The meeting was held at the Geological Survey of Canada - Calgary, Alberta.

Attendees: Judith Potter, Fari Goodarzi, Bill McDougall, Willem Langenburg, Vern Stasiuk, Maria Tomica,
Jenny Wong, Cindy Reidiger, Hamed Sanei, Julito Reyes, Marcel Labonte, Patrik Klassen, Nima Taba-Tabai

Regrets: Thomas Gentzis, Mike Avery

Meeting opened at 10.00 a.m. with a welcoming address from the meeting host Dr. Vern Stasiuk

President's address (Attachment I) 
Memorial to Alex Cameron, Former President, Founding member, Honourary member of CSCOP/CCPG, 

Society Business:

Agenda (Attachment II) - approved; Motion: Vern Stasiuk; seconded: Fari Goodarzi
Minutes of the 2000 annual meeting -approved; Motion; Bill McDougall; seconded Willem Langenburg 

President's Report
J. Potter indicated that our membership is dwindling significantly by attrition, retirements, lack of new people entering the field of coal research and related professions. This has an impact on where we hold our meetings. Most of our members are now located in Western Canada and specifically in Calgary and therefore it does not seem prudent to hold annual meetings anywhere else; our last three meetings have been held in Alberta, the last two in Calgary. While all of those in attendance at the last two meetings have been exclusively from Alberta, we must be careful not to isolate our active members in Nova Scotia. We must bear in mind when scheduling meetings that we may be sacrificing the interest of new members when we don't rotate meeting locations as we used to do? Indeed, the student recipient of Cameron Award is from Dalhousie University in Halifax. Should we reconsider piggybacking our meetings on the annual GAC-MAC meeting as we used to do? We would like to hear some opinions on meeting venues from members.
Would anyone like to host a future meeting? 

Canadian Geoscience Council
At the current time we have full membership status in CGC. As president, I have not been very diligent about attending CGC meetings for the last year for personal reasons but also because: 1) they occur every three months, on a rotational basis at locations across Canada. CSCOP does not have funds available for officers to travel to meetings and I am unable to finance the travel costs personally; 2) during the last year, two permanent salaried positions were created to handle CGC business, i.e., a Business Secretary + general secretary and subsequently the amount of documentation produced on a daily basis is phenomenal and I feel that an unreasonable level of participation is required to keep up with the correspondence from the issues director and initiatives requiring action - 'Can't keep my day job and handle all this documentation'; 3) at the last meeting I attended, two proposals were tabled which affect our membership:

a) a significant fee increase to offset salaries of new positions which I do not feel can be justified given that most of income from CSCOP memberships fees would have to be directed to CGC as membership fees.

b) in the past, as a small society, CSCOP enjoyed one vote on Council whereas CSPG might have two and therefore we had a significant voice despite our small size; however, a restructuring of CGC membership was proposed so that voting rights were proportional to members (e.g. CSPG, GAC or MAC with very large memberships would have pro rata votes and us with 25 members would go to a fraction of a vote). This left me feeling that a ) our membership other than nominal has become insignificant; and b) the cost of membership can no longer be justified since CGC issues have very little direct impact on our activities;

4) I therefore took steps to withhold our membership dues for this year while we review our situation. I think we have to review out commitment to CGC and take steps to either withdraw formally or indicate our continued support and pay the necessary fees; 5) If the latter is the case, then I feel we must appoint a representative to look after CGC issues; 6) At the end of 2000, all CSCOP members were sent a questionnaire by CGC on professional status which they were to complete and return. These were to form the basis for the creation of a national professional accreditation/registration program which CGC is considering introducing. 

Motion: the ensuing discussion about CGC membership resulting in a motion put forward by Fari Goodarzi (seconded: Bill McDougall): that CSCOP discontinue membership in CGC.. Motion was carried Members voted unanimously to withdraw from CGC. J. Potter will inform CGC by letter.

Awards
Last year we called for nominations for the Cameron Award for a student involved in research program related to coal & organic petrology or geology. Vern Stasiuk will make the announcements as head of the Awards Committee. 

This year we are calling for nominees for the Hacquebard Medal which as you know was struck in honour the work and contributions to Coal Science in Canada of Dr. Peter Hacquebard during his long and distinguished career 

A membership review was carried out by an ad hoc committee consisting of Treasurer, Thomas Gentzis and Secretary, Mike Avery in view of the size of membership on which CGC membership is based (45) and number members currently paying dues (?):

A letter was sent out to delinquent members asking people to update their situation with respect to annual dues and indicate whether or not they wanted to remain on the mailing list and retain voting rights. Those who do not want to maintain active status will no longer have newsletters and annual minutes etc. sent to them. Active membership status is thus invoked for people who have been paying dues since 1997. people have been urged to contact Thomas Gentzis to confirm current status.

