Friday, January 18, 2013

Transition at New York State Geological Survey



Today is the last day for Langhorne "Taury" Smith [right, credit NYSGS] as State Geologist and Director of the New York State Geological Survey, which is part of the New York State Museum.  He starts next week as a full-time consultant.  Assistant State Geologist Andy Kozlowski will be acting director for the foreseeable future. 


2 comments:

Joe Wallach said...

Taury is a good geologist with a considerable breadth of knowledge in carbonate stratigraphy and a person whom I found to be honest and objective. What I have run across, in a rapid look at the internet, is that he has been muzzled because of his views on hydrofracking. That should NEVER have happened. He stated his views, with which I concur, but the left wingnuts have shut him down. Whatever happened to free speech?

I sincerely hope the choice to leave the survey was his, and that he was not forced out because of a gutless administration who cannot stand up to the left-wing anarchists.

Unknown said...

Concerned citizen,
I know Taury and agree that he probably is basically honest and object, but his superiors at the State Education Department were also honest and objective, and Taury explicably made politically charged statements in public that he should not have made, particularly given his associations before and after with the oil and gas industry. Actually this sort of bad judgment is somewhat typical of Taury and the people that "shut him down" are not "left wingnuts". They would have "shut him down" if he had made similar statements expressing the opposite point of view. Taury needs to learn better judgment.