The Letters section on page four of ENR's June 4, 2012, edition, in which William Shuzman of the Allied Building Metal Industries commented on an earlier staff editorial regarding crane safety in New York City, gives some numbers that are not correct.
Shale-gas drilling and its alleged impacts are very much in the news, particularly linked to water quality. Environmental activist groups claim that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, poses a dangerous risk to drinking-water sources. But pre-existing conditions may be a bigger threat, one that simple home baseline tests may detect.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is undertaking a national study to understand the potential impacts of fracking on drinking water. Environmental best practices are necessary to responsibly manage resources and inspire public and regulatory confidence in the industry's ability to conduct safe and clean life-cycle operations in the shale-gas arena. KOHLHAASBaseline water
Our long history and experience is that, in general, the failure rate for construction projects has remained high. Why haven't advances in project-management science, computer technology and communications been more effectively brought to bear in our business? What about the advertised beneficial impacts of 3D computer-aideddesign, computerized critical-path method schedules and building information modeling? Are today's engineers not as good as those who built yesterday's megaprojects—the Panama Canal, the Empire State Building or the Hoover Dam?Owners, architects, engineers and contractors have been challenged to deliver capital projects on time and on budget because of their complexity and because of the
On the Top 100 Design-Build Firms list, HOK, St. Louis, made an error on its survey and was improperly ranked at No. 50. HOK should be removed from the list. Thus, Webber LLC,The Woodlands, Texas, should rank at No. 100, with revenue of $107 million.
Any plan advanced by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers or others to re-reverse the flow of the Chicago canal system will hasten the demise of Lake Michigan
Courtesy MIT Press Hydrogen expert Peter Hoffmann shows many sides of the clean-energy debate. Related Links: Peter Hoffmann Responds to Your Questions About Fuel Cells Volvo Designs Fuel Cell Asphalt Paver The world of alternative fuels works in funny ways. Take hydrogen, which was close to gaining hero status a decade ago. In fuel-cell form, it emits little except for heat, electricity and pure water. Hydrogen appeared to be our ticket out of the fossil-fuel cycle for good.Today, however, natural gas, a fossil fuel (albeit a cleaner-burning one than many other mainstream fuels), is the alternative du jour, while hydrogen
"BIM Consensus Standard Is a Step Forward but Not a Major Leap Toward Interoperability" should have stated that Nemetschek Vectorworks and Graphisoft are owned by the same company, Nemetschek Group. Also, the headquarters of FM:Systems is located in Raleigh, N.C."Cracks Slow Pontoon Job" erroneously stated Kiewit-General is widening state Route 520 east of the floating bridge. Eastside Corridor Constructors, a joint venture of Granite and PCL, is on that job. Alleged on-the-job drinking did not involve anyone from ECC.
The cover story "Boardrooms Raise the Bar" was interesting and made good sense, but it missed the main points for [director] qualifications today: truthfulness, honesty, ethical behavior and moral integrity.Harry Watkins, P.E., Retired President Watkins Engineering Consultants Inc.Birmingham, Ala.
. Book recounts how the stimulus unfolded and affected construction, among other sectors. Construction obviously plays a key role in this examination of the the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—better known as the stimulus. This new book tells the story of how the largest economic recovery plan in U.S. history was created and executed, how it affected the American public and what it accomplished.The depth of research and first-person interviewing by Michael Grabell, a reporter for the non-profit investigative news service ProPublica, is evident.Among other efforts, he recounts a visit to a stimulus-funded New Jersey bridge renovation site and interviews
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