Related Links: HUD's Sandy Rebuilding Strategy ENR Superstorm Sandy Special Report Citing a crucial need for a coordinated approach to resilient rebuilding in Hurricane Sandy-affected areas, the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced the creation of a HUD-led regional forum to "understand interdependencies and interconnections." Construction industry leaders agree that, if anyone can provide the mortar between disparate constituencies in Sandy-affected areas, it is Donovan."An effective and charismatic convener such as Secretary Donovan knows how to get people to the table," says Rick Bell, executive director of AIA New York (AIANY). "Too often, New York
Photo Courtesy of FCC Sediment dredged from the River Ebro, into which a nearby chemical plant discharged pollutants since the 1890s, will be dumped at this specially built landfill in Flix, Spain, after treatment at the plant site. Related Links: Acuamed, Spanish Government-owned Water Resources Company A nasty mix of pollutants—organochlorides, heavy metals and radionuclides—is making remediation of Spain's tainted River Ebro unusually complicated, say engineers managing the $212-million cleanup project.Decades of pollution had gone officially unobserved until fish started dying near the small town of Flix (pronounced "fleesh"), 80 kilometers west of Tarragona on the Mediterranean Sea. Polluted discharges
AP Indo-Tibetan border police use a rope to rescue stranded pilgrims on June 20. Ministry of Defense Many roads were damaged by landslides, cutting off access for residents and tourists. Rescue and restoration efforts are still under way. Related Links: India Unveils Annual Budget to Skittish Infra Investors Growth in India's Infrastructure Markets Projected In India, heavy June rains have killed more than 5,000 and stranded more than 19,000 people in the northern states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh as landslides and flooded rivers cut off major routes and devastated the area's Himalayan foothills. The torrents washed away more than
photo By Mary Servatius Even as Sandy recovery work continues in and around New York City, the mayor aims to move beyond the storm and fortify flood-prone areas against potential risks related to climate change. Related Links: Post-Sandy Mobilization Moves into High Gear New York City aims to ramp up protection against damage from catastrophic weather events and a changing climate with a new $19.5-billion plan to strengthen 15 critical areas, from food supply to health care to shorelines. The plan, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) revealed on June 11 in a 438-page report, offers long-term recommendations and goes far
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on May 28 a final $79-million cleanup plan for the Raritan Bay Slag Superfund site in central New Jersey. The cost and cleanup are set to be covered by the corporate successor to the firm believed to have contributed most of the site's waste slag, which contains lead.The waste, which came from a smelter once operated by now defunct manufacturer National Lead, was used in the 1960s to construct a seawall and jetty along the southern shore of Raritan Bay, says the agency.EPA added the site to the federal Superfund cleanup list in 2009
Map Courtesy of the Delta Stewardship Council Related Links: New Bay Delta Plan Calls for $13-Billion Tunnel UCLA Researchers Return to Delta for New Levee Shake Test The cost of California Gov. Jerry Brown's Bay Delta Conservation Plan, or BDCP, will top $24.5 billion, according to a report released by the state on May 29.When first proposed, the plan was estimated to cost $4 billion, then raised to $14 billion.The state's BDCP report addresses the controversial project's issues of cost, funding and the need for new water intakes and tunnels to restore habitats in the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta area,
Related Links: Green Building Booms in India India Moves Forward on $90-Billion Industrial Development Plan A recent study by the Indian Green Building Council predicts that, in the next 10 to 15 years, India will need at least 70 new cities with populations of 500,000 each to handle the rural-to-urban migration and avoid overpopulation in its existing metropolitan areas. In addition, as India's population is expected to exceed China’s by 2020, the federal government has begun pumping undisclosed sums of money into infrastructure and manufacturing.The government has been planning ecologically healthy cities to deal with its projected status as the
One month after a pipeline rupture sent 210,000 gal of heavy crude oil through an Arkansas neighborhood, officials announced initiation of a “reentry plan” so residents can start returning to their homes.That return will be “over the next few weeks,” according to a statement from the city-county-EPA-ExxonMobil command headquarters in Mayflower, Ark., near Little Rock.“We are working with the construction crews and local Unified Command now to try to finalize the details around dates/times for these questions, but we don’t have that just yet,” Russ Roberts, ExxonMobil spokesman, says in response to questions about when homes would be available for
Related Links: ASCE Metrolpolitan Section City of Hoboken The mayor of Hoboken, N.J., supports region-wide storm-surge resistance in the long term but is pushing for added local protection in the short term. Experts at a recent forum on Superstorm Sandy's impact in the New York-New Jersey area agreed: Plan regionally but act now locally."There has to be protection on a local level plus a regional approach," said Dawn Zimmer, Hoboken's mayor since 2009, at the "Impact of Sandy's Storm Surge on NY/NJ Infrastructure" seminar, sponsored by the ASCE Metropolitan Section and held in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 8-9.The densely populated