Investigation could impact copper, water deals

The FBI investigation into a land deal involving Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi could affect the Resolution copper mine and water resources in the Upper San Pedro Basin, with further domino-like impacts.

The Arizona Daily Star last month reported that:

“a 480-acre retired farm on the San Pedro River, …could also threaten the future of Fort Huachuca, officials say. There are concerns that the farm — the critical property in two failed land swaps aimed at protecting the San Pedro — could now be put back into agricultural use, jeopardizing efforts to balance water use in the region, which in turn could force cutbacks or even closure of the fort. … Critics say the first failed swap benefited James Sandlin, a friend and former business partner of Renzi's.”

“Because of its closeness to the San Pedro and the amount of water the retired farmland once used, the Sandlin property is crucial to the river and, in turn, neighboring Fort Huachuca, which is under court order to cut water consumption in and around the river.

“The fort’s future and the future of the San Pedro are inextricably linked,” said Col. Jonathan Hunter, the fort’s garrison commander.”

Bill Hess of the Sierra Vista Herald/Review wrote yesterday that, “The land involved in the swap has been put back on the market. [emphasis added] Some believe that if it is sold to a developer or to an agricultural business, water will again be pumped to the detriment of the river and the partnership’s goal of finding ways to conserve water."

The Herald reports that the water deficit in the Upper San Pedro Basin - the difference between what is being pumped from the aquifer and what is being recharged – is 10,800 acre-feet, instead of the previously measured 7,700 acre-feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The higher number is due to better quality measurements.

This double whammy will make it harder to meet the region's water goals.

Another twist on these complex deals is a recent Wall Street Journal story that described the land deal role in the Resolution copper mine:

“North America's largest copper lode is believed to be buried more than a mile beneath Apache Leap, the stark red cliffs that loom above this storied Old West town about an hour east of Phoenix. Resolution Copper Co., a joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, wants to mine it. But first it needs Congress to approve a federal land exchange, under which Resolution would swap 5,000 acres of private land for 3,000 acres of public land near its planned mine.

In exchange for supporting the bill, the local congressman, Rick Renzi, a Republican, insisted on something in return: He wanted Resolution to buy, as part of the land swap, a 480-acre alfalfa field near his hometown of Sierra Vista, according to documents and people involved in the deal.

Resolution executives refused. For starters, they thought the land was overpriced, people close to the deal say. More troubling, they discovered it was owned by Mr. Renzi's former business partner, these people say.

Resolution wasn't the only party troubled by the congressman's demands. His chief of staff resigned and began cooperating secretly with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to witnesses and others close to the case. The FBI began a preliminary inquiry that was first reported in October, just before Mr. Renzi was elected to a third term.”

Scientists are lousy communicators

Scientists do a lousy job of communicating to non-scientists. That's one reason science and scientists are being effectively beaten up and demonized in a variety of public debates on issues like evolution and climate change.

I refer you to a new website on communicating science - "Speaking Science 2.0" - www.scienceblogs.com/speakingscience/ put together by Matt Nisbet and Chris Mooney.

Chris is Wash. DC correspondent for Seed magazine, author of "The Republican War on Science" and the about-to-be-released book "Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming." He blogs at www.scienceblogs.com/intersection. Matt is professor of communications at American University in Wash. DC and is widely recognized for his work on framing science messages (also the name of his blog - http://scienceblogs.com/framing-science/).

They recently published op-ed pieces in Science and the Washington Post that attracted widespread national attention. They are starting a nationwide lecture tour today on this topic.

A synopsis of their talk follows below:

Speaking Science 2.0

"We do not see the world as it is. We see the world as we are."
-- Talmud scripture

"It's not what you say, it's what people hear."
--Republican strategist Frank Luntz

Over the past several years, the seemingly never-ending fights over
evolution, embryonic stem cell research, global climate change, and
many other topics have led to a troubling revelation. Scientific
knowledge, alone, does not always suffice when it comes to winning
political arguments, changing government policies, or influencing
public opinion. Put simply, the media, policymakers, and the public
consume scientific information in a vastly different way than do the
scientists who generate it. As a result, scientists and their
organizations repeatedly face difficult challenges in explaining their
knowledge to diverse groups of citizens.

