A visit with American Concrete Pipe Association Chairman Kurt Johnson Sharing fellow members’ eagerness to put two years of business and workforce disruptions behind them, Kurt Johnson embraces the challenges and positive market signals accompanying his 2022 American Concrete Pipe Association Chairman’s term. “For more than a century, this organization has pulled member producers, associates and allies together for the…
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Gossett Concrete Pipe tests next generation Besser BiDi Much like real estate marketability, “location” repeats when measuring the success Gossett Concrete Pipe Co. (GCPC) has realized in South Carolina’s Upstate over nearly 80 years, especially the past 30. Most expansion-minded peer operators in markets of comparable growth have found themselves land locked—compelled to look for larger parcels beyond the towns…
Read MoreBy Don Marsh A new study, “SMA/CRU Emissions Analysis,” concludes that the output of Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) members—electric arc furnace (EAF) operators in the U.S.—has a carbon intensity approximately 75 percent lower than that of peers running traditional blast furnaces. The EAF process underpins nearly 100 percent of concrete reinforcing steel and 70 percent of overall tonnage milled in…
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Lafarge Canada has teamed with BGC Ottawa (formerly the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa) to build the new Taggart Parkes Family Clubhouse, donating upward of 500 cubic meters of ECOPact low-carbon ready mixed concrete for the 15,000-square-foot facility. The recent grand opening ceremony marked a special milestone for the thousands of children and youth in underserved neighborhoods in the…
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A late-July U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision denies a petition to review a final rule expanding a short-haul exemption and modifying a 30-minute break requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hours of service regulation. The former action entailed a maximum duty period change from 12 to 14 hours, securing HOS compliance flexibility that National…
Read MoreOur cover story subject has hit the ground running since its official launch from an early-2022, $775 million deal uniting Boral Resources, North American fly ash top gun, and Green Cement Inc., Texas-centric developer of PozzoSlag supplementary cementitious material and PozzoCem primary binder. We catch South Jordan, Utah-based Eco Material Technologies Inc. at an unfolding inflection point. In a span…
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St. Louis general contractor/construction manager Tarlton Corp., in partnership with Morton, Ill. concrete and masonry contractor Otto Baum Company Inc., recently completed a cast-in-place proton therapy vault for an OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center clinic in Peoria, Ill. With wall sections up to 25-ft. thick, the $5.5 million structure is Tarlton Concrete Division’s second such mass feat in the…
Read MoreExamples of carbon dioxide emissions reporting by public cement, concrete and aggregate producers accompany an overview of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-proposed “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors” rule (pages 12-13). Through guidance detailing environmental metrics, operators like Charah Solutions, Holcim Ltd., Summit Materials and Vulcan Materials rise to a familiar position: Ahead of the regulatory…
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration were set for center stage this year thanks to Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding and contract activity. Yet a sister agency with its $75 billion building and pavement contracting budget is stealing some of the thunder. The General Services Administration is capturing attention with its Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Standards…
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A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) survey of cement and concrete production builds on U.S. General Services Administration measures, noted here last month, to guide federal construction procurement policy toward lower embodied carbon levels in finished structures. Along with the Departments of Defense and Transportation, General Services stands to favor material or product specifications backed by carbon data presented in…
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