Related Links: Access the CPR Database for Construction Spending Can Leo Linbeck's Super PAC Remake Congress? As presidential and congressional campaigns head toward the Nov. 6 finish line, construction industry companies, associations and labor unions have pushed their campaign contributions to new highs. Even before final totals are in, they have surpassed the records set in 2008, the last presidential election cycle.Despite construction's still-tough market conditions, construction organizations and firms had contributed $101.1 million to federal candidates as of Oct. 25, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). The total for the full 2008 cycle was $94.9 million. In
Related Links: Clean Water Action statement Statement from Reps. Mica, Gibbs U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wetlands status and trends report (Oct. 2011) As the Clean Water Act marked its 40th anniversary on Oct. 18, environmental groups and congressional Republicans took the occasion to voice their sharply differing concerns about how the landmark law will be applied in the near future.The conflicting birthday messages come less than three weeks before the Nov. 6 elections, the outcomes of which will play a large role in determining future Clean Water Act legislation and regulations.Both sides acknowledge the improvements in water quality since
Photo Courtesy of American Road & Transportation Builders Association CFO Bertram says DOT aims to streamline its reviews of TIFIA applications. Related Links: States Gear Up to Seek Expanded TIFIA Loan Aid MAP-21 Transportation Measure Goes on the Books Advocates of public-private partnerships to help finance transportation projects are hailing the new Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, or MAP-21, and hustling to take advantage of a key part of the statute: a more than five-fold hike in a Dept. of Transportation loan program.As states await word from DOT on preliminary requests for 2013 aid under its
Five teams of major construction firms have been selected to compete to design and build the second phase of the planned Metrorail transit extension to northern Virginia’s Dulles International Airport, and beyond.
An infusion of funds through a federally negotiated settlement with Greenville, S.C.-based AVX Corp., if approved by a federal court, will slash the cleanup schedule for the New Bedford Harbor Superfund site in Massachusetts, officials say.
Related Links: Transcripts of Supreme Court Oral Arguments High Court to Hear Water, 'Takings' Cases In one of the first cases it heard in its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court plunged into the murky task of determining whether damage caused by federally directed flooding is a "taking" of private property.The court heard oral arguments on Oct. 3 in Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. U.S. The commission contends that water releases from an Army Corps of Engineers dam in six consecutive years destroyed valuable timber. The commission says the flooding is a property "taking," which under the Fifth Amendment
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library Parts of the Corps' waterway network, including Lock and Dam No. 25 on the Mississippi, are more than 50 years old. Related Links: National Research Council Report ENR Blog: Signs of Life for a New WRDA Bill A new National Research Council study says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is losing ground in maintaining and upgrading the agency's huge, aging water-resources infrastructure.The Corps-sponsored report, released on Oct. 4, comes as there are stirrings in the Senate about a new, multiyear water-resources bill that would authorize Corps river locks and dams, harbor
In a settlement with federal agencies, AVX Corp. has agreed to pay more than $366 million, an infusion that officials say will dramatically speed up the long-running cleanup of the PCB-contaminated New Bedford, Mass., harbor.
Related Links: BLS employment report for September (release and tables) Associated General Contractors analysis Associated Builders and Contractors analysis Construction’s jobless rate rose in September, to 11.9% from August’s 11.3%, although the industry added 5,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The upturn in the construction rate was the first since March.The latest BLS monthly unemployment statistics, released on Oct. 5, also showed that the construction jobless rate last month was down from the September 2011 level of 13.3%—the 24th-straight month of year-over-year improvement.Construction officials focused on what the new BLS numbers indicated about the industry’s longer-term
Related Links: New Corps of Engineers Commander Bostick Taking Stock ASCE Report Sees Big Maritime Infrastructure Funding Gap ENR Blog: Signs of Life for a New WRDA Bill The Army Corps of Engineers is facing an “unsustainable situation” in maintaining its huge and aging water infrastructure, as current funding isn't keeping up with the needs, a new National Research Council study says.The report, released on Oct. 4, says that the Corps' sprawling network of river locks and dams and other civil works “is wearing out faster than it is being replaced or rehabilitated.” The system includes about 700 dams, 14,000