Month: July 2012

Although it represents no real gain in dollars made available via years of short-term extensions, HR 4348 (dubbed Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, or MAP-21) was signed into law by President Obama two days after the July 4 holiday. A two-year (FY2013-14, for a total of 27 months), $105 billion extension of the federal highway bill, MAP-21’s ceremonial signing occurred at the White House with construction workers on hand to represent putting Americans to work repairing the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges.

American Institute of Architects Chief Economist Kermit Baker, National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist David Crowe and Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu shared their thoughts on next year’s business outlook during a late-June webcast.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s new Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Wastewater Planning Approach Framework assists the agency’s regional offices, states, and local governments to develop voluntary storm and wastewater management plans and implement integrated approaches to reduce pollution and the impact of overflow events.

Through its Alliance partnership with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association has released a Best Practice document, CSDA-OBP-1009 Aggressive Driving and Road Rage, to help concrete professionals avoid confrontations in their daily commutes.

Spancrete Industries has deployed a new patent-pending system to help manage stormwater runoff at Milwaukee’s Garden District Neighborhood Association Farmers Market.

Addressing last month’s Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Portland Cement Association Chairman and Titan American CEO Aris Papadopoulos called on business leaders of the world to include resilient construction in public policy, noting that just building “green” is not enough to protect human lives and business investment.

National Ready Mixed Concrete Association is part of a broad coalition supporting the Disaster Savings and Resilient Construction Act of 2012 (H.R. 5839), recently introduced in the U.S. House by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL).

Following board approval of a $125 million capital outlay, Overland Park, Kan.-based Ash Grove Cement will incorporate a new preheater, precalciner production system at its Midlothian mill outside the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. The equipment will position the facility among Texas’ lowest emitting cement producers and become the biggest ticket investment to date tied to the Environmental Protection Agency’s portland cement National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) rule, effective September 2015.