Related Links: Hawaiians Fear Utility Sale Will End Rooftop Solar Choice Hawaiian Utilities Balk at Speed of Solar Panel Adoption Gov. David Inge (D) has signed a bill to make Hawaii the first U.S. state to commit to generating 100% of its power from renewable sources. The June 17 action to reach the goal by 2045 follows by days NextEra Energy shareholder approval to acquire Hawaiian Electric Industries.Florida-based NextEra is the largest U.S. solar energy developer. The firm says the $4.3-billion deal, which still needs state regulators' approval, would provide the utility with resources and access to expertise to meet
Related Links: Duke Energy Fights $25.1 million Coal Ash Fine Duke Energy Starts Ash Cleanup as N.C. Considers Tighter Regs Duke Energy Fined $102 million for Clean Water Act Violations Duke Energy has been ordered to take immediate steps to halt the spread of groundwater contamination originating from coal-ash storage basins at its L.V. Sutton Power Plant in Wilmington, N.C.The North Carolina Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued a notice of regulatory requirement to the Charlotte, N.C.-based utility after high levels of boron were found during routine tests at monitoring wells located at or beyond the facility's compliance
Related Links: Low and Slow Across America's Infrastructure The Low and Slow team reaches Salt Lake City, and gets an exclusive construction tour of an expanding SLC International Airport.Click the photo to begin the slide show.
Mrs. Martin, the 1949 Hudson Commodore 8 carrying the Low and Slow tour team, parked behind the tainter-gate section of Folsom Dam's Auxiliary Spillway. Related Links: Low and Slow Across America's Infrastructure Blog: Mrs. Martin Meets the Mile-High City Slide Show: Across the Great Basin From an airport terminal expansion in Salt Lake City to an industrial complex growing at warp speed near Reno to a sewer treatment update and the retrofit of Folsom Dam, infrastructure stewards are digging in to upgrade facilities and enhance lifestyles.As ENR's Low & Slow tour made its way to the West Coast, an uphill
Related Links: Officials Cite Big Steps Forward In California High-Speed Program California Clears Path for Funding To Get High-Speed Rail Back on Track The California High-Speed Rail Authority selected an international team led by engineering consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff to manage the state's major transportation initiative, under a $700-million comprehensive rail-delivery partner contract.The contract, which runs through 2022, has the PB team overseeing program delivery—including permitting, preliminary engineering, alignment, right-of- way acquisition and procurement."They really came in with a solid presentation of an integrated team to deliver this program," says Scott Jarvis, the authority's chief engineer.Other team members include Network Rail
Related Links: Engineer Sets Foundation to Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) website Harvard University Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure InterAmerican Development Bank Infrastructure Project Sustainability Awards-2016 Viewpoint by Robert M. Beinstein: Why CEOs Say Sustainable Solutions are Good Business Two public-sector infrastructure owners with markedly different upgrades getting underway agree on one thing—that the projects have vastly improved thanks to the use of a new tool that allows participants to measure long-term sustainability and justify how and why investments will benefit users and communities.The Florida Dept. of Transportation has embraced use of the new Envision infrastructure sustainability
Related Links: Cracks Delay Work at Floating Bridge Project in Washington State Redesign Required For $4.1-billion Project's Pontoons The world's longest floating bridge will soon be eclipsed by a newer, longer span a few feet away on Lake Washington in Seattle.As crews from Kiewit-General-Manson (KGM) move toward swinging the final 1,000 ft worth of concrete pontoons into place this July, the owner—Washington State Dept. of Transportation—looks toward opening this project in April 2016, a key component of a project worth $4.47 billion overall.Moving the final "raft" of pontoons into position "will be a shock," says Adam Geyer, KGM superintendent. "There
Photo Courtesy of Southern Co. Contractors have made notable progress, officials noted, but construction completion was below as of April. Related Links: Construction Monitor Will Jacobs Provides Key Insights on Critical Vogtle Project Vogtle Nuke Plant Builders Face Rising Cost Pressures With construction delays, financing and related costs continuing to mount, time is starting to put "significant" strain upon the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project's economics, according to recent testimony presented to the Georgia Public Service Commission by Georgia Power, state monitors and others. As a result, considerable discussion at the June hearings focused on whether completing the nuclear project
Earlier this month, Green Business Certification Inc.—the certification body for the LEED rating system of the U.S. Green Building Council—announced it is accepting applications for project certification under the Sustainable Sites Initiative Version 2 rating system for greener landscapes.
Related Links: Opponents Sue To Halt Red River Flood Control Project Army Corps Plan Would Tame Red River, Prevent 100-Year Flood Minnesota and North Dakota are at odds over the construction of a rural ring levee opponents say is part of the approximately $2-billion Fargo, N.D.-Moorhead, Minn., Diversion Project designed to change the course of the Red River, which threatens to flood both cities almost every spring.In May, a federal judge stopped construction until the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources completes its ongoing environmental review of the project. The Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Authority says losing the remainder of the construction season
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