emissions. Studies indicate that significant amounts of methane
and other air pollutants are emitted from this sector through process
activity and leaks. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has
acted on these studies by developing regulations for this source of
emissions. This presentation will begin with New York State’s
history with oil and natural gas. The presenter will then demonstrate
how air emissions are estimated and how those estimates lead to
regulation. Finally, a summary will be presented of where oil and
natural gas regulations stand now.
M a y
M E E T I N G
About the Presenter: Ona Papageorgiou,
P.E. is an environmental engineer with the
New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation. She has been responsible for
the implementation of several VOC rules and
is currently responsible for the development of
an air emissions focused oil and natural gas
rule for New York State. She serves as a
member of the Environmental Council of
States
innovative
methane
detection
technologies team and brings 18 years of both
private and public experience to her role as a
regulator. Ona received a B.S. degree in
chemical engineering from Arizona State
University and an M.S. degree in
environmental engineering from Worcester
Polytechnic Institute.
Reservations are required by Monday
May 15, 2017
Whether attending the dinner
or only the presentation.
Register on-line at www.hmpga.org
Call or email Marie Cole at (518) 724-7254 • [email protected]
Cost: $10.00 for student members
$20.00 for dormant geologists
$25.00 for members
$30.00 for non-members
program only: Free
Location:
Century House
997 New Loudon Road
Latham, NY 12110
Time:
Social Hour
Dinner
Program
5:00pm
6:00pm
7:00pm
Dinner Sponsors receive free dinner, a display table set up for the social hour and a 5 minute
presentation to the dinner audience, prior to the presentation. Please contact Jesse Vollick at
[email protected] for more information.
S T U D E N T
E X P O
Thank you to our student
presenters who exhibited their
projects at our April meeting. The
five students are listed below and
embody the great work that is
continuing in the Union College
and RPI geology departments.
These students represent the
bright future of the geology field.
Alexander
Dolcimascolo
Union
College
"Union College Water Initiative (UCWI)"
[email protected]
Alice Hayden
Union
College
"Temporal and Spatial Variability of PFOA in Hoosick Falls, NY"
[email protected]
Maxwell
Drexler
RPI
"Experimental Attempts at Chert Synthesis"
[email protected]
Abbey Van
Alstyne-Ponce
RPI
"Investigating Metabolisms from the Deep Biosphere"
[email protected]
Chris Lore
RPI
"Laboratory Synthesis of Gem Quality Tourmaline"
[email protected]
May 2017
3
O f f i c e r s
President
Kevin Phelan
(518) 348-6995
[email protected]
Vice President
Josh Gowan
(518) 348-6995
[email protected]
Treasurer
Scott Hulseapple
(518) 348-6995
[email protected]
Secretary
Luanne Whitbeck
(518) 475- 1008
[email protected]
Past President
Frank Williams
(518) 560-5912
[email protected]
B oa r d
M embe r s
Jesse Vollick
(518) 724-7265
[email protected]
Joe Osso
(518) 452-7826
[email protected]
Brian Taylor
(518) 560-5907
[email protected]
Bill Kotas
(518) 377-9841
[email protected]
Curtis Cappellano
(518) 330-7732
[email protected]
One Board Vacancy
May 2017
P r e s i d ent ’ s
M e s s age
Greetings HMPGA Members,
Although officially spring, this year’s Cave and Cave House
Museum field trip volunteers recently endured some chilly and damp
conditions, so we would like to thank all our volunteer geologists for
their time and effort. Besides helping to develop a little basic
geologic understanding in society, you may just have helped to
inspire one student (or more?) to become a geologist.
Spring is the time our Board of Directors and Officers transition to
next year. All current D&O’s have generally agreed to continue to
serve and by the conclusion of our May meeting, we hope to have
all the roles assigned. That said, many of your Board and Officers
have served numerous years and are awaiting members to step
forward and replace them in HMPGA’s leadership. We currently
have one board seat open and others that could be made available.
More folks should be involved.
And on the subject of getting involved, Andy Vitolins has formed a
planning group to develop the proposed professional education
symposium to be co-sponsored by HMPGA and the New York State
Council on Profession Geologists. This group of organizers and
advisors are developing the concept and details for a Spring 2018
program on Emerging Contaminants (and related topics perhaps).
They will have their hands full and can certainly use more help with
the many aspects of successfully conducting an event like this.
Members interested in volunteering, please contact Andy at
[email protected].
