Related Links: EPA fact sheet on proposed rule Text of EPA proposed rule ENR Dec. 2011 story: Appeals Court Delivers Mixed Ruling in Cement-Kiln Emissions Case The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to give operators of cement kilns more time to comply with a 2010 clean-air regulation and also increase the limits for soot particle emissions. An industry organization welcomed the EPA plan but environmental groups criticized it.The proposed regulatory change, which EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson signed on June 22 and the agency announced on June 25, would extend the 2010 rule's compliance date for the cement-plant standards by
Courtesy of Senate Photo Studio Senate committee Chairman Boxer (at lectern) said House GOP was "standing in the way of the bill." But House panel Chairman Mica said Senate doesn't seem ready to compromise. Related Links: Boxer, Inhofe Float New Transportation Proposal A Quick Deal on Transport Bill? Don't Bet On It With highway and transit authorizations due to expire on June 30 and no Senate-House agreement yet on a new, longer-term measure, leaders of both chambers have directed their key negotiators to intensify their work to produce a bill.At a June 19 meeting at the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader
The U.S. General Services Administration has come up with a new plan to solve a costly facilities problem in downtown Los Angeles.Under the plan, which GSA Acting Administrator Daniel Tangherlini outlined in a June 22 letter to members of California’s congressional delegation, the agency will begin to seek a private development company to which it will transfer the New Deal-era North Spring Street federal courthouse, which needs an estimated $250-million overhaul.In return for that 78-year-old property, the developer would construct for GSA what Tangherlini called “a new, highly efficient federal building” nearby, into which the agency would shift federal workers
Related Links: Baucus Press Release on Russia Trade Relations Bill Text of Senate Bill S.3285 Heavy-equipment makers are backing a Senate bill that seeks to boost U.S. exports to Russia by granting it permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status before it joins the World Trade Organization later this summer. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who introduced the bill on June 12, pledged to work to add human-rights provisions. His bill would repeal a 1974 statute that was aimed at Russia's and other countries' emigration restrictions and effectively blocked their PNTR. "Russia's going to join the WTO no matter what
Related Links: List of all TIGER round-four awards The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has awarded $485.4 million to 47 highway, bridge, rail. port and other projects in the latest round of its highly popular TIGER grant program.The new awards, which DOT announced on June 22, went to projects in 34 states and the District of Columbia. The grants constitute the fourth round of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program. Since the program was launched in 2009, DOT has distributed a total of $3.1 billion for 218 projects.DOT Secretary Ray LaHood told reporters in a conference call, “Through TIGER we
Toll Brothers Inc., a major U.S. home builder, will pay a $741,000 civil penalty and set up a stormwater-control program under an agreement with federal agencies to settle scores of alleged violations of the Clean Water Act.
Photo courtesy of Naval Facilities Engineering Command Gregory, a 1982 U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was promoted to rear admiral in 2010. Her career has included tours of duty in Japan, the Mediterranean, Iraq, Haiti and several U.S. assignments. Related Links: Gregory bio Rear Adm. Katherine L. Gregory has been named the new commander of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command and the Navy’s chief of civil engineers, the Dept. of Defense announced on June 18. Gregory will be the first woman to lead NAVFAC in its long history, which it traces to the formation of the Bureau of Navy Yards and
Related Links: World Bank list of ineligible firms and individuals The World Bank has taken a step toward greater transparency in its anticorruption activities, publishing the full text of decisions issued by its Sanctions Board to debar companies that allegedly engaged in fraud or other illegal practices on projects the bank finances.The number of firms or individuals debarred from bank-funded projects also has risen compared with the numbers several years ago.The initial group of published rulings, announced on May 30, includes debarments of eight companies in a range of industries. No U.S.-based construction firms are among the eight firms cited.One
Photo Courtesy of American Road & Transportation Builders Association Industry representatives are briefed on highway-transit bill negotiations before heading to Capitol Hill to lobby for a deal by June 30. Related Links: A Quick Deal on Transport Bill? Don't Bet On It House, Senate Nearly Set for Talks on Highway-Transit Bill Seeking to jump-start slow-moving House-Senate negotiations on a new surface transportation bill, Senate leaders have delivered a compromise proposal to their House counterparts. The plan—which Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and that committee's top Republican, James Inhofe (Okla.), personally took to the House on
Source: House, Senate Appropriations Committees FY13 Federal Construction Appropriations Bills funding federal construction programs for fiscal year 2013 are moving through congressional appropriations committees, and so far, the best that construction companies can hope for are small increases.As of May 29, the Senate Appropriations Committee had cleared seven of the 12 annual spending bills; the House committee had approved six. One of the six, the bill funding the Commerce and Justice departments, was approved by the full House. In general, Senate appropriators have approved freezes or small hikes in construction accounts; their House counterparts have recommended cuts. Military construction programs
