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Month: December 2018

Engine manufacturers take note as EPA revisits NOx emissions threshold

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Through its just-announced Cleaner Trucks Initiative (CTI), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aims to further decrease nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from on-highway heavy-duty trucks and update a current engine exhaust standard in an early-2020 rulemaking. Set in 2001, the standard culminated in 2010 with a 0.2-gram brake-horsepower-hour NOx threshold for which engine manufacturers deployed selective catalytic reduction (SCR) equipment and urea-based diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). SCR injects DEF into the engine exhaust stream; the ensuing chemical reaction converts NOx into nitrogen, water vapor and traces of carbon dioxide.

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FMCSA replicates mixer driver exemption for concrete pump peers

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American Concrete Pumping Association members have secured a five-year exemption from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requirement that short-haul drivers utilizing the records of duty status exception return to their normal work reporting location within 12 hours of clocking in. It enables all concrete pump operators, pumping companies, and truck drivers who run concrete pumps to use the short-haul exception but return to their work-reporting location within 14 hours.

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Market needs, processing innovations perpetuate fly ash recycling success

Concrete News

Cement and concrete contribute to an impressive recycling story detailed in the American Coal Ash Association’s Production and Use Survey released last month. It indicates that 64 percent, or 71.8 million tons, of the coal combustion product (CCP) volume generated during 2017 was recycled. That represents a new record rate and marks the third consecutive year where more than half of CCP tracked in the United States was beneficially used. Concrete, cementitious material and cement producers using fly ash or lesser residuals accounted for nearly 33 percent, or 23.5 million tons, of last year’s recycled CCP volume.

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Equipment group: 2019 capital outlay bump stands to best GDP rate

Concrete News

Source: Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, Washington, D.C.

Investment in equipment and software is projected to expand 4.1 percent in the new year, during which gross domestic product is set to increase 2.3 percent over 2018. The 2019 Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook notes that such investment increased at a robust rate in the first half of 2018, driven by more preferable tax treatment and a general upswing in the U.S. economy. However, growth slowed in the third quarter and recent federal government figures suggest a continuation of the trend, providing a weak jumping off point for 2019. 

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ACPA honors New Enterprise’s Detwiler, Oregon State’s Weiss

Concrete News

Source: American Concrete Pavement Association, Rosemont, Ill. 

Under the “Celebrating Concrete Victories” banner, the American Concrete Pavement Association named recipients of top annual honors during its 2018 meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The Hartmann-Hirschman-Egan Award was presented to Don Detwiler, chairman of Pennsylvania-based New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., for long-standing commitment to advancing technology and elevating concrete pavement quality; plus, a distinguished career and lifelong service to the association and industry. The award is named for past ACPA Secretary-Treasurers Harold Hartmann (1964-1974), Robert Hirschman (1975-1987) and Edward Egan (1988-2007), the latter two also serving as 1967 and 1986 chairmen. 

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Cemex veteran Mack, well-traveled pavement engineer, chairs ACPA

Concrete News

Sources: American Concrete Pavement Association, Rosemont, Ill.; CP staff

Cemex Director of Market Development-Commercial Strategy Jim Mack was elected 2019 ACPA chairman during the group’s annual meeting in Florida. Based at Cemex USA Houston headquarters, he succeeds Chuck Niederriter, who during a traditional passing of the gavel noted how Mack is the first ACPA chairman to have served with a cement company, regional shipper’s group, ACPA-affiliated Chapter, ACPA National and the Portland Cement Association. 

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Florida leads ABC Merit Shop index as Michigan climbs, California swoons

Concrete News

Sources: Associated Builders & Contractors, Washington, D.C.; CP staff

The Sunshine State tops the ABC 2018 Merit Shop Scorecard, vaulting from ninth last year on the strength of free enterprise principles, open-competition approach to the construction sector, increased career and technical education opportunities, and job growth rates. Michigan saw the biggest year-over-year improvement in its ranking, rising from 24th to seventh after the repeal of its prevailing wage law, which will foster greater competition and lower construction project costs. 

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Lawmaker maps Texas-sized batch plant, community buffer zones

Concrete News

Sources: Office of Texas Senator Donna Campbell, Austin; CP staff

The recently filed Senate Bill 208 seeks to amend a State of Texas Health and Safety Code section governing concrete batch plant and concrete recycling sites, whereby new facilities would be required to have a minimum distance of 880 yards, or .5 mile, from existing homes, schools or houses of worship—double the present requirement. 

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