The Wise Report
Henry M.
Wise, P.G.
October 9,
2011
On Thursday, October
6, 2011 Charles Knoblock met with representatives of the Houston Geological
Society (HGS), the Geophysical Society of Houston (GSH), the Society of
Independent Professional Earth Scientists (SIPES), the Texas Association of
Professional Geoscientists (TAPG), and several members of the Oil & Gas
Workgroup to discuss the rule-making process and how people can contribute to
it. Due to the complexity of the new proposed rules Mr. Knoblock was asked if
it would be possible to allow more time to make comments. Mr. Knoblock said
that he believed that the 30 days for comments is a statute, and therefore can't
be extended. However, after the comment period closes there will be at least
two additional times when comments could be made, in person. They are when the
General Issues Committee meets to discuss the propose rules and review the
written comments, and when the full PG Board meets. the General Issues
Committee will need to meet and review the written comments before passing their
recommendations on to the full TBPG board. The dates and times of these
meetings will be posted on the TBPG website (https://tbpg.state.tx.us/). The next
meeting of the General Issues Committee hasn't been scheduled yet. The next
full TBPG board meeting is scheduled for Friday, November 18, 2011. There is a
very good chance that the proposed rules will be discussed at several TBPG
meetings, although not guarrenteed.
Mr. Knoblock said
that the TBPG and Oil & Gas Workgroup have been working on these rules for
two years and wanted to get comments from the general public, which is the main
reason for publishing them in the Texas Register. They encourage you to make
constructive comments, the more specific the better. If you think things should
be added or removed state what and why. Make sure that your proposed changes or
comments are based on the statutes that authorized the TBPG in the first place.
The statutes can also be found on the TBPG website.
As a reminder, you
have until September 30, 2011 to make written comments to the TBPG, by mail to
TBPG, PO Box 13225, Austin TX
78711 or by e-mail to chorton@tbpg.state.tx.us.
Henry M. Wise,
P.G.
The Wise Report
10/9/2011