Professional Geologists, No Licensure Required in Colorado Options

[ASTROBLEME]

While 29 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico require professional geologists to have a Professional Geologist (P.G.) license, Colorado does not. The state certainly has an interest in protecting citizens, government entities and companies from unethical and/or incompetent practice.

Here's a link to what Colorado requires;

PG Definition

Our state should impose a licensure process in order to assure accountability and responsibility of P.G. practitioners.

ASTROBLEME

[Gene Kooper]

I suppose that one could ask a similar question regarding why other professions should be licensed professions, e.g. wildlife biology. To answer your question, it is the Colorado General Assembly's responsibility to determine which professions are licensed professions in this state. Their criteria has nothing to do with assuring, "accountability and responsibility" of a profession. The criteria established in Colorado for the professions that are licensed are that the Legislature has determined that the public health, safety and welfare must be protected.

For example, here is the preamble to the Practice Act for Professional Land Surveyors

TITLE 12
Professions and Occupations

ARTICLE 25
Engineers, Surveyors and Architects

PART 2
Surveyors

12-25-201. General provisions. In order to safeguard life, health, and property and to promote the public welfare, the practice of professional land surveying in Colorado is hereby declared to be subject to regulation.

The preambles to the Practice Acts for Engineers and Architects are worded slightly differently but convey the same reasoning for licensure.

Architects - 12-25-301. General provisions. The regulatory authority established by this part 3 is necessary to safeguard the life, health, property and public welfare of the people of this state and to protect them against unauthorized, unqualified and improper practice of architecture.

Engineers - 12-25-101. General provisions. In order to safeguard life, health, and property and to promote the public welfare, the practice of engineering is hereby declared to be subject to regulation in the public interest.

I am a licensed Professional Land Surveyor and a Professional Geologist in the state of Colorado. The requirements for obtaining a license as a PLS in Colorado consist of education, experience and examination. The requirements for being a Professional Geologist in Colorado consist of education and experience requirements. The powers that be have determined that licensure is not required for geologists. Many geologists will acquire certification in one or more disciplines of geology. Professional societies often provide the certification which can be more onerous that a licensing route. In other cases like California, a geologist can first become a licensed Professional Geologist and then obtain state certifications in Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology. A "simple" PG is forbidden from practicing in those two subdisciplines without the state certifications.

All 50 states require architects, engineers and surveyors to be licensed. It appears from the initial post that 20 other states side with Colorado in not having a requirement that geologists be licensed.

Mr. Tonko, If you really believe that this should be changed, I suggest that you contact the Colorado Geological Survey and get their insights regarding why Colorado decided to only require education and experience requirements for Professional Geologists. Or, perhaps you should consider petitioning your state senator and/or state representative to get the law changed. In my view the education and experience requirements are better than no requirements which would allow anyone with no formal training or professional experience to pronounce that they are skilled geologists.

Edit to add: I hope that GeoMatt weighs in with his opinion.

[ASTROBLEME]

[quote name='Gene Kooper' date='Jan 12 2018, 01:37 AM' post='47952']
I suppose that one could ask a similar question regarding why other professions should be licensed professions, e.g. wildlife biology.

Gene,

How fortunate that you would ask that specific question about wildlife biology professionals. Please let me take this opportunity to add to the discussion and assist everyone with getting a better understanding for that profession.

After graduating from Colorado State University with a Wildlife Biology degree, I continued with my studies and earned several post graduate credits while completing an internship. I then successfully competed to be hired into a State of Colorado professional position managing several Wildlife Areas. That work experience qualified me for the highly competitive training academy with the Colorado Division of Wildlife ( now know as Colorado Parks and Wildlife). There were more than 1,200 applicants for 13 positions available in that academy and the selection process took 18 months. It was a blessing that I was accepted into that academy and it presented an opportunity to pursue my childhood dreams of becoming a "game warden". The training academy lasted a year and was very rigorous but the experience, licenses, certificates and other credentials obtained during that course work became very valuable to achieving my future goals. When I graduated from the training academy, I had earned certification that authorized me to perform such duties as were delegated by the Governor of Colorado as a state certified peace officer. I was then promoted to a District Wildlife Manager position and served in that capacity for the next 15 years in southern Colorado. My family and I are very proud of that! I still continue to draw on those lessons learned decades ago for day-to-day living.

Over the following years, I completed numerous other higher education courses that qualified me to perform duties as a scientist/researcher for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. I retired from that certified professional position a couple of years ago and now work on my family's company projects full-time.

ASTROBLEME (aka Mr. Tonko)