As issues at the intersection of science and politics gain more and
more attention, something beyond pure science--beyond "getting the
facts out there"--will be necessary to break through to the public.
But what are the new directions? It's time to question some central
assumptions and focus on fresh ideas.

**A conversation about new directions in science communication.**

In this joint presentation, journalist Chris Mooney and communication
professor Matthew Nisbet explain how scientists and their allies can
"reframe" old debates in new ways, while taking advantage of a
fragmented media environment to connect with a broader American
public. Drawing on case studies from the battles over stem cell
research, evolution, global warming, hurricanes, and other subjects, a
key point of emphasis will be that scientists must adopt a language
that emphasizes shared values and has broad appeal, avoiding the
pitfall of seeming to belittle fellow citizens or attacking their
religious beliefs.

Innovative strategies for public engagement could not be more urgent:
Science will figure, as never before, in the 2008 presidential
campaign and beyond. Scientific "facts" will increasingly be pulled
into fraught political contexts, and bent and twisted in myriad ways.
This political environment can seem perplexing to scientists, or
worse. But it's one to which they must adapt if they want their
hard-won knowledge to play its necessary role in shaping the future of
our nation.

Global demand for resources impacts Arizona

My colleague Vince Matthews, State Geologist of Colorado, is talking around the country about the demand for natural resources by China, India, and other growing economies, and how that is affecting the U.S. Vince shared his slides and graphs with me, noting that the impacts he sees for Colorado will be similar for Arizona.

This month’s AAPG Explorer magazine quotes Vince’s recent talk to the AAPG annual meeting in Long Beach: “Chinese companies and their rivals are scouring the globe for access to the raw materials needed to sustain the Asian nation’s growth as commodity prices surge.”

The list includes energy resources such as oil and natural gas, coal, and uranium. The global demand for copper is responsible for the record prices of the last year or so which has helped make Arizona the number one mining state in the nation. Demand for a wide array of other minerals is also

Vince expects the increasing competition for resources to bring

· Inflation

· Shortages of raw materials

· Pressures to develop more resources in the states

· Potential conflicts with multinational corporations in the states

The bigger problem may be that Vince doesn’t see any obvious solutions to what he views as a pending crisis.

What comes to mind immediately are the number of wars that have been fought over access to or control of natural resources. Are we destined for similar instabilities in coming years?

Continued controversy over fossil collecting on public lands

The long-enduring debate over collecting fossils on federal lands is continuing.

According to a report by the American Geological Institute's Government Affairs Program, Arizona’s Rep. Raul Grijalva raised concerns about unintended consequences during a recent hearing on the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act (HR 554) before the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, which he chairs.

The bills sponsor, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) testified it “provides stiff penalties for crimes involving the theft and vandalism of Fossils of National Significance (FONS) in order to deter the illegal collection of these resources on public lands. And, it is important to note that the bill seeks only to penalize those who knowingly violate the law and seek to illegally profit from these public resources. It does not place any new restrictions on amateur collectors who by and large respect the value of these fossils. It is limited to public lands, and will in no way affect private land-owners. Furthermore, this bill mandates that all such fossils taken from federal land be curated at museums or suitable depositories. Lastly, it standardizes the permitting practices for excavation on public lands to ensure that fossils are not needlessly damaged.”

The bill was opposed Peter L. Larson, President of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, Inc, a commercial fossil company based in South Dakota. Larson argued that the bill would limit collecting to academics only and that amateurs and commercial companies unearth fossils that would otherwise be lost to weathering or never found by the scientific community. Larson also argued against allowing scientists and federal land managers to keep secret the locations of significant finds.

This debate, which has played out over many years, comes down to a few basic battles:

· Should commercial collectors be allowed to take fossils from public lands and sell them to private collectors or should public fossils remain in public ownership for display and scientific study?

· Does allowing amateurs to collect vertebrate fossils on public land create a “back-door” commercial channel?

· Can we keep fossil locations on public lands secret in order to prevent looters from stealing the fossils and damaging or destroying the geologic context?

· What fossils on public lands, if any, are appropriate for non-scientific collecting?

Washington watchers say that HR 554 is unlikely to move forward without resolution of these long-standing differences.

Geologic Extension Service

As a state science agency, we have to take the science we produce, get it into the hands of those who need the results, help non-technical users understand it, and work with them to deal with the consequences of what we learned. To that end, the AZGS has formed a Geologic Extension Service to integrate our publications, map and bookstore, library, website, outreach, inquiries, and education functions into a coordinated program to more effectively transfer our work to those who want to use it.

