Geoscience Policy Monthly Review
may 2014
The Monthly Review is part of a continuing effort to improve communications about the role of geoscience in policy.
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federal agencies & administration
On May 2, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) announced a proposal to strengthen the agency’s management direction for groundwater resources and to use best management practices to improve and protect water quality on national forests and grasslands. USFS also proposes to amend their internal Manual for Water Quality Management and to establish a National Best Management Practices Program handbook. The proposed changes would attempt to improve USFS’s ability to manage and analyze potential uses of National Forest Service land that could affect groundwater resources.
USFS will host a webinar at 1PM EST on May 20 to discuss the proposed changes. The agency requests comments on the proposed actions by July 7, 2014.
Sources: Federal Register, U.S. Forest Service
Obama announces pick for NOAA Chief Scientist
This May, the White House nominated Rick Spinrad to serve as Chief Scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). His nomination is part of an ongoing effort to re-establish NOAA leadership following a number of high-level vacancies in the past year. As Chief Scientist, he will "drive policy and program direction for science and technology priorities," according to the memo.
Spinrad spent much of his career in the Navy before serving as Assistant Administrator for Oceanic Services and Coastal Zone Management at NOAA, and more recently as Assistant Administrator for Research at NOAA. He is currently the Vice President for Research at Oregon State University.
NOAA’s Chief Scientist position has been vacant since 2011 when Senate Republicans blocked Scott Doney’s nomination over demands for testimony regarding the Department of the Interior’s decision to halt drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Sources: E&E News, White House Office of the Press Secretary
NIOSH to assess workplace hazards associated with hydraulic fracturing
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has called on the oil and gas industry to help assess the workplace hazards associated with hydraulic fracturing in response to four worker deaths since 2010.
The deaths occurred in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana; NIOSH says the fatalities may have been due to “acute chemical exposures during flowback operations.” Flowback refers to drilling fluids that return to the surface after the hydraulic fracturing process is complete. The workers gauging, collecting, and transferring these fluids may be exposed to volatile hydrocarbons they contain. NIOSH states that high concentrations of the chemicals found in volatile hydrocarbons are extremely toxic and can damage the eyes, respiratory and nervous system, and lead to abnormal heart rhythms.
NIOSH researchers have developed several recommendations to reduce workplace exposures. These include developing alternative tank-gauging procedures, providing hazard awareness training, monitoring workers, ensuring that workers do not work alone, using appropriate respiratory protection, and establishing better emergency procedures.
These recommendations mark NIOSH’s ongoing effort to assess and mitigate health risks associated with hydraulic fracturing.
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIOSH Science Blog, E&E News