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Position Statement Draft positive and negative impacts on the health, safety,
and welfare of humans and ecosystems.15
In its 2016 pamphlet titled “Geoscience for America’s Critical
Needs,” the American Geosciences Institute stated the impor-
tance of energy and the role of the nation’s geoscientists as
follows:
Energy supports economic growth, national security,
and all the elements of daily life—food, water, trans-
portation, communication, and entertainment. The
United States’ historically robust and secure energy
systems have contributed to our high quality of life.
Geoscientists find and develop earth and ocean-
sourced energy, such as oil, natural gas, coal, ura-
nium, and geothermal. They also find and develop the
raw materials needed for renewable energy sources,
such as cement and metals for dams, and rare earth
elements for wind turbines and solar installations. In
addition, geoscientists help determine suitable loca-
tions for energy infrastructure, including refineries,
transmission lines, dams, and wind farms.
Geologists who work in the petroleum, coal, uranium, and
geothermal industries; engineering geologists; hydrologists;
geochemists; oceanographers; meteorologists; and climatolo-
gists all play important parts in evaluating and implementing
the development of all forms of energy. It is the geoscience
community that also assesses the impact of energy development
on water resources, ecosystems, air quality, and climate.
Geoscientists understand the dynamics of Earth’s natural pro-
cesses and are able to reconstruct climates from the past with
their atmospheric CO2 levels, and the associated sea level
stands, ecosystem diversity and distribution, and sea water
composition. For those reasons, geoscientists can assess how
human activities can influence nature, and which activities are
environmentally sustainable. Accordingly, geoscientists have an
essential role to play in energy policy.
Earth scientists can provide a balanced and realistic perspec-
tive in the oftentimes contentious debate about the pros and
cons of fossil fuels versus renewable energy and the scope and
timing of the transition to energy resources that reduce green-
house gas emissions. Resolution of the energy issues that are
presently being debated will have significant economic, strate-
gic, and environmental consequences. Input from geoscientists
is critical to informing the public and policy makers about the
consequences of different options.
GSA supports scientific knowledge as a guide to public deci-
sions about the exploration, exploitation, and stewardship of
finite energy and mineral resources.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• GSA recognizes that all forms of energy production will be
required to meet global energy demand through this century
and that no form of energy is perfectly secure or completely
devoid of potential negative impacts. However, in order to
mitigate negative climate change impacts, GSA encourages
policy makers to mandate reductions in carbon and other
greenhouse gas emissions through appropriate regulation and
50 GSA Today | July 2017
legislation that fully considers the economic and security impacts
of such mandates, and to facilitate the responsible transition
away from fossil fuel energy resources by supporting renewable
energy and climate research.
• Research on energy sources and on the environmental, eco-
nomic, and social impacts and benefits of their development is
vital. Continued monitoring and research are necessary to
improve forecasts of climate change and impacts to geological
and ecological systems.
• Given the dynamic nature of energy markets, state, federal, and
global energy policies must be developed in a way that is adap-
tive to circumstances and innovations and continuously updated
to reflect changing conditions. Geoscientists need to be at the
forefront of discussions, so that science-based energy policies
can be formulated and implemented. The continued responsible
development of all forms of energy resources, and the advance-
ment of emerging energy sources, will ensure reliable supplies
for the future.
• Global coal resources are abundant. However, the continued use
of coal for electric generation will not be possible without con-
tinued improvement in technologies to reduce carbon dioxide,
sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, mercury, and particulate emis-
sions. GSA supports continued research into clean coal tech-
nologies, carbon gasification, and carbon capture and storage to
consider how best to reduce CO2 emissions from coal.
• Nuclear power generation emits no carbon. GSA recommends
that a national nuclear waste storage solution be developed, and
that the U.S. Congress approve the construction and operation
of said solution. The recycling and reuse of spent fuels from
nuclear power plants should be explored, and the U.S. should
determine where and if these opportunities exist, and when and
how to implement the process. Research into power technolo-
gies such as fusion and thorium-based fission must continue.
• Wind and solar power projects require the permitting and con-
struction of new power transmission corridors, because the
optimum sites for wind and solar generation are often remotely
located from existing transmission infrastructure. GSA recom-
mends that state and federal regulatory bodies support the per-
mitting of these transmission corridors to facilitate a growing
renewable energy portfolio. The geoscience community can
provide an assessment of the environmental impact of such
transmission corridors and find and develop the natural
resources necessary for energy infrastructure construction.
• GSA recognizes that energy efficiency and conservation is one
of the most effective, scalable, and near-term solutions to reduc-
ing greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuels. Much progress
has been made recently in mandating increased fuel efficiencies
for automobiles; for increased efficiencies in electric appli-
ances; in home insulation; in lighting; and much more. Without
energy efficiency measures developed and deployed since the
early 1970s, the U.S. would today consume significantly more
energy every year than the 100 quads we currently consume.
However, more can be done. GSA recommends that state and
federal legislative bodies implement policies through regulation
and incentives to further increase fuel efficiencies for all forms
of transportation; enhance insulation and “smart” electric
power and distribution technologies in homes, schools and other
public buildings, offices, warehouses, and manufacturing facili-
ties; improve lighting systems; and incentivize and implement