After a sharp drop in 2013, U.S. installed windpower capacity rose 8% last year, a new Dept. of Energy report says, but it adds that further increases are uncertain, partly because key federal tax credits for wind expired last year and it’s unclear whether Congress will renew them.
video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player World Bank Related Links: World Bank release World Bank fact sheet on project World Bank project appraisal (127 pp.) The World Bank has agreed to provide $700 million in loan guarantees to help finance a major natural-gas project in Ghana.The bank said its board’s July 30 approval of the guarantees, which it says is a record amount for such aid, will spur billions of dollars in additional investment for the Sankofa natural-gas project and lead to final contracts.The World Bank also said its financial aid should stimulate substantial private spending for the project, which is
Related Links: Bureau of Labor statistics release with data tables AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's comments and analysis ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu's comments and analysis As the construction industry moves into the heart of its building season, its unemployment rate continues to fall and its workforce is increasing, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest monthly report shows.The BLS employment report for July, released on Aug. 7, says that construction’s jobless rate dropped to 5.5% from June’s 6.3%, and also was down markedly from the year-earlier level of 7.5%. The rates aren’t adjusted for seasonal variations. BLS also reported that
Related Links: Commerce Dept./Census Bureau release AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's comments and analysis ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu's comments and analysis Construction’s June spending edged up just 0.1% from May’s level, to a $1.065-billion annual rate, but posted a strong 12% gain year over year, the Commerce Dept. has reported.Commerce’s U.S. Census Bureau said in its latest monthly construction spending report, released on Aug. 3, that the value of construction work put in place during the first six months of 2015 rose 8% from the same period last year.Total residential spending in June increased a slight 0.4% from May
Related Links: Senate Transport Bill Clears One Hurdle, But More Lie Ahead Racing against a July 31 deadline, congressional lawmakers have wrapped up yet another short-term measure to keep federal highway and transit funds flowing, this time just until late October. With only a day to spare, the Senate, by a 91-4 vote, passed a three-month $8-billion surface transportation extension on July 30. President Obama signed the measure the following day. The House had approved the stopgap on July 29.If the extension hadn't been enacted by July 31, the Dept. of Transportation would have furloughed workers and been unable to obligate
Related Links: Congressional Budget Office cost estimate of DRIVE Act Senate Transport Bill Clears One Hurdle, But More Lie Ahead (enr.com 7/22/2015) The Senate’s six-year $350-billion transportation bill continues to change, as lawmakers shifted more funds to transit at the expense of highway programs and dropped some proposed revenue-raising mechanisms.The package continued to move on July 26 when supporters of the Export-Import Bank prevailed in a procedural vote on an amendment aimed at renewing the bank's charter, which lapsed on June 30.Meanwhile, House leaders haven’t embraced the pending Senate bill and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says that that with
Related Links: Text of McConnell-Boxer bill A multi-year highway-transit measure stayed alive in the Senate as lawmakers voted to proceed with the bill.The legislation, the product of a bipartisan deal between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the Environment and Public Works Committee's top Democrat, Barbara Boxer (Calif.), would authorize federal highway and transit programs for six years. But it only includes three years of guaranteed funding.The procedural measure was approved late on July 22 by a 62-36 tally, winning slightly more than the 60 votes needed.That action allows the Senate to start debate on the transportation measure and
Related Links: Dodge Data & Analytics report (07/22/2015) June construction starts fell 15% from the previous month’s level, to a $620.2-billion annual rate, with part of the downturn due to a huge liquefied natural gas facility in Texas that got under way in May, Dodge Data & Analytics has reported.On the brighter side, Dodge’s latest monthly report on new construction, released on July 22, also showed that starts for January through June rose 23% year over year. But Dodge noted that, excluding the impacts of big electric utility and natural gas facilities, overall first-half construction starts climbed 11% compared with
Related Links: Text of final FHWA rule The Federal Highway Administration has issued a final rule spelling out the requirements for the first federal inspection program for highway tunnels.The new National Tunnel Inspection Standards, published in the Federal Register on July 14, are similar to the nearly 50-year-old national requirements for bridge inspections.The tunnel inspection rule is to take effect on Aug. 13.The new standards, which stem from a provision in 2012’s Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, call for state and local agencies that own such tunnels to carry out routine examinations of that infrastructure at