The GES is modeled on the well recognized concept of the Agricultural Extension Service that helped bring the best technologies to farmers across the country, helping make US agriculture the most productive and efficient in the world. We hope to provide similar service with geologic information and assistance in natural resources, natural hazards, and environmental quality, to improve Arizonans lives, safety, and economic well-being.

Dr. Michael Conway is newly hired as Chief of the GES. Mike joins us after 9 years as a professor of geology at Arizona Western College in Yuma, and extensive experience in K-12 education, geologic hazards, and science outreach. Mike is putting together an aggressive agenda to better bring AZGS’s technical capabilities to bear on challenging problems facing society.

Interim Accreditation is Big Step for Museum of Northern Arizona

On March 26, the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff received “Interim Accreditation” from the American Association of Museums. An on-site visit to MNA is expected in late 2007 which is the next step in restoring full accreditation to the Museum.

This is a significant step because the accreditation was revoked in December 2003, in large part because, as described on the Museum’s website (http://www.musnaz.org/trustees/accreditproc.html), “the board of the museum sold 21 pieces from its collections to finance an operating deficit. This action violated the museum’s own collection policies. This move by the board and several other controversial actions, including the closing of the museum’s geology department, led to a revolt of museum’s membership which sought the resignation of the museum board and director. On July 26, 2003, at a special meeting of the museum’s membership, the entire board resigned and was replaced by a new board elected by the membership. The director (acting director) also resigned and the deputy director subsequently left the museum.”

The membership revolt was almost unheard of in museum circles.

The new director, Dr. Robert Breunig took over fulltime in January, 2004 and re-opened the geology department as well as moving quickly to regain accreditation and rebuild the museums quality and reputation.

MNA is preparing a major new dinosaur exhibit for Fall 2007. AZGS will be working with world-renowned Museum paleontologist Dr. David Gillette to showcase the event.

Geothermal energy and climate change

Congressman Raul Grijalva organized a Climate Change Roundtable in Tucson last Friday, the same day the latest IPCC report on climate change was released.

A couple dozen of us were invited to briefly talk about the impacts of climate change or options to counter them. I was asked to cover geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy has the potential to meet the nation's entire energy needs many times over. Geothermal power plants produce only 60 lbs of CO₂ per MWhr of electricity produced compared to 1212 lbs for existing power plants and 850 lbs for new plants, which is approximately a 92-95% reduction of this

Geothermal map of North America(American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 2004)

greenhouse gas. When geothermal energy is used for direct space heating or in geothermal heat pumps, the production of carbon dioxide is even less.

Geothermal is also “24/7” – it can be part of a utility’s base load, which is a critical factor in utility’s being able to meet state and federal requirements for delivering power.

Arizona has little high-temperature geothermal potential but large untapped low to moderate temperature resources, particularly with Enhanced (or Engineered) Geothermal Systems (EGS) and Geothermal Heat Pumps.

But research is needed to develop EGS technology to make it cost effective and practical.

And heat pumps are less efficient and more costly in desert areas like Arizona because the
watertable is deep, requiring more coils to be buried in the ground or deeper holes drilled to reach the water. Therefore, tax incentives to homeowners and businesses could be critical to widespread installation in areas like Arizona.

Federal funding for DOE's Geothermal Technologies Program was zeroed out in the President’s FY08 budget for the second consecutive year. Federal programs are spending their remaining funds closing down, archiving files, rather than working on their core functions. Staff researchers are finding other jobs before the federal programs close their doors. Will we be able to lure them back if funding is restored by Congress, or will they stay in more secure jobs elsewhere?

My recommendations for Federal action, as requested by Rep. Grijalva, follow the general lines of those urged by the Western Governor’s Association:

1. Geothermal research by the Federal government should be stabilized and increased into technologies that can reduce risk, reduce costs, or expand the accessible resource base.

2. Better resource information is needed in an easily accessible, integrated, interoperable online data network.

3. The Department of Energy’s GeoPowering the West initiative should continue to support efforts for utilization of the West’s untapped geothermal resources.

4. Federal tax credits and incentives and timely permitting and environmental reviews are critical to expanded marketplace development.