The Environmental Protection Agency announced on April 8 that it would distribute $197 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to assess and clean up leaking underground storage tanks. EPA estimates that these funds will contribute to at least 1,600 cleanups around the country and create or save a significant number of jobs. “We’re providing immediate growth opportunities for communities across the nation, as well as long-term protection from dangerous pollution in the land and water,” says EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. The stimulus funds will inject badly needed dollars into EPA’s program to clean up petroleum leaks from

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected a protest, from a team led by Parsons Corp., of a $3.3-billion, six-year nuclear-waste cleanup contract for the U.S. Energy Dept.’s Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., awarded in December to a team led by the Washington division of URS Corp. GAO declined to explain the rationale for its decision until its opinion is redacted. Parsons would not give a reason for the protest.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced on April 1 that the government will provide $7.2 billion for transit projects in the greater Toronto area. The bulk of the money, $5.6 billion, is earmarked for three of seven transit lines that Toronto wants to build over the next 15 years. The longest and most expensive would be the $3.7-billion, 31-kilometer-long Eglinton Crosstown, connecting with Pearson International Airport. Construction is expected to start in 2010 and be completed by 2016. Approximately 13 km would be underground. The Ontario funding is not conditional on any matching grants from the city.

A $575-million management contract on London’s $22-billion Crossrail project has gone to a team of San Francisco-based Bechtel Ltd., London, Halcrow Group, London, and Paris-based SYSTRA. The team will oversee design and construction of the system’s tunnels under the city for owner Crossrail Ltd., including a 21-km-long twin-bore tunnel under the center of London and six new stations. The award follows last month’s $146-million program management contract win by a team of AECOM, Los Angeles, CH2M Hill Cos., Englewood, Colo., and the U.K.’s Nichols Group.

Brazil’s Odebrecht has won a $2.1-billion concession for the upgrade and new construction of the Dom Pedro Highway in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The 30-year concessionaire will be responsible for the upgrade and maintenance of a total of almost 185 miles of tolled roadway traversing 17 cities between Mogi Guaçu and Jacarei the northeast of Sao Paulo’s urban center. The project is part of an ongoing effort to alleviate traffic problems in the country’s largest metro area. “We will invest ... 1.4 billion in the first six years,” says Leonardo Mala, an Odebrecht spokesman. “We will start the

Peter M. Rogoff, a veteran Senate transportation aide, is President Obama's choice to lead the Federal Transit Administration, the White House announced on April 8. Rogoff has been a staffer on the Senate Appropriations Committee for 22 years, including 14 years as the top Democratic aide on the panel's transportation subcommittee, where he worked under Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.). His nomination as FTA administrator is subject to Senate confirmation. Besides working on annual spending bills for the Dept. of Transportation, Rogoff also has played a role in the last three multi-year surface transportation reauthorization measures, beginning

The $49.3 billion in federal stimulus funding set aside for transportation work generated none of the rancorous clamor raised by the banking and financial-sector bailout. Instead, politicians and officials in cash-strapped state highway departments are joining nervous contractors and engineers in nearly universal praise for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Slide Show Photo: Arizona DOT Emphasis on speed and jobs moves repaving work to the top of the list. Any criticism has been muted. The public perceived the American International Group executive bonuses as tax dollars profiting those who were culpable for financial excesses and bad

Engineers, contractors and owners are boarding the Energy Dept.’s $32.7- billion gravy train, augmented by $12.5 billion in loan programs, as it leaves Washington, D.C. Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s last job was as director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His familiarity with the condition of lab facilities may be why DOE is pouncing on the $1.6 billion in funds appropriated by ARRA, with half earmarked for construction, infrastructure, equipment acquisition and research at nine national laboratories in seven states (see table below). The largest share for a single project is $150 million to accelerate construction on the National Synchrotron Light

As American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) dollars begin to roll out from the Environmental Protection Agency, states are scrambling to develop and implement their plans to distribute the funds to local communities and utilities. In some cases, money has already been distributed; in others, the agencies responsible for distribution are waiting for EPA to work out the details of how the money will be allocated. Photo: AP/ Wideworld The big boost in DOE nuclear work could overwhelm current DOE staff. Photo: WASA Typical projects include drinking-water rehab work. But while funding may be merely a trickle now, agency and

The 5.8-magnitude quake that hit L’Aquila on April 6 and aftershocks killed over 200, ruined cathedrals and left thousands homeless. Photo: AP / Wideworld