ETGS Membership,
I hope everyone has had a great summer with some breaks for fun with friends and family! I am jumping in as your new Society President and I will do my utmost to continue the high standards set by our previous presidents. I would particularly like to thank the outstanding work of our Past President Anita Paulssen. Please take the opportunity to thank her for her tireless service to the Society.
This first letter will be largely organizational, and I am pleased to report that we are getting the fall started with a number of great events and meetings.
First, take note of our end of summer social Thursday, August 30, 2018 from 5:00 PM 7:00 PM at ETX Brewing Company (see address). To make the event even sweeter, ETGS will provide the food and drinks are discounted! Hope you can come, and please check your membership renewal status with Johnnie Wagner while there.
Second, our first Fall Meeting on September 19 is still at the Cascades and please RSVP by the Thursday before the meeting. Our talk will be Peter Schemper’s discussion of “Lithofacies and geochemical properties of the East Texas Smackover formation”. This hydrocarbon system is near and dear to most of us but ever elusive to completely understand. His discussion of the geochemistry may help better characterize the source properties for us.
Third, we have this year’s GCAGS Convention next door in Shreveport on September 30 to October 2. As you know, GCAGS is our best forum for scientific discussion on issues most relevant to our region. With the large number of conventions these days, GCAGS is under great pressure to remain viable. So your participation and support would be greatly appreciated. The deadline has been extended for a new prospector’s session where you can show your prospect to a captive audience of interested parties / screeners in a power point oral session and get a small booth with table and chairs for follow up discussion for one low price. See GCAGS2018.org for more info.
Fourth, Nick Pollard is once again taking the lead on our great Golf Tournament scheduled for Monday, October 8th the Cascades with a 1 PM tee time.
Finally, on the Natural Gas business front, I was heartened to see recently that a group of Republican US Senators pressed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to speed up the permitting of pending LNG export projects and sought details about the resources the agency has available to accomplish that task. Further to this, I recently had the pleasure to complete a trip through Central Europe, where I had the opportunity to sit in some evening lectures, where the success of their current energy policies became a topic for discussion. It was clear that they are recognizing in Germany and elsewhere that their large investment in wind and solar is not providing as strong results in electricity production at peak times or as low CO2 reduction as had been hoped. As a result, they need major new natural gas resources for baseload capacity to replace coal fired plants. At the same time of this need, the gas giant Groningen Field, just offshore, is being largely shut in due to large subsidence problems in nearby Netherland residential areas. So in short, they will get the gas either from the Russians or from our LNG!
The continued vitality and success of our Society has been from you, our great membership! I look forward to working with more of you in the coming year and we would love to hear any ideas for your Society that you may have.
Ernie LaFlure
August 23, 2018