Angelle Bergeron/ENR It appears Wright has succeeded in inspiring a passion for exploration in at least one of his students. Chris Duck, left, hopes to spend the summer working at the National Atmospheric and Space Administration's balloon launch facility in Palestine, Texas. The only things that may indicate John Wright is anything more than your average middle school science teacher are the intense passion and intelligence in his eyes and his well-worn boots. He’s a man whose deep baritone voice lowers as his interest increases, as if he is grappling to rein in his expansive intellect. At the elite school
Michael Goodman / ENR Suncor will spend more than $20 billion to grow. Despite a chronic shortage of available construction workers in Alberta’s oilsands region and growing concerns about controlling Canada’s soaring greenhouse-gas emissions, leading producers are rushing forward with big expansion plans. For several, the goal is to boost daily production capacity to a level of 500,000 barrels. Suncor Energy Inc. had the most recent expansion announcement and now is expecting to boost crude-oil production by 200,000 bbl per day, moving toward the company’s goal of producing 550,000 bbl per day in 2012. The phased-in expansion plans include constructing
Old Man Winter can make it extremely difficult to work outdoors for not only the workers but also equipment. On Jan. 29, production at Syncrude Canada was suspended following several instrument freeze-ups as a result of extremely cold weather conditions. Temperatures during the unusually cold snap dipped to around -54.4 Fahrenheit with the wind chill. Most units affected by the freeze-ups had returned to operations by Feb. 5, with crude oil production resuming to about 180,000 barrels a day, a little more than half its capacity. Syncrude was working on bringing the remaining units back up. Related Links: Alberta's Booming
Traverse Crew, USAP/NSF Tearing down a drive track for a bearing replacement on the Leverett Glacier. Brian Wheater had no hint of the luck he was about to have as he rumbled across Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf in November 1990 on Linda, a Caterpillar D8 LGP bulldozer. He was in the middle of a three-machine convoy dragging a huge sled of gear toward the foot of a glacier for a round of seismic testing. The machines tracked a few hundred feet apart. Hills and troughs regularly hid them from each other as they traced a route declared safe by visual
Army Corps Of Engineers New military housing is designed to boost troops’ quality of life. If fighting the Iraq war, maintaining a global presence and closing bases at home isn’t enough, the U.S. military has a new challenge reinventing itself. Updating its fighting style, adding thousands of recruits and revamping a decades-old quality of life now mandates a different footprint for the military, and that means billions of dollars in new construction over the next several years and a more enlightened, environmental and expedited approach to managing the building process. For a military used to huge undertakings, this one is
One of Alaska’s biggest construction spenders over the past century continues to pour money into the Last Frontier. U.S. defense construction spending in the strategic state will reach $495 million this year, says a new University of Alaska-Anchorage report. Although the total is down from recent years, spending is strong by historic standards and is expected to stay robust as troop levels increase. “We have a very healthy schedule for the next few years,” says Randy Bowker, Army Corps of Engineers Alaska programs chief. Army Corps Of Engineers New approaches expedite work even in sub-arctic conditions, but there are still
C.J. Schexnayder Photo caption SYDNEY, Australia – For several years, China's voracious demand for raw materials has fired up Australia's economy, which is rich in natural resource. The financial largess and sheer number of new projects has electrified the country's engineering sector. But the situation has also fed the Aussies' severe skilled labor shortage. Many experts fear this weak point could wipe out the gains and put a damper on the entire economy. The 2007 Construction Outlook survey, released in December by the Australian Industry Group and the Australian Constructors Association, found that Australia's leading construction companies are expecting continued
Two of Australia's large desalination projects are running into a similar obstacle to progress – bones. The Sydney Desalination Project on Botany Bay was delayed in October 2007 with the discovery of human bones on the project site. Workers preparing the site for construction of the $1.1 billion plant contacted authorities when they discovered a human shin bone in the sand dunes. A week later ribs and other smaller bones were dug up about 300 meters away. Days later a pelvis and foot bones - still wearing a sock – were found nearby. Police were called in to investigate, including
NATHAN REES In February 2007, the government of New South Wales decided to go ahead with the construction of a $1.1-billion desalination project. The decision was a response to a prolonged drought. In an interview with C.J. Schexnayder New South Wales Water Utilities Minister Nathan Rees provides context for the government's water infrastructure strategy. ENR: Why is there such a pressing need for a desalination plant? Rees: The assessment of CSIRO, our preeminent scientific research body, is that we have got a dry continent that is getting dryer. We are now going through the worst drought in the last 100
Guy Lawrence/ENR Mary Peters It’s a chilly late January morning and U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters is in Montgomery, Ala., speaking bluntly about the need to revamp the nation’s highway program. At a press conference in a state transportation department maintenance shop, Peters praises Gov. Bob Riley (R), who’s standing nearby, for seeking to get the private sector more involved in road projects. Then she blasts the way the program operates now, declaring, “I have…zero confidence zero that if we send more money to Washington we’ll get any better results back.” . Surface transportation programs stand at a critical
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