Florida’s transition to more efficient and clean energy production hit a speed bump last month when Juno Beach, Fla.-based FPL Group said it would immediately halt work on approved nuclear and modernization projects that collectively totaled as much as $20 billion. The sudden move came on the heels of the state Public Service Commission rejecting FPL’s requests for rate hikes totaling more than $1 billion. FPL Group Chairman and CEO Lew Hay cited the decision as evidence of a deteriorating regulatory climate in Florida that “is increasingly hostile to investment.” The largest projects are two additional nuclear units at the

Despite projections that it will take months to rebuild the primary, deep-draft port in Port au Prince, Haiti, construction and shipping industry representatives are confident they can pour loads of building materials and heavy equipment into the earthquake-damaged country. Photos: Seaboard Marine, a subsidiary of Seaboard Corp. (www.seaboardcorp.com), Merriam, Kansas. Haitian recovery efforts may hinge on shallow-draft ships like these unloading supplies. “The port being destroyed won’t be a hindrance to getting equipment in there, not if you have an experienced heavy lift operator who knows what they are doing,” says Jerry Nagel, CEO of U.S. operations for Rickmers-Linie, Hamburg,

State and federal regulators are closely monitoring conditions at the Trans Alaska Pipeline System following the discovery of a leak and a pair of shutdowns at Booster Pump Station 1. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, the pipeline operator, says engineers this week re-started the 800-mile pipeline for a second time since the leak was located in the basement of the facility January 8. + Image Image map: