In 1971, after
William Thomas Pecora became Under Secretary of the Interior, Chief Geologist Vincent E. McKelvey, a career scientist with the Survey since 1941, became Director. McKelvey, a graduate of
Syracuse University with a master and doctorate degrees from the University of Wisconsin, had served in several research and administrative capacities in the Geological Survey. He was internationally known for his studies of
phosphates, had headed the Survey's program of exploration and research for the
Atomic Energy Commission for several years, had been deeply involved in sometimes controversial estimates of long-range energy and mineral-resource needs, and had most recently been engaged in studies of seabed resources. McKelvey's term as Director was marked by an increase in multidisciplinary studies and in the diversity and complexity of
Geological Survey operations, as well as an increased effort to make scientific information acquired through years of research available in a form most easily used in the solution of such contemporary problems. In 1973, the
Geological Survey moved its National Headquarters from downtown
Washington, D.C. to a new building designed expressly for its needs in
Reston, Virginia. It took on primary responsibility for operational research in
seismology and
geomagnetism by agreement with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and 10 units of NOAA were transferred to the
Geological Survey. In 1976, Congress transferred jurisdiction of the Petroleum Reserve in Alaska from the Department of the Navy to the
Department of the Interior, effective June 1, 1977. Responsibility for administration of the continuing petroleum exploration program on the Reserve and operation of the
South Barrow Gas Field was delegated to the Director of the
Survey. The new activity brought with it a 50-percent increase in funds, but most of the increase was for contractual services.
Forced resignation McKelvey was a
cornucopian who believed that availability of natural resources such as oil and gas was limited mainly by the technology used to extract them. But with the election of
Jimmy Carter in 1976, McKelvey found his views out of favor with the administration. In September 1977, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior Joan Davenport called on McKelvey and asked for his resignation. McKelvey said that he resigned for the good of the USGS, and told reporters that he had been told that secretary
Cecil Andrus wanted to have his own team. This was the only instance in the history of the USGS that a director was removed because of differences with the presidential administration. Some USGS employees worried that the Survey's science would become politicized. Newspaper editorials in the Wall Street Journal and other papers defended McKelvey as an outstanding scientist, and criticized the Carter administration's unprecedented removal of McKelvey as a blow to the scientific independence of the USGS. From 1978 until his death at his home in
St. Cloud, Florida, McKelvey continued to work as senior research geologist for the
Geological Survey and also taught at the
Florida Institute of Technology during the early 1980s. ==Personal life==