JUDGE COMPELS EPA TO PICK UP PACE ON LANGUISHING COAL ASH DISPOSAL RULE

A late-January federal court action establishes a December 2014 deadline for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to finalize a rulemaking, initiated in early 2009, that has created uncertainty over the regulatory status for all grades of coal ash, including ASTM C618 product. “The regulatory uncertainty that has impeded the beneficial use of coal ash for half a decade is finally coming to an end,” affirms American Coal Ash Association (ACAA) Executive Director Thomas Adams. “It now appears 2014 is the year for EPA to finally establish federal coal ash disposal guidelines under the ‘non-hazardous’ section of the law.”

Read More

Obama talks transportation funding, Jobs Act at Hilltop Concrete

Sources: White House press staff; National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.; Hilltop Basic Resources, Cincinnati; CP staff

With a rickety, steel trestle bridge as a backdrop, President Obama told a September 22 gathering at Hilltop Concrete’s downtown Cincinnati plant, “We used to have the best infrastructure in the world. We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad, Interstate Highway System, Hoover Dam [and] Grand Central Station.”

Read More