Dropping rent provision keeps museum bill alive

The Arizona House Appropriations Committee today approved SB1200, transferring the former Mining & Mineral Museum building to AZGS to create a new Mining, Mineral, and Natural Resources Educational Museum.   It also transfers $428,300 per year in funding from the Arizona Historical Society budget to AZGS to pay for the rent and salary of one curator.

The bill had been held due to amendments in the House and Senate that would have waived the $360,000 per year rent on the building for two years, with those funds to be used for restoration, maintenance, and operations.   However, waiving the rent charged to AZGS meant the State would have to find those funds elsewhere, and thus put a significant price tag on the bill.     To get the bill through the Committee, the sponsor, Sen. Gail Griffin agreed to removing the rent waivers, making it nominally revenue neutral.   The bill as it stands now, would provide funds to pay the rent and salary and benefits per year for one curator but nothing else.

There is also a report from last December estimating the cost of building upgrades at $2.1 million to reopen the facility for its new functions.  Those costs are not considered in the revenue neutral determination.

If signed into law, AZGS will be responsible for finding funds to develop exhibits for the now empty building, create the education program, stock a gift shop, hire gift shop staff and any other staff such as a museum director or fund raiser.   Supporters of the former Mining and Mineral Museum assured the committee that the gift shop will make the museum self-supporting and that no more paid staff are needed beyond that to make this a world class destination site for tourists.  

As the agency that will be responsible for creating something the Historical Society could not achieve with more staff and funding than we will be given, we are not so confident.   If assigned this task, AZGS will do the best we can with the resources we can find. But we need to temper expectations, especially from those who think a new museum can be operating in time for the opening of the school year in August-September, if we took possession in July.

The bill has to go to the full House for approval and then to a Senate-House conference committee to reconcile the different versions.

Arizona Mining Review broadcast is online

The March episode of the Arizona Mining Review was video cast this morning and is now posted online at our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/azgsweb

I interviewed Ken Green with Fraser Institute, the main author of a new survey of mining company executives on the attractiveness of different jurisdictions around the world, including Arizona.    Ken discusses changes in Arizona's standing.

$500 million in deferred maintenance in Arizona's national parks

National parks in Arizona have over $516 million in deferred maintenance needs with Grand Canyon accounting for $329 million of that.  This is out of a national total of $11.5 billion of maintenance needs according to a report from the National Park Service.

Amounts needed for Arizona parks and monuments are:


Canyon de Chelly National Monument (CACH)           $ 14,745,375
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (CAGR)           $ 2,010,699
Chiricahua National Monument (CHIR)                          $ 6,944,705
Coronado National Memorial (CORO)                             $ 280,212
Fort Bowie National Historic Site (FOBO)                     $ 1,020,290
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (GLCA)           $ 32,194,111
Grand Canyon National Park (GRCA)                        $ 329,458,168
Horace Albright Training Center (HOAL)                        $ 2,302,886
Hubbell Trading Post Historic Site (HUTR)                     $ 2,352,354
Montezuma Castle National Monument (MOCA)           $ 3,188,913
Navajo National Monument (NAVA)                             $ 2,088,722
Organ Pipe Cactus National Historic Site (ORPI)            $ 7,923,286
Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO)                          $ 54,455,010
Pipe Spring National Monument (PISP)                           $ 1,673,913
Rainbow Bridge National Monument (RABR)                  $ 1,120,081
Saguaro National Park (SAGU)                                     $ 18,423,101
Southern Arizona Office (SOAR)                                              $ 492
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument (SUCR)        $ 8,636,101
Tonto National Monument (TONT)                                 $ 1,409,493
Tumacacori National Historical Park (TUMA)                    $ 768,765
Tuzigoot National Monument (TUZI)                               $ 4,518,221
Walnut Canyon National Monument (WACA)                 $ 5,919,024
Wupatki National Monument (WUPA)                          $ 15,438,824
                                                                     Total      $ 516,872,745

UA and ASU geology and earth science programs top ranked

The earth sciences program at the University of Arizona (Geosciences Dept.) was ranked #7 in the U.S. by US News & World Report in new rankings.   ASU ranked #16 (School of Earth & Space Exploration).

UA Geosciences' Geology program ranked #3 and was #8 in Geophysics and Seismology.

Calling for support to reauthorize the National Geological & Geophysical Data Preservation Program

Reauthorization of the USGS National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program (NGGDPP) is coming up in Congress and the State Geological Surveys are lining up support from geoscience data users.   We are asking our data users to add their names to a letter to Congress supporting reauthorization.

AZGS has been one of the most successful  competitors for limited federal funds.  The program requires that we put up Survey matching funds, 1 to 1 for each federal dollar.  Our focus the past four years has been digitizing the massive files we inherited from the merger of the Arizona Dept. of Mines & Mineral Resources.    We have ~800,000 pages of mining and mineral resource files, 10,000 maps, and 7,500 historical photos. [See photos]  In addition to scanning and digitizing at the highest resolution the software can handle, every document and map is georeferenced and documented with extensive metadata for search and discovery.   All data are posted online for free viewing and downloading at http://minedata.azgs.az.gov/.

The letter the State Geologists are circulating says archived and heritage geological and geophysical data can yield energy and mineral discoveries worth billions of dollars and generate tens of thousands of jobs. The NGGDPP supports important Federal-State partnerships that achieve mutually beneficial goals related to the rescue and accessibility of invaluable geoscience data.

