U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman on June 22 ordered an injunction against the federal government’s six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, issued one month after the April 20 explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform. The New Orleans-based judge agreed with the plaintiffs, oil services firms and others that the government was “arbitrary and capricious” in implementing the May 28 ban on new wells in more than 500 ft of water. Feldman said the government did not prove that the accident indicates a threat from the 33 rigs operating in the Gulf. The federal
Despite Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s (I) authorization this month of as much as $200 million for a long-term effort to provide upgraded sewer systems for the Florida Keys, the prospects are poor for funding in total the estimated $937-million project. The governor’s action—which also extended the project deadline to 2015 from July 2010—does not provide a timeline for delivery of the Everglades Restoration bonds; it only authorizes the Florida Legislature to initiate the $200 million in bonding sometime in the future. Liz Wood, Monroe County’s senior administrator for sewer projects, says the nine municipalities and utilities that will build the
New York City’s Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction, a public high school, hosted its first “Iron Designer” competition on June 18 on the roof of its midtown building. Photo: James Blum Team works to determine the best use of the secret material—glass tiles. Composed of students partnered with architectural and engineering firms professsionals, 10 teams competed to build the best safe house: a life-size emergency shelter. The organizers limited each team to a handful of common materials and a threehour deadline. The school envisions the challenge becoming an annual fund-raising event. On the day before the competition, the
As Haiti rebuilds after its cataclysmic earthquake, the government there has launched a first-of-its-kind design competition to help replace the country's decimated housing stock.
A 528 ft-wide, 2,650-ton steel truss span, supported by a U-shaped stability frame, is being readied for lift and placement on June 19 as part of a $1.2 billion widening project for the Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans, La. Video Photo: Angelle Bergeron A 2,650-ton steel truss span, part of a $1.2 billion widening project for the Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans, is prepared for lift and placement on June 19. Related Links: New Scheme Prepared For Bridge-Truss Installation (VIDEO) Span Readied To Receive Steel: A Bridge Grows in New Orleans (VIDEO) Time-Lapse of Huey Long
Construction on Ecuador’s 1,500-MW Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project is slated to begin by the end of the month after a months-long stalemate between the country and the Chinese groups financing 85% of the effort. Ecuador broke off discussions with Sinohydro in March over the terms of the $1.7-billion financing agreement but resumed talks after overtures from the Chinese government. The dam is on the Napo River, a tributary of the Amazon, about 75 miles east of Quito. Coca Codo is expected to supply up to 70% of Ecuador’s electricity needs, reducing its dependence on imported power.
The Chinese government is considering building a 38-GW hydroelectric project on the Brahmaputra River in the Himalayas. The dam at the Motuo bend of the river would produce 1½ times the power of China’s Three Gorges Dam, currently the world’s largest hydroelectric-generating station. The dam is part of the Chinese government’s plan to more than double the country’s hydropower generation to 250,000 MW by 2020. A total of 28 potential dams along the Yarlung Tsangpo, as the Tibetans call the river, were identified by Tashi Tsering, a Tibetan academic based at the University of British Columbia, Canada, who studies environmental
The effort to build the longest bridge in Peru began in 1978, and, if all goes as planned, the 722-meter-long span over the Madre de Dios River in the Peruvian Amazon will be completed in December. Constructing the Guillermo Billinghurst Bridge—a task spanning more than three decades—will cap the effort to build a paved road in South America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean: the Interoceanic Highway. The $2.37-billion project to build the road across southern Peru was expanded last year to include the long-awaited span. When completed, the $25.71-million bridge will link the city of Puerto Maldonado
Michigan Legislature watchers say the state’s Senate could vote within the next few weeks on a bill that would let the state enter into public-private partnerships for the first time in history. If it passes the Senate, the legislation will almost certainly be signed into law by Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), who has come out in favor of the legislation. The corresponding bill passed the Michigan House on May 26. Backers say allowing the state to enter into public-private partnerships would open the door to about $5 billion in private investment in more than a half- dozen highway, bridge and
Construction is set to begin this month on a 1,045-meter-long bridge over the Mackenzie River near Fort Providence in Canada’s Northwest Territories—a project that required a substantial redesign, adding $18 million to the total cost. The new superstructure design had to be integrated with the original approved substructure design. Photo: Rendering: Infinity Engineering A redesign of a new Canadian crossing reduced the amounts of concrete and steel needed. An independent design review team of San Francisco-based T.Y. Lin International and Edmonton, Alberta-based BP Tech Engineering found to be substandard the design by Calgary-based Spronken JR and Associates Ltd. The territories’
RSS
