Related Links: Link to final regulation Link to industry complaint Republican lawmakers and the oil and gas industry are ramping up their plans to block newly finalized regulations for hydraulic fracturing—also known as “fracking”—on federal and tribal lands.Industry advocates say the rules, which wil will be published in the March 26 issue of the Federal Register, are unnecessary and could make work more bureaucratic and expensive for firms in the oil and gas sector.The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the Western Energy Alliance filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming on March
Related Links: Link to executive order Fact sheet on Executive order President Obama has issued an executive order calling for the federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to 2008 levels over the next decade. He also set a target for increasing the government’s use of renewable energy for electricity to 30% by 2025.The same day Obama released the announcement, several major federal contractors, including CH2M Hill, GE, AECOM, SAIC, Battelle, Honeywell and others made various commitments at a White House roundtable meeting to monitor and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade.The companies represented
Day by day, the May 31 expiration date for the stopgap federal highway and transit funding law is getting closer. What worries construction executives and state transportation officials is that Congress has shown no signs of agreement on finding the tens of billions of dollars needed to fund a new multiyear bill.Seeking to crack the deadlock,the American Road and Transportation Builders Association on March 12 proposed boosting the federal gasoline and diesel taxes by 15¢ per gallon. To offset the financial hit to motorists, it calls for a $90 annual rebate. The federal gas tax now is 18.4¢ and the
Related Links: Portman and Shaheen press release on reintroduced bill (3/11/2015) Senate Passes Keystone Pipeline Bill (enr.com 1/29/2015) [subscription] Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) again have proposed an energy-efficiency bill that includes provisions that construction industry groups generally support. But the American Institute of Architects opposes the measure, introduced on March 11, because of language that would repeal a section of the 2007 energy law that phases out fossil fuels in new federal buildings and renovations by 2030.AIA President Elizabeth Chu Richter said, "It doesn't make sense that a bill touted to encourage energy conservation throughout the
Related Links: New Water Resources Bill Sails Toward Enactment (ENR 6/2/2014 issue) [subscription] Port Group Leads Push for Hike in Harbor Fund Spending (ENR 10/13/2014 issue) [subscription] As congressional appropriators continue their work on spending bills for fiscal year 2016, industry groups are pushing for an increase in the Army Corps of Engineers civil works budget.A coalition including the American Association of Port Authorities, Waterways Council Inc. (WCI) and others wrote key appropriators on March 12, requesting $2.76 billion in 2016 for the Corps navigation program, up 17% from 2015. To help reach that goal, the coalition wants Congress to
Related Links: DBIA DBIA Best Practices The Design Build Institute of America (DBIA) is seeking industry comment through April 1 on a draft document that highlights best practices for design-build projects in the water-wastewater sector.The document, circulated at DBIA's water-wastewater sector conference in San Antonio March 11-13, is based on DBIA's universal best practices for design-build document released last year. The group released a similar draft of best practices for transportation projects at its transportation conference March 9-11.Lisa Washington, DBIA's executive director, said the "market drill-downs" are meant to supplement the association's universal best practices, which apply to all types
Related Links: Link to ARTBA proposal summary and financial tables With several proposals on the table but no Capitol Hill consensus yet about a revenue source for a new long-term surface transportation bill, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association has put forward another idea: a sharp increase in federal motor-fuels taxes. The ARTBA plan, announced on March 12, calls for a 15¢-per-gal. boost in the gasoline and diesel tax, but it also has an unusual wrinkle—a $90 a year rebate to motorists to offset the fuel-tax hike’s impact on their pocketbooks.The federal gas tax now is 18.4¢ and the diesel
Related Links: Text of PRRIA bill (excluding floor amendments) Congressional Budget Office cost estimate of bill The House has approved a measure to authorize $7.2 billion over four years for Amtrak and has a focus on the railroad’s busy Northeast Corridor. It also aims to spark more private investment around Amtrak's stations and along its rights-of-way. The Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act (PRRIA), which the House passed on March 4 on a 316-101 vote, includes $5.8 billion for Amtrak capital expenses, operations and debt-repayment, or an average of $1.45 billion per year. Amtrak's fiscal 2015 appropriation for those activities is
Photo by Mario Olivero/AASHTO Shuster "confident" Congress can pass a long-term transportation bill, but funding remains unresolved. Related Links: Lawmakers Still Search for Solution to Highway, Transit Funding Needs With federal highway authorizations due to expire in three months, and no replacement bill even introduced yet in Congress, some state agencies are postponing highway contract bid lettings, and others are drawing up contingency plans that could delay project starts, officials say.The search for a new surface transportation bill was front and center at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) annual winter meeting, held Feb. 24-27 in
Related Links: Crane Operator Testing Will Continue, Examiners Say (ENR 10/6/2014 issue) [subscription] Testing Companies Debate OSHA Crane Operator Delay (ENR 03/24/2014 issue) [subscription] Leaders of a House committee are urging the Occupational Safety & Health Administration to revise its 2010 construction cranes and derricks rule, saying the language that spells out how operators are to be certified is problematic."We encourage you to work with the stakeholders to resolve the discrepancies," House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), a subcommittee chair, told OSHA chief David Michaels in a Feb. 11 letter.At issue
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