A new Associated General Contractors of America survey shows that member firms see some encouraging market signals this year but also indications that 2011 still will be tough. Related Links: AGC National 2011 Construction Outlook Survey Results The 2011 AGC outlook survey report, released on Jan. 24, sums up its findings: "Despite predictions of slight growth in demand for several key construction sectors and an improving construction employment picture, construction firms are bracing for at least one more difficult year as the benefits of the stimulus begin to fade and overall demand for construction remains weak." AGC CEO Stephen E.
The National Labor Relations Board is taking aim at newly adopted constitutional amendments that bar a federally recognized path for workers to unionize: signing cards authorizing a union. The NLRB has threatened to file lawsuits against Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah to block the amendments. The board contends the measures conflict with the National Labor Relations Act and are pre-empted by the U.S. Constitution. The amendments all were approved on Nov. 2. South Dakota’s took effect on that date; Utah’s took effect on Jan. 1. The North Dakota and South Carolina measures are to take effect soon. In
An Obama administration focus on Clean Water Act enforcement has produced a flurry of recently announced consent decrees that would mandate sewer-system upgrades at large and small cities around the country. Settlements announced since January 2010 call for more than $7 billion in infrastructure work, spread over many years. Ignacia Moreno, assistant attorney general for environment and natural resources, said on Jan. 13 that addressing municipal sewer system discharges is an enforcement priority for the Justice Dept. and Environmental Protection Agency. Justice has filed 13 such decrees in federal courts since January 2010, though six have not yet received final
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation hasn’t sought proposals yet for 2011 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants. But some 2010 TIGER projects are moving toward construction, thanks to agreements DOT has signed with state and city officials. DOT said on Dec. 29 it signed a $105-million TIGER agreement to help fund two Norfolk Southern Corp. intermodal facilities. A $105-million Rossville, Tenn., complex and a $97.5-million McCalla, Ala., facility each will get $52.5 million from the grant. NS is likely to seek bids for the Tennessee project by the end of February, a spokesman says; the Alabama project will be
Pursuing the Gulf of Mexico oil spill case will be the leading 2011 enforcement priority for the Dept. of Justice's environmental division, says Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno, the unit's chief. Photo: U.S. Dept. of Justice Moreno, shown here with Attorney General Eric Holder, will focus heavily on Gulf oil spill Moreno, who heads the environment and natural resources division, said in a Jan. 13 speech that other construction-related areas of emphasis will include cases involving municipal sewage-treatment problems and defending against challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency's new greenhouse-gas regulations. Moreno told a District of Columbia Bar Association
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation is making headway in moving "TIGER" grants awarded early last year closer to actual construction. U.S. DOT announced on Dec. 29 that it had signed agreements with the Alabama and Tennessee DOTs on a $105-million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant for two intermodal freight facilities along the Norfolk Southern Corp.'s "Crescent Corridor". DOT release. Of the $105-million grant, half will go to Alabama to help finance a $97.5-million, 261-acre regional facility near McCalla, about 20 miles southwest of Birmingham. Norfolk Southern (NS) and other sources will fund the remainder of the project's total cost.
The 112th Congress has not begun well at all for highway construction advocates. Infographic By Walter Konefal New House rule would open the door for highway and transit cuts below the amounts SAFETEA-LU authorized. On Jan. 5, the first day the new Congress was in session, the House, now under Republican control, approved a procedural rule that breaches a 13-year-old legislative “firewall” and lets House appropriators cut highway and transit spending below sums authorized in 2005’s Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users. “We are very distressed,” says Pam Whitted, vice president for government affairs for
BELLAMAN The Associated Builders and Contractors has selected former Bovis Lend Lease executive Michael D. Bellaman to be its new president and CEO. Bellaman, 48 years old, who has been based in Chicago, starts his ABC job on Feb. 1, the association announced on Jan. 10. You can view ABC's announcement here. He succeeds M. Kirk Pickerel, who has been ABC's president and CEO since 2000. Pickerel announced last April that he would be retiring, effective March 31, 2011. Bellaman spent 23 years at Lend Lease Corp. Ltd., the Australia-based real estate, design and construction company, most recently as Bovis
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office is sharpening the focus of its probe into China’s policies supporting renewable energy. USTR Ron Kirk is targeting China’s Special Fund for Wind Power Manufacturing. He has asked for talks with China about that fund under World Trade Organization dispute-resolution provisions. In announcing the move on Dec. 22, the USTR office said China seems to be providing subsidies that are barred by WTO regulations. The agency says grants awarded by the wind-power fund appear to be conditioned on Chinese manufacturers in that sector using Chinese-made parts. USTR estimates the fund’s grants awarded since 2008 could
Congress has cleared legislation authorizing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to dole out up to $500 million over five years for diesel retrofits. The House passed the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) on Dec. 21, sending it to the White House. The bill is seen as a boon for clean air, contractors and suppliers. In its first five years, DERA returned about $20 in benefits for each $1 spent, according to the Diesel Technology Forum.