Page 14 - i1052-5173-30-12

POLICY UPDATE
Spotlight: Geology and Public Policy Committee

Lily J. Jackson, Equinor, Austin, Texas 78730, USA; MaryAnn L. symposium continued, reports were no longer produced except as
Malinconico, Dept. of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, symposia summaries, and there was no student representative.
Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042, USA; and Notably, 1986 was the first year of the GSA-USGS Congressional
Candace L. Kairies-Beatty, Dept. of Geoscience, Winona State Science Fellowship, and the program still maintains close ties with
University, Winona, Minnesota 55987, USA GPPC (https://www.geosociety.org/csf).
Since about 2001, GPPC’s primary products have been position
Committee Charge: This committee provides advice on public statements and critical issues papers, although the committee
policy matters to Council and GSA leadership by monitoring and continues to cosponsor various GSA Annual Meeting sessions.
assessing international, national, and regional science policy; Today, GPPC comprises 19 voting members: four at-large mem-
formulating and recommending position statements; and sponsor- bers; one student member; one representative each from the six
ing policy-relevant activities at meetings. regional Sections, the international community, and GSA’s
Geology and Society Division; two past Congressional Science
Role of the Geology and Public Policy Committee (GPPC) Fellows; a Council representative; plus current leadership (chair,
Within days of the July 2020 announcement by U.S. Immigration past chair, chair-elect).
and Customs Enforcement of plans to modify an exemption to the
Student and Exchange Visitor Program that would not allow many Member Opportunities
international students to remain in the U.S. if their classes were Members of GSA may propose ideas for position statements by
entirely online, the Geological Society of America (GSA) had joined submitting proposals for GPPC consideration. Statement drafts,
nearly 100 educational and scientific societies in signing an open written by an ad hoc expert panel, are publicized to membership for
letter to the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, review online and in GSA Today during an open comment period.
and the Department of State requesting that the plans be withdrawn GSA Council approves proposed topics and final statements. After
immediately. The foundation for swift responses to policy matters five years, statements must be revised or expire; GSA members are
such as this by GSA’s Washington, D.C., office is a series of position also welcome to suggest revisions to existing statements. The
statements (https://www.geosociety.org/positionstatements) intended reach of position statements is beyond Capitol Hill; members
developed and maintained by GSA’s GPPC about geoscience, educa- use the statements for educational purposes, leave-behinds for local
tion, data, and professional issues that reflect the values of the legislators, or any form of science policy outreach.
Society and membership at large. In this case, GSA’s position state- GSA public policy activities and member opportunities extend
ment, “Visas for Foreign Scientists and Students,” first adopted in beyond GPPC (https://www.geosociety.org/GSA/Science_Policy/
May 2005, was directly applicable to the situation. GSA_Policy_Roles/GSA/Policy/roles.aspx). Since 2007, GSA has
In addition to the 25 current position statements, GPPC facili- supported a Washington, D.C., office to provide “leadership in
tates the writing of critical issues papers, which are informational formulating public policy through active involvement in… decision
papers that do not take a position but provide background on a making.” The office’s Director of Geoscience Policy is assisted
topic for “informed participation in the public discourse.” Both by a GSA Science Policy Fellow. GSA, with other earth-science
current critical issues papers, “Hydraulic Fracturing” and societies, cosponsors the annual citizen-scientist Geosciences
“Induced Seismicity,” are undergoing updates. Congressional Visits Day (https://www.geosociety.org/geocvd).
The GSA Geology and Society Division (G&S), founded in 2003,
History “supports and augments the responsibilities of GSA committees,
The GPPC was founded in 1971 as the Committee on and especially [GPPC],” and engages members “in those opportuni-
Environment and Public Policy. It consisted of nine at-large ties where the science of geology intersects with the social, eco-
members plus two student members. The motivation “stemmed nomic, and policy interests of modern society.” G&S sponsors
from the visible, national interest in environment… from Earth symposia and an annual meeting distinguished lecture.
Day, the passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, and the
formation of the EPA.”* The committee focused initially on hold- *Thank you for insight on initial Committee years to the first
ing symposia at the GSA Annual Meeting. Later, the committee student members: Dr. William Schlesinger, James B. Duke
began writing issue reports as stand-alone GSA documents or Professor Emeritus of Biogeochemistry, Duke University (quote);
Geology articles. In 1978, the name was changed to the Geology and Dr. Mary Savina, Charles L. Denison Professor Emerita of
and Public Policy Committee. By the mid-1980s, while the annual Geology, Carleton College.

14 GSA Today | November 2020