Watch your e-mail for details on HMPGA’s summer event. A late
June evening at Thacher Park is in the works, with a geologic Indian
Ladder tour for both geologists and non-geologists led by member
Chuck Ver Straeten.
Our regular monthly meetings conclude on May 17th at the Century
House, when we will hear Ona Papageorgiou, P.E. of the NYSDEC
discuss air emissions related to oil and natural gas production in
New York. We are very appreciative that Ona was able to agree to
complete our program year on very short notice. A previously
scheduled speaker was unfortunately forced to reschedule to next
fall two weeks before our meeting. So special thanks are due to
Ona and to program chair Jesse Vollick for this month’s meeting.
We also appreciate the presenters at last month’s meeting. They
include the five geology students from Union College and RPI, who
brought poster session presentations of their research and Dr. Les
Hasbargen of SUNY College at Oneonta who discussed techniques
and software for 3D modeling of geologic features using digital
camera images. ~ Kevin
4
V o l u ntee r
oppo r t u nitie s
We want to thank all of the volunteers for the Howe’s Caves school field trips ,
we are coming to the end of the trips now and appreciate all of your help in
creating a successful experience for young students! Please keep in mind that
we also have a high school science fair and the gem & mineral show where we
can volunteer to assist at our table. If you have any interest in volunteering,
please reach out to Joe Osso!
May 2017
5
M ine r a l
o f
the
M onth
Fergusonite
Occurs in granite pegmatites rich in rare-earth elements associated with zircon, monazite,
gadolinite and euxenite.
System: Tetragonal • Appearance: Usually found in irregular masses of grains, gray, yellow, or
brown• Localities: Worldwide• Chemical Composition: YNbO4 • Hardness: 5.5-6.5
Named after politician and mineral collector Robert Ferguson. Source of the rare-earth element
yttrium. Dissolves completely in strong hydrofluoric acid.
May 2017
7
H M P G A
P ROGRAM
D I R E C T O RS
Being active in HMPGA is a fully volunteer activity that often demands a great deal of attention.
The following members chair this year’s committees and we thank them:
Communications/Educational Outreach
Joe Osso
[email protected]
Membership/Newsletter
Josh Gowan
[email protected]
Program
Jesse Vollick
[email protected]
Webmaster
Scott Hulseapple
[email protected]
May 2017
8
Mr. Phelan’s
M A Y
G E O - C R Y P T O C I P H E R
CLUE: R = K each letter of the expression is
substituted by another letter.
WTH
ZQDPWQWPFD
WTH
UHFIFUPZW’Z
CTHD
WTHB
CFSRHSZ
OEGVZWHS
FXLPFEZIB
CQZ
AEII
RDHC
FA
CTB
WFESGQIPDH
ZQPO “PW’Z Q UQSXQUH KQD GPDHSQI”.
APRIL’S SOLUTION
GEO-CRYPTOCIPHER
THAT TOOTHLESS ROCKHOUND NEVER CONSUMES VERY MUCH SINCE HE LOST HIS
APATITE.
May 2017
9
Up c oming
Date
May 17, 2017
HMPGA Spring/Summer 2017 Meetings
Speaker
Ona Papageorgiou, P.E.,
Bureau of Air Quality Planning, Division of Air
Resources, NYSDEC
Summer 2017 - Date
TBD
Information subject to revision.
May 2017
S c he d u l e
-
Presentation/Event
The State of Oil & Natural Gas Rules
TBD - Summer Outing at Thacher Park
10
Diatomite
Geology.com has published an article summarizing
the various uses of diatomite. The article also
highlights a not so well known use for the siliceous
powder, beer filtration. Diatomaceous earth (D.E.),
or crushed diatomite, is composed of siliceous
frustules that sink to the sediment and become
lithified. There are many industrial uses ranging
from your pet’s flea and tick preventative to the
filtration of the beer and wine you drink. To read
more about this versatile material follow this link:
http://geology.com/rocks/diatomite.shtml
Ads in the HMPGA Newsletter range from
$100-$200 annually. For more information contact
Joshua Gowan, P.G., Alpha Geoscience,
[email protected]
Diatoms: This image illustrates the
frustules of fifty different diatom
species. These organisms are
microscopic in size, and many of their
frustules are a network of tiny pores
and openings. This characteristic is
what makes diatoms a perfect
medium for filtering tiny particles from
fluids at water treatment plants,
breweries, food processors, chemical
plants, and other facilities. Their
delicate structure is also a reason
why they are very soluble. Image by
the United States Geological Survey.