Geoscience data are critical and of immediate concern to the Nation’s economy, well-being, and security. Examples include the following:


·         Location, abundance, sustainability, and quality of water supplies
·         Domestic energy sources, such as oil, gas, coal, geothermal, and renewables; reduction of carbon emissions
·         Domestic sources of metals and critical minerals
·         Identification, mapping, and prediction of geologic hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, sinkholes and landslides
·         New technological breakthroughs require re-examination of samples and data; data historically deemed insignificant may become paramount to new discoveries
·         Training the next generation of geoscientists, especially geologic mappers

All of these issues rely on the analysis of geological and geophysical samples, collections, and data that already exist. They have been acquired at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars and in most instances are irreplaceable. Regrettably, these vital materials are often in poor states of preservation and access, and in danger of permanent loss. Many of this nation’s geological data repositories, most of which are maintained by State Geological Surveys, are now at or near their storage capacity. Some have exceeded their capacity and are relying on temporary, non-climate-controlled portable storage. Expansion of these facilities requires significant capital costs. While industry and government have made substantial investments to acquire geoscience data and collections for over 150 years, volumes of expensive and arduously obtained subsurface information are currently at risk of disposal or ruin. Once these data are lost, they probably will never be replaced.

Congress established the National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program (NGGDPP) through the National Energy Policy Act of 2005 [PL 109-38, Sec. 351] to address these issues. We acknowledge and support the role of the US Geological Survey (USGS) in administering this program, which includes the development and compilation of state and federal data inventories, data standards, creation of a National Digital Catalog, strategic planning, and collaboration regarding preservation techniques. This vital work can continue, however, it requires Congressional reauthorization.

We commend your efforts to strengthen our nation’s capacity to address the challenges associated with energy, as well as critical and strategic mineral resources. The reauthorization of the NGGDPP will greatly assist in these endeavors.

Federal fracking rules: nothing to see in Arizona

The Bureau of Land Management issued rules last week for hydraulic fracturing on Federal and Indian lands.  This is mainly aimed at all the wells being drilled into shales for oil and gas.  There is no shale oil or shale gas development in Arizona, and the potential has been generally viewed as minor.  All of the oil and gas production in Arizona is from a small number of wells (~16) on the Navajo Reservation just south of the Utah border.   A few exploratory wells have been hydraulically fractured in the past 50 years in the state for testing but none were ever put into production.  No producing well in Arizona was fracked.    [Right, diagrammatic cross section showing the horizontally drilled and fractured producing section, below the aquifer. Credit, NaturalGasNow]


The Mining Law Blog summarized the final rules requiring the operator to: "submit additional information with its APD including wellbore geology, location of faults and fractures, and the depths of all usable water; implement and monitor a cementing program during well construction; perform a mechanical integrity test; store waste fluids in “rigid enclosed, covered or netted and screened above-ground storage tanks; and disclose chemicals used in the fracking activity."

The Arizona Oil & Gas Conservation Commission does not regulate wells on Tribal lands.    AZGS provides the administrative and technical support for the Commission.

Postcard from the field - Artillery Mountains

Christy Caudill, Deputy Chief in the AZGS Geoinformatics Section was showcased in the February 2 issue of Eos, the weekly news magazine from the American Geophysical Union, in a full page "postcard from the field."

Christy's caption is, "I’m in the Artillery Mountains using a portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer to examine clastic sedimentary rocks - conglomerate and sandstone - or evidence of potassium, sodium, and calcium mobilization by low-temperature diagenetic alteration associated with basin brines. A rare cloudy day here in western Arizona."

Museum transfer bill passed by Arizona House committee

The Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Committee passed the museum transfer bill, SB1200, by 9-0 on Monday.  It now goes to the full House for approval and then on the to Governor for signature.

SB1200 transfers the building that housed the former Mining and Mineral Museum from the Arizona Historical Society to the Arizona Geological Survey to be converted to a Mining, Mineral, and Natural Resources Education Museum.

The building has been vacant and unused since it was closed in 2011 in preparation for converting it to a centennial museum.  However, private funding was not forthcoming and Gov. Brewer had committed to not using state money for it.

SB1200 sponsor Sen. Gail Griffin yesterday said she was confident the private sector would provide $2.5 million to complete the necessary building upgrades to open the new museum.

AZGS has taken a neutral position on the bill due to the uncertainty over funds needed to open and operate the facility.

Podcast on Resolution Copper land exchange

 Al Jazeera's  online podcast, "The Stream" webcast a show recently on the land exchange approved to allow the Resolution Copper mine in Superior, Arizona, to develop one of largest underground copper mines in the world.

The episode is titled, "A minefield of protests over Apache 'sacred' lands."  It includes interviews with:

• Roger Featherstone, Director, Arizona Mining Reform Coalition
• Vernelda Grant, San Carlos Apache Historic Preservation Officer
• Pete Rios, County Supervisor of District 1, Pinal County, AZ
• Rick Grinnell, Vice President, Southern Arizona Business Coalition

25% discount for UA Press books

The University of Arizona Press is offering 25% discount on publications featured at the Tucson Festival of Books.    One of their books may be of interest to readers of this blog - David Lowell's  "Intrepid Explorer: The Autobiography of the World's Best Mine Finder."   David will be autographing copies on Sunday, March 15, from 10:30 - 11 a.m.


Save 25% on all books at the UA Press website with discount code AZTFOB15.   The discount is good through March 16.  If you aren't attending the book festival, you can order online.