People who remain marginally interested in coal Science are still encouraged to visit the web site for news of activities

Most mailouts are now done through e-mail which is convenient and has cost-cutting benefits. Please contact Mike Avery if you are not getting regular mailings.

Mike Avery would appreciate feedback on the web site and any new ideas

Call was put out from Mike Avery for Member profiles to be posted on the web site. This is vehicle for you to advertise what you do, your research interests and current activities. I encourage everyone to submit a paragraph or so to Mike with/without a digital image or passport size photo that can be scanned. Please make use of this facility but be aware that information you post becomes 

Treasurer's Report

In the absence of a report from the treasurer J. Potter delivered an approximate evaluation of the Society's financial status based on conversations with Treasurer Gentzis and known incomes & expenditures. Books will once again be audited by David Marchioni. An updated statement from the treasurer is attached (Appendix III).

Sales of the CSCOP Atlas have been proceeding at a steady pace.

Progress on Atlas CD Rom Project
The digital version of the CSCOP Atlas has almost been completed. During 2000 and 2001 Stasiuk has worked with Paul Dunn to produce a beta version of the Atlas which uses Netscape browser. The beta-version was demonstrated by Stasiuk. A demonstration is also planned for the ICCP2001 meeting in Denmark. Hamed Sanei and Julito Reyes volunteered to test the current version for user friendliness and possible errors, omissions. The objective of the editor is to have the cd version available for sale at the Banff 2002 meeting. The attendees discussed how the digital version of the Atlas would be sold, i.e., as a cd and/or as a downloadable product residing on the CSCOP website. The majority were in favour of selling the cd version but many were also in favour of considering future dissemination as a downloadable product. 

Award's Committee Report
Cameron Award Recipient

There were submissions from four students applying for the Cameron award during 2000-2001: Dalhousie University, University of Calgary, University of British Columbia, and University of Alberta. The awards committee declared Mike Rygel the winner of the 2001 Cameron award. He is completing his Master of Science in Geology at Dalhousie studying "Channels and Coals - floodplain dynamics of the Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation Sedimentology of Joggins, Nova Scotia." He is supervised by Dr. Martin Gibling. 

Nominations for Hacquebard Medal

There were no nominations for the Hacquebard Award during 2000-2001.

Reports from TSOP, ICCP
The ICCP annual meeting was organized by Carla Viviane and held at Petrobras, Rio de Janiero, Brazil, Aug 13 - 19, 2000. For a summary of the meeting and commission highlights refer to ICCP.org. Alan Cook, Australia was installed as the new President and Petra Davi, The Netherlands, was installed as the new Secretary General. Peter Crosdale is the Editor. A new working group on New Technologies was proposed and initiated in Commission II. The working group activities will be expanded upon at the 2001 ICCP meeting in Copenhagen. Canada was represented by L. Stasiuk, David Pearson and Jan Pearson.

The 2000 TSOP annual meeting was organized by Dr. Maria Mastalerz, Indiana Geological Survey and held at Indiana State University, Bloomington Indiana from Sept 17-20. For a summary of the meeting and technical presentations and posters see www.tsop.org. Michelle Hawke, University of British Columbia and a student member of CSCOP was presented with the most outstanding student poster award. Congratulations Michelle. Canada was well represented at the meeting by Dr. Mark Bustin, UBC, Michelle Hawke, UBC, L. Stasiuk, GSC, and Jenny Wong, GSC.
 

Banff 2002:

TSOP-CSCOP-EAOG hosted conference, August 31^st- Sept 4, 2002, Banff, Alberta:

Conference site is Banff Centre. There will be six conference themes, an organo-facies workshop by Dr. Richard Tyson, NRG, Newcastle-upon Tyne, U.K., an Organic geochemistry symposium Dedicated to A.G. Douglas and 4 Field Trips including two to the Burgess Shales. 