May 2017
11
Co r po r ate M embe r Conta c t s
2 0 1 6-2 0 17
AECOM
Walter Howard
518.951.2200
Alpha Geoscience
Scott Hulseapple
518.348.6995
Arcadis US/Malcolm Pirnie
Aztech Environmental Technologies
Joseph Osso
Mary Passaretti
518.250.7324
518.885.5383
Bond, Schoeneck & King
Kevin Bernstein
315.218.8329
Brown & Caldwell
Callanan Industries, Inc.
Cascade
Cobleskill Stone Products
Continental Placer
Geosyntec
Geotech Environmental Equipment, Inc.
Griggs – Lang Consulting Geologists
H2H Associates
Hager – Richter Geoscience, Inc.
Hanson VanVleet, LLC
HDR, Inc.
Hydrogeologic, Inc
Intertek-PSI
Leggette, Brashears & Graham, Inc.
Parratt Wolff, Inc.
PVE Sheffler
Regenesis
SJB
Sterling Environmental Engineering, P.C.
Summit Drilling Company, Inc.
TRC Solutions
Frank Williams
Peter Zeh
Matt Ednie
Michael Moore
Bill Miller
Eric Lovenduski
Peter Murray
Jeff Lang
Richard Hisert
Dorothy Richter
Kirby VanVleet
Michael Lehtinen
Eric Evans
Bill Kotas
Frank Getchell
Danylo Kulczycky “DK”
Chris Brown
Maureen Dooley
Jim Vincent
Mark Williams
James Stair
Marc Flanagan
518.560.5912
518.374.2222
518.355.2201
518.234.0221
518.458.9203
518.785.0800
802.651.3050
518.270.5920
518.270.1620
603.893.9944
518.371.7940
518.937.9500
518.877.0309
518.377.9841
201.818.0700
800.782.7260
845.454.2544
781.245.1320
518.899.7491
518.456.4900
518.694.6447
518.348.1190
As of 5/12/2017
Eastern New York (ENY) Chapter of the Air & Waste Management Association (MASS-A&WMA). They
encompass the greater Capital District and Hudson Valley region of eastern New York State. A
professional non-for‐profit association of engineers and scientists working in the environmental field, with
a particular focus on issues related to air and waste. www.awmanenychapter.wildMAYicot.org
The Geological Society of America (GSA) strives to be a leader in advancing the geosciences, while
enhancing the professional growth of its members, and promoting the geosciences in the service of
humankind. www.geosociety.org
The New York State Museum is a major research and educational institution. It is dedicated to promoting
inquiry and advancing knowledge in the fields of geology, biology, anthropology, and history, through the
investigation of material evidence germane to New York State's past, present and future.
www.nysm.nysed.gov
New York State Council of Professional Geologists (NYSCPG) strives to strengthen and advance the
geologic sciences as a profession, promote the protection of public health and welfare and the
environment through the professional practice of geologic sciences, and create high standards of ethical
conduct among its members and within the profession of geology, as well as the legal standing of
geologists and their ability to practice geology in New York State by promoting the licensing of geologists
in New York State through statutory regulation. www.nyscpg.org
The Capital District Environmental Breakfast Club is an informal group of environmental professionals
that meets monthly to discuss current environmental issues. Each meeting features a speaker on a topic
of interest, a regulatory update, and an open forum. Meetings are held on the first Friday of each month
except July and August. The Environmental Breakfast Club meets at the Holiday Inn Turf on Wolf Road
in Colonie, New York. Meetings start at 7:30 am. The cost is $15 per person, which includes a full
breakfast buffet. www.youngsommer.com
Buffalo Association of Professional Geologists (BAPG) conducts regular membership meetings on the
third Wednesday of the month, January through June and September through November. Meetings
feature distinguished speakers and interesting topics. Field trips and technical seminars sponsored by
the BAPG encourage the exchange of scholarship and expertise. www.bapg.org
Central NY Association of Professional Geologists (CNYAPG) conducts regular meetings on the second
Thursday of each month, unless otherwise posted, from September to May. Meetings feature dinner and
distinguished speakers whose presentations invite comment and discussion. www.cnyapg.org
Long Island Association of Professional Geologists (LIAPG) is a not-for-profit professional organization
dedicated to the professional and business needs of geologists located in the Long Island / Metro New
York area. www.lipg.org
HMPGA
P.O. Box 5506
Albany, NY 12205-0506
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