U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox recently joined agency colleagues, state and local officials to kick off the 50 Anniversary of the Clean Water Act celebration tour, culminating in mid October. “When Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972 with an overwhelming bipartisan majority, it charted a new path for America’s waters. As a result,…
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Code Council tracks Inflation Reduction Act-spurred EPD demand
Sources: International Code Council, Washington, D.C.; CP staff The International Code Council salutes provisions in the just-signed Inflation Reduction Act that will help communities update building energy codes and promote low-carbon construction materials. Building on last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, ICC notes, the new law: • Serves up $1 billion to support codes and standards or local amendments…
Read MoreCarmeuse C33 cargo ballasts symbolic Great Lakes freighter’s maiden voyage
Sources: Carmeuse Americas, Pittsburgh; Interlake Steamship Co., Ohio; CP staff Carmeuse Americas inaugurated the first U.S. flagged bulk carrier ship built on the Great Lakes since 1981, dispatching stone from its Port Inland Operation to Muskegon, Mich. concrete customers by way of the Verplank Trucking Cobb Dock. Interlake Steamship’s 639-ft. M/V Mark W. Barker began its 110-mile maiden voyage to…
Read MoreWhite House salutes insolvent multiemployer pension plan bailouts
The White House has outlined a final rule implementing the American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program, billed as protecting “millions of workers in multiemployer pension plans who faced significant cuts to their benefits.” Before American Rescue, retirees participating in more than 200 multiemployer pension plans faced the prospect of not receiving full benefits—often the consequence of past financial…
Read MoreLife cycle assessment standards group revises PCR and EPD preparation guide
“2022 ACLCA PCR Guidance – Process and Methods Toolkit: Creating standardized, consistent, and reliable PCRs & EPDs for transparency, procurement, and supply chain data” provides process checklists for each of the roles in product category rule (PCR) creation. A successor to charter 2013 guidance, the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA) document features methods and methodologies addenda to raise…
Read MoreFHWA sketches transportation greenhouse gas emission reduction framework
The U.S. Department of Transportation has opened a public comment period for a Federal Highway Administration Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for states and municipalities to track and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act makes more than $27 billion available for state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations to meet a declining GHG emissions…
Read MoreABC: Registered apprenticeship system no match for skilled labor needs
It would take 14 years for federal and state government-registered apprenticeship programs to educate the 650,000 workers the construction industry needs to hire in 2022, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Department of Labor data from 2021. DOL figures indicate that the construction industry’s federal government-registered apprenticeship system produced just 24,822 completers of its four- to…
Read MoreCarbon Upcycling joins low-carbon concrete schedule at MnRoad demonstration
Sources: Carbon Upcycling, Calgary; CP staff Carbon Upcycling has supplied its CO2-Enhanced Fly Ash as part of a National Road Research Alliance (NRRA) placement of 14 concrete pavement mixtures at the Minnesota Road Research Facility (MnRoad), located along Interstate 94 north of the Twin Cities. Along with the Carbon Upcycling product, the mixtures use a variety of materials to lower…
Read MoreProgrammers complete AASHTOWare Project, ForneyVault interface
Construction materials testing equipment and technology provider Forney LP is preparing release of a ForneyVault-AASHTOWare Project Construction & Materials interface to state departments of transportation. Linking its signature platform and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials software suite, the company notes, “Drives increased transparency, productivity and efficiency—especially pertinent for DOT labs today in light of the Infrastructure…
Read MoreShaping the future, sharpening the carbon focus
BY JOSEPHINE PATTERSON Within a year of the California Nevada Cement Association’s release of an industry-wide roadmap to attain net zero carbon operation by 2045, a rare alignment of state government, industry stakeholder and environmental group initiatives is validating some of the lowest hanging fruit in the action plan. CNCA envisions three major pathways for the industry to attain the…
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