Elsevier Science conference office is sponsoring conference organization.
Notices : 1^ST & 2^nd circular, electronic registration, abstract submission - all members should have received notices of the meeting.
Registration charges: Sterling 160.00; US 224.00; Can 352.00

Registration deadlines: 
Conference registration: June 30^th, 2002 (technically there will be no on-site registration)
Abstracts for presentations & posters: December 1^st, 2001
Publications: Submission to session chair at conference
Field trips: June 20^th, 2002

Members are invited to assist in the conference organization in any of the following areas:

Promotions: Elsevier journals: Coal Geology & Organic geochemistry
AAPG, ACS, CSPG, ICCP conferences
TSOP & CSCOP & ICCP newsletters & website links
Anyone traveling to conferences this year are invited to take and distribute copies of First Circular!
Sponsorship: fund-raising, bags, conference packages
Volunteers: Posters, Conference sessions,

Announcements:

Tim Moore has asked that we publicize the following position:

Research Scientist/Engineer position with CRL Energy Ltd. in Zealand. For more information, 

Contact J. Potter (403 240-0240)

Banff, September 1^st, 2002.

President's address

Welcome everyone to the 11^th annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Coal Science and Organic Petrology. It is nice to see everyone again and it is particularly gratifying to see so many people involved in Coal Science employed and over committed these days after significant period of quiescence in coal research. The current energy shortages in the U.S. which have propelled the demand for fossil fuels have generated a resurgence of interest in coal as a source of thermal power and the great demand and high prices for natural gas that have prevailed over the last year or two have "fueled" renewed interest in Coalbed methane exploration. The outlook for coal science and research is once again very promising. However, as a result of the lack of interest and investment in addition to the rise of environmental consciousness with regard to the use of fossil fuels that has escalated during the 1990's there are few people in Canada who are now trained in aspects of coal science, coal geology and so there are only a few of us left to do the job! In some respects this is good - people are very busy and the prospects of employment for our student members has not been better since the 1980's, On the other hand, we can never underestimate the need to train new people in coal science. I am glad to say the future looks much brighter for our youngest members!

In this light, it is important to keep our society vibrant, despite dwindling numbers and active membership these past years. We need to support each other in our various endeavors because we have common interests and we are passionate about coal science, organic petrology & geochemistry. I encourage you to use the Society's website to disperse information, for any professional activities, contacts to keep communications active where travel isn't always possible. So, I thank you for your continued support, enthusiasm and participation in CSCOP. 

At last years meeting we were honoured by having Honourary Member, Dr. Alex Cameron, with us for most of the day, despite the fact that he was undergoing vigorous treatment for cancer. As you are all aware, Alex passed away on September 11^th, 2001. He was a founding member of CSCOP and its forerunner, the Canadian Coal Petrographers Group, and served as president for many years. He was also the only CSCOP member to have been awarded the Hacquebard Medal, the Theissen Medal and the ACS Cady Award. Dr. Goodarzi gave a very nice eulogy at the funeral mass and a modified version was published in Coal Geology at the end of the year. He left an amazing legacy of coal research papers and we are constantly reminded of the fruits of his accomplishments in everything we do here in Calgary. I personally miss the wisdom and guidance he provided when it came to CSCOP matters. Amazingly, the announcement of his death came almost at the same time as that of his contemporary Dr. Marlies Teichmuller. Alex is in good company! It is fitting that we chose this year to make the second Alexander R. Cameron award to a promising student pursuing studies in coal geology at Dalhousie University. We will all miss Alex greatly and I would like to ask you to stand and join together in a minute of silence as we remember Alex together, and also Mme Teichmuller. 

On a brighter note, this year's initiatives have been the creation of a CD Rom version of the CSCOP Atlas of Canadian Coal Macerals and Dispersed Organic Matter and Banff 2002 conference. I am hopeful that the brighter picture for fossil fuels and coal research and development will be reflected in the content of the talks at the Banff 2002 conference which is what most of us have been working on this year. This is a joint meeting with TSOP and we hope it will be as successful as the last joint meeting in Halifax hosted by Muki, Mike Avery et al. in 1998. As the time approaches, I hope you will participate in some various aspects of the organization. Finally, I would like to offer our Congratulations to Thomas Gentzis as he takes his new position as Chief Petrologist at CDX here in Calgary. 

With that I hope we have a successful meeting today and as usual tonight we will have an opportunity to enjoy our annual dinner. 

