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Month: September 2019

ASCE opens Infrastructure Report Card to stormwater chapter

Concrete News
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Water Environment Federation (WEF) salutes the American Society of Civil Engineers and its Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) for adding a stormwater chapter to the 2021 Infrastructure Report Card—the first time drainage structures and facilities will be graded in a widely subscribed benchmark the Society issues every four years. The category will join Aviation, Dams, Inland Waterways, Ports, Rail, Schools, Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste, Bridges, Roads, Drinking Water, Levees and Public Parks chapters.

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Researchers gauge green infrastructure’s capacity for high runoff

Concrete News

University of Maryland, College Park, researchers are approaching urban and suburban stormwater management with the ultimate goal of increasing resiliency to major weather events. With models predicting more rain than historical levels, plus an increased frequency of particularly intense and destructive storms, they note, flooding is a major concern in communities that are becoming more settled.

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EPA determination spares admixtures, coloring agents from SPCC regulation

Concrete News
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After more than three years of the Environmental Protection Agency soliciting expert advice and public comment on issuing a proposed rulemaking potentially expanding the petroleum product spill prevention, control and countermeasure (SPCC) terms typical of concrete plant environmental permits, Administrator Andrew Wheeler has signed a final action establishing no new regulatory requirements under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

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What Recession?

Concrete News
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By: Pierre G. Villere

My wife and I were traveling recently, and we had made a reservation at a popular restaurant in the town where we were visiting. When we arrived promptly for our reservation time, the hostess politely told us it would be 15 to 20 minutes before we could be seated. We gladly sat at the bar, observing the restaurant and all the comings and goings. But one fact struck me as odd: 25 percent of the tables were empty. So on our way out, I asked the hostess about this and asked about the wait, and she explained what we all know about the current employment picture: They can’t hire enough servers and kitchen staff to maximize the restaurant’s seating capacity.

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Court shows do’s, don’ts, dares of union-organizing resistance

Don Marsh

A legal petition involving the United Steel Workers (USW), National Labor Relations Board and an equipment manufacturer provides employers an instructive take on permissible language and tactics for confronting union representation campaigns. A U.S. Court of Appeals opinion honored an employer’s challenge of NLRB decisions surrounding a 2015 USW organizing campaign. Union-friendly decisions went hand in hand with National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) interpretations the Board made while answering to President Barack Obama.

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Concrete boom pump safety measures go ballistic

Concrete News
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Python Protective Covers and Sleeves put safety at the forefront of concrete pumping by reducing the risks associated with pipe blow-outs and slurry spatter. Product developers credit Python performance to ballistic-grade fabric technology coupled with a user-friendly, universal design to protect workers, equipment and jobsites. The covers and sleeves are designed to distribute high pressure mix or slurry bursts through overlapping-pocketed material. Upon impact, internally tucked fabric releases, absorbing kenetic energy and ballooning the cover or sleeve up to 30 percent more than its original size.

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Navistar Severe Service team fields application engineering calls

Concrete News

The Navistar Inc. Severe Service team recently launched an Application Engineering Hotline to provide an added margin of expertise for vocational truck sales. “Because of the highly customized and often complex configurations severe service customers require, our dealers’ support for [them] can be enhanced through direct access to Navistar application engineers,” says Vice President, Vocational Truck Mark Stasell. “The Hotline supports dealers’ strong relationships with customers by giving them the ability to get direct, expert advice when they need it.”

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