Mark Myers Confirmed as Director of U.S. Geological Survey
9/28/2006 -- Mark Myers was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 14th Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on September 15, 2006. He immediately began meeting with employees and stakeholders after he was sworn into office on September 26. Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey is one of the nation’s oldest science agencies.
“It's incredibly important that the science is unbiased, that it is peer reviewed and objective,” Myers said to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources at his confirmation hearing on July 20. Noting that the USGS is not a regulatory agency, Myers said, “That’s the way it needs to be so the Survey can deliver objective information.”
Last fall, Myers was one of six Alaska officials who resigned their positions after a disagreement with Gov. Frank Murkowski (R). Myers resigned as Alaska State Geologist and Director of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas. “Staying in this position would require me to compromise my values as to what is right, both legally and ethically, and what is in the interests of the state,” Myers said in his letter of resignation to Gov. Murkowski. “I adamantly disagree with the [Alaska] Administration’s current position on gasline negotiations,” Myers wrote. “I cannot continue as Director and watch silently as the state’s interests are undermined by creating barriers for the new oil and gas participants that are so vital to the economic future of our state,” he continued. He thought the state’s concessions to the oil companies were too generous.
Myers previously served as Senior Staff Geologist for Exploration at ARCO Alaska, Inc. and Phillips Alaska, Inc. Earlier in his career, Myers was a Petroleum Geologist for the State of Alaska Division of Oil and Gas. An expert on North Slope sedimentary and petroleum geology, Myers served as survey chief or sedimentologist for 16 North Slope field programs.
Myers received his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks in 1994. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in geology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Myers was initially nominated by President Bush in May. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources approved the nomination in early August, but the full Senate did not immediately vote on the nomination due to a procedural “hold” by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). Wyden lifted his hold after an unrelated issue was resolved, but President Bush had to re-submit the nomination after Congress returned from its August recess. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources approved the nomination for a second time on September 13, 2006.
Myers succeeds Charles Groat as Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. Groat served from 1998 to 2005 under both President Clinton and President Bush. P. Patrick Leahy was Acting Director of the USGS for 15 months from June 2005 to September 2006. During that time, Leahy managed the USGS response to hurricane Katrina and other major events.
Craig Schiffries, Ph.D.
Director of Science Policy
National Council for Science and the Environment
1707 H Street, NW, Suite 200
Washington, D.C. 20006
Tel: 202-530-5810
E-mail: policy@NCSEonline.org