10.00 Welcome address & opening remarks: Vern Stasiuk

10.10 Presidents address

Memorial to Alex Cameron, Former President of CSCOP/CCPG, Founding member of CCPG, Honourary member of CSCOP

Approval of agenda
Minutes of 2000 annual meeting

President's Report

Membership
Annual meeting locations
CGC membership review 

Secretary's Report: 

Website updates: 
address: www.CSCOP.org
links to TSOP, ICCP and Banff Conference
refinements to speed up downloading 
Member profiles:
Prof. experience, working/research interests, contact info is optional

Treasurer's Report

Editor's report
CSCOP Atlas sales
Progress on Atlas CD Rom Project

Award's Committee Report
Cameron Award Presentation
Nominations for Hacquebard Medal

Report's from TSOP, ICCP

Membership in CGC - vote

Banff 2002 TSOP-CSCOP-EAOG meeting August 31^st- Sept 4, 2002, Banff Alberta:

Conference site is Banff Centre 
Sessions, Workshop, AGD Symposium, Field Trips: 4
Elsevier sponsorship/conference organization
Notices : IST & 2^nd circular, electronic registration, abstract submission
Registration charges: Sterling 160.00 ; US 224.00; Can 352.00
Registration deadlines: 
Conference registration: June 30^th, 2002 (technically no on-site registration)
Abstracts for presentations & posters: December 1^st, 2001
Publications: Submission to session chair at conference
Field trips: June 20^th, 2002

Promotions: Elsevier journals: Coal Geology & Organic geochemistry
AAPG, ACS, CSPG, ICCP conferences
TSOP & CSCOP & ICCP newsletters & website links
Insurance
Volunteers: Posters, Conference sessions, Sponsorship.

Tim Moore: Research Scientist/Engineer position with CRL Energy Ltd. in Zealand.

Meeting adjourned at 4.45 p.m.

DEBITS:

$ 96.96 Paid to Lavern Stasiuk (reimbursement for expenses on June 14, 2000)
$ 30.00 Paid to the Receiver General for Canada (Industry Canada fees on July 25, 2000)
$ 52.93 Paid to Mike Avery (fees for CSCOP website on September 30, 2000) 
$ 90.68 Paid to Judith Potter (flowers for Dr. Alex Cameron's funeral on October 12, 2000) 
$ 250.00 Michael Rygel (recipient of Cameron Award on May 4, 2001)
$ 72.50 Bank charges for deposits and for maintaining account (to June 30, 2001)

$ 593.07 Total Debits

CREDITS:

$ 1,096.48 Sale of CSCOP Atlas plus membership dues (June 16, 2000).
$ 25.00 Membership dues (October 6, 2000)
$ 638.02 Sale of CSCOP Atlas (November 11, 2000)
$ 75.00 Membership fees (December 9, 2000)
$ 20.00 Membership fees (January 29, 2001)
$ 52.90 Interest from term deposit certificate; deposited to account in February, 2001

$1,907.40 Total Credits

ACCOUNT BALANCE:

Balance on May 23, 2000: $7,668.11
Balance on December 31, 2000: $9,179.81
Balance on June 30, 2001: $8,913.81 (Approximate - exact amount of bank charge increases as yet unknown)

CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT 

Held at the TD-Canada Trust branch at Crowfoot Mall, Calgary

•  The amount is $ 1,150.00 
•  It matured on February 2, 2001 
•  It was renewed for 12 months until February 2, 2002 
•  The interest is credited to account at maturity

Dr. Thomas Gentzis 
Treasurer-CSCOP

Information for contacting the executive

President: Judith Potter
J.P.PetroGraphics
90 Patterson Close SW
Calgary, AB
T3H 2V2
ph: 403-292-7114 or (403) 240-0240 
fax: 403-292-5377 or (403) 240-0240
jpotter@geo.ucalgary.ca
jupotter@NRCan.gc.ca
dpotter@telusplanet.net

Secretary: Mike Avery
Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic)
Bedford Institute of Oceanography
Box 1006, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
B2Y 4A2
ph: 902-426-6761
fax: 902-426-4465
avery@agc.bio.ns.ca

Treasurer: Thomas Gentzis
CDX Canada, Inc.
1210, 606 - 4 Street SW
Calgary, Alberta
T2P 1T1
Tel: 403-503-0708 (ext. 228)
Fax: 403-503-0809
tgentzis@cdxcanada.com

Publication Editor: Laverne D. Stasiuk
Geological Survey of Canada (Calgary)
3303 - 33rd St. NW
Calgary, Alberta
T2L 2A7
ph: 403-292-7000
fax: 403-292-5377
lstasiuk@NRCan.gc.ca