Opinion – Concrete Products

A new portal for Buy Clean era

February 17, 2023February 17, 2023 Francesca Peeples

We are into a second decade of covering ready mixed and manufactured concrete producer response to construction market catalysts driving Environmental Product Declaration preparation and submittals: The Architecture 2030 Challenge (2012), compelling proof of lower embodied carbon materials or products in project specifications, and the U.S. Green Building Council LEED v4 standard (2014-16), the first broad-based mechanism incentivizing suppliers, producers…

Topping the 2023 radar

January 14, 2023January 14, 2023 Don Marsh

Major industry developments last year did not match the eventful 2021, when a dealmaking flourish put leading admixture, plant equipment and ready mixed or manufactured concrete brands or market stakes on track to change hands. But 2022 served up its share of surprises. A review of the year’s most impactful content from these pages and our companion Concrete Currents weekly…

CalPortland asks the Supreme Court to draw a line on union recklessness

December 7, 2022December 15, 2022 Don Marsh

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments this term involving one of the West Coast’s top cement, aggregate and ready mixed concrete players (note Government Affairs, page 11). CalPortland Co. counsel will demonstrate why justices should reverse a Washington State Supreme Court decision shielding International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 174 from liability in a 2017 Seattle plant stunt…

National Mixer Driver Championship: A much-warranted workforce salute

November 12, 2022November 18, 2022 Don Marsh

The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association Workforce Development Committee did not sugarcoat the results of its 2021 Mixer Driver Recruitment and Retention Survey. As we noted in a report last month, survey data shows that 28 of every 100 drivers hired in 2021 quit during the year. That placed ready mixed producers 3 points above the national resignation rate the…

Carbon policies ignite fires under federal agency seats

October 17, 2022October 17, 2022 Don Marsh

A hastily conducted first quarter survey spawning the General Services Administration’s Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Standards, noted here in May, set the table for comparably quick, parallel action by the Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency (note Federal Buy Clean Initiative, page 13), plus the Department of Energy (DOE). The latter’s new “Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap” identifies pathways—Energy Efficiency; Industrial…

Steelmakers’ carbon emissions study template suits cement counterparts

September 5, 2022September 13, 2022 Don Marsh

By 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…

‘Safety’ advocates prove unpersuasive in drivers’ hours exemption challenge

August 14, 2022August 14, 2022 Don Marsh

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…

Eco Material and Cemex define Green Bond-rated investments

July 8, 2022July 8, 2022 Don Marsh

Our 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…

Industry producers cruise ahead of CO2 emissions reporting rule

June 14, 2022June 14, 2022 Don Marsh

Examples 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…

Agency eclipses typical government pace with embodied carbon action

May 13, 2022May 13, 2022 Don Marsh

The 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…