Construction industry groups cheered the House's Oct. 27 approval of legislation to repeal a mandate that government agencies withhold 3% of contract dollars from companies doing that work. But their focus quickly turned to the Senate, where they hope lawmakers will agree to the House measure and send it to the White House to be signed. A majority of the Senate recently voted for a different withholding-repeal bill, handicapping the prospects there for the House-approved measure.The House's strong 405-16 vote for the repeal bill has given the industry a lift. Geoff Burr, Associated Builders and Contractors vice president of federal
The U.S. Senate on Nov. 1 approved a package of appropriations bills that includes funding for the Dept. of Transportation at levels similar to levels enacted in fiscal 2011. The Senate cleared the measure by a 69-30 vote. H.R. 2112, which bundled three separate appropriations bills into one large package funding the the departments of agriculture, justice, commerce, housing and urban development and transportation through fiscal 2012, does not include the steep cuts in funding for federal highways that was approved by the House Appropriations Committee on Sept. 8. The White House Office of Management and Budget says it supports
The House has approved legislation that would require the Environmental Protection Agency to revisit its cement emissions regulation. The House cleared the bill on Oct. 6 by a 262-161 vote.EPA's final rule, which would cut emissions from cement manufacturing plants by requiring use of “maximum achievable” technology, is slated to go into effect in September 2013.But proponents of the legislation, such as the Portland Cement Association (PCA), say the rule's timetable is unrealistic and would force as much as 20% of the currently operating cement plants to shut down.But the bill, which is opposed by environmental and public-health groups, faces
The Gulf Coast Restoration Task Force has released its long-term plan for bringing the Gulf of Mexico back to health. The blueprint, issued on Oct. 5, includes dredging to rebuild the coast and developing state nutrient reduction goals in the Gulf and Mississippi River basin states to reduce dead zones.The plan is available online at http://www.epa.gov/gcertf/pdfs/gcertfenlishver.pdf and open for public comment through Oct. 26.
Green infrastructure programs can be hard to implement because of a lack of data demonstrating green infrastructure's benefits, costs and performance; lack of design standards and best management practices; lack of financial incentives; and regulations that can be overly prescriptive and inflexible.These conclusions are included in a September report by the Washington, D.C.-based Clean Water America Alliance highlighted at the second Urban Water Sustainability Leadership conference, held on Oct. 3-5 in Milwaukee.One of the report's key recommendations is directed to the Environmental Protection Agency, said Ben Grumbles, Clean Water America Alliance president and a former EPA assistant secretary of water.
ENR Art Dept. Social Media: A Special Report Related Links: Hashtag This: Social Media Risks and Rewards in Construction VHB/Eng-Wong, Taub and PB: Building Client Relationships with Social Media Corps Finds Facebook Excels for Flood Emergency Communications Writing the Social Media Policy Handbook at Burns & McDonnell, HOK Social Media Reshape Job Hunting and Recruitment at Smith Group, CH2M Hill In Social Media, Some Conversations Are Best Kept Private Developers of a new website are hoping to use the power of social networking to launch what they call a “grassroots water revolution.” Englewood, Colo.-based CH2M Hill created the site WaterMatch
Related Links: D.C. Water's Blue Plains Undertakes Three Major Environmental Projects The Chesapeake Bay remains at risk, largely because of pollution from stormwater runoff, farms and wastewater treatment plants. Excess nitrogen and phosphorous from these sources deplete oxygen and create large “dead zones” in which algae blooms cut off sunlight vital to the survival of marine life and underwater grasses. In December 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency developed a bay-wide “pollution diet” that sets numeric limits on the total maximum daily load of nutrients each state in the watershed can contribute to the bay. Blue Plains already is meeting
Related Links: Chesapeake Bay Remains at Risk The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority's wastewater treatment plant is going green in a big way. The authority, known as DC Water, is in the early stages of projects that will help meet stringent regulatory requirements for nitrogen as well as make improvements primarily aimed at improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.One of the projects is to reduce total nitrogen in the plant system to under 4 milligrams per liter (mg/l) from current levels of about 5 mg/l. The second approach will build a system of tunnels to accommodate and
The U.S. House of Representatives on Oct. 6 approved legislation that would require the Environmental Protection Agency to revisit its cement emissions regulation. The legislation cleared the House by a bipartisan 262-161 vote.The legislation, the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act (H.R. 2681) would require the EPA to scrap its existing cement emissions regulation, which is set to go into effect in September 2013, and develop new requirements using more realistically achievable technologies over a longer period of time.The current regulation’s goal is to reduce emissions at cement manufacturing plants across the country using maximum achievable technology (MACT). Proponents of the
