Several business organizations, including the Associated Builders and Contractors and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are challenging the Dept. of Homeland Security’s ‘E-Verify’ system that checks employees’ immigration status. They claim in a Dec. 23 lawsuit that the Bush administration unlawfully expanded the program. A June 9 executive order and subsequent DHS proposal made the formerly voluntary E-Verify program mandatory for all companies holding federal contracts of more than $3,000. DHS later raised the threshold to $100,000, but business groups still do not like the rule. Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the Chamber’s litigation center, says federal law “explicitly prohibits”
With the 111th Congress officially begun and President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration near, construction industry and state officials are hungering for details of the promised economic-stimulus plan. But it’s still uncertain how big the package will be, how much will go for infrastructure and how large the shares will be for highways, transit, water and other types of public works. “The economy is badly damaged. It is very sick,” Obama said on Jan. 5. He wants quick action on a stimulus measure, saying, “I expect to sign a bill to create 3 million jobs for the American people shortly after I
General Services Administration veteran Anthony E. Costa has been tapped to be acting commissioner of the agency’s Public Buildings Service. A 20-year GSA employee, Costa on Dec. 27 replaced David Winstead, who had led PBS since 2005. Winstead has returned to private law practice. George Kreis, senior vice president of Tompkins Builders, Washington, D.C., says of Costa, “He’s always been very fair to deal with and has been great at cutting red tape.”
Another chapter has closed in developer John Rapanos’ long legal battles over federal wetlands jurisdiction. In a settlement announced on Dec. 29 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Dept., Rapanos and other defendants agreed to pay a $150,000 civil penalty and spend about $750,000 to re-create about 100 acres of wetlands and buffer areas at three Michigan sites. Federal officials say Rapanos put excavated dirt into wetlands with-out Clean Water Act authorization. Rapanos and co-defendants did not admit any wrongdoing. A related criminal case is pending. Rapanos had sued, arguing the Clean Water law did not cover the
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) has withdrawn from his nomination as Dept. of Commerce Secretary in President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet. In a Jan. 5 news conference, Richardson stated that an ongoing federal grand jury investigation into a state contract related to Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership (GRIP) won by Beverly Hills, Calif.-based CDR Financial Products “would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process.” The investigation centers around a $1.48-million consulting contract CDR won in 2004 with the New Mexico Finance Authority, a state instrumentality that finances infrastructure projects by providing low-cost funds and technical assistance. CDR was part
President-elect Barack Obama’s picks to lead the departments of transportation and labor took many construction industry officials by surprise. Obama announced on Dec. 19 that he had chosen 14-year Republican congressman Ray LaHood (Ill.) to serve as transportation secretary and Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), as labor secretary. Photo: AP/Wideworld Solis and LaHood were not on everyone’s short list. Industry officials were caught off guard by LaHood’s nomination. He wasn’t on the rumor-mill lists of possible candidates and has not been a leading legislator on transportation matters, though he did serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for his first six
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on Dec. 17 an-nounced that the state has reached a settlement with Powers Fasteners Inc. regarding the July 10, 2006, Interstate-90 tunnel-plenum collapse that crushed a car and killed a 38-year-old local woman, Milena Del Valle. The tunnel is part of Boston’s $14.6-billion Central Artery/Tunnel project, which was completed in 2005. The collapse of some of the new tunnel’s concrete ceiling panels has been linked to improper use of the Brewster, N.Y-based firm’s fast-set epoxy in the an-choring system. Under the agreement, Powers will stop selling the fast-set epoxy and recall all previous sales. The
President-elect Barack Obama has selected a veteran team of regulators and administrators to fill his administration’s top energy and environmental posts. Environmental and industry groups expect the team, announced on Dec. 15, to be more focused on climate change and renewable energy than the Bush administration. They believe the designees will be sympathetic to boosting funds for programs like Environmental Protection Agency water-infrastructure aid, but overall budget pressures may work against that. Photo: AP / Wideworld Veteran. Lisa Jackson to be EPA nominee. For energy secretary, Obama tapped Steven Chu, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics and heads
The U.S. Interior Dept. issued final regulations on Dec. 11 that clarify when consultations with other agencies are required under the Endangered Species Act. Interior says the change was needed to prevent lawmakers from using the law as a back door way to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The new rules were narrower than an August proposal, which was widely criticized by environmental groups. The final version permits agencies to forgo consultation only in limited circumstances, Interior says. Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), the top environment committee Republican, calls the revision “a step in the right direction.” But the National Audubon Society is
President-elect Barack Obama on Dec. 13 named New York City Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Shaun Donovan as his pick for Housing and Urban Development Secretary. Donovan was a HUD deputy assistant secretary in the Clinton administration and later a Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. managing director. HUD construction programs include Community Development Block Grants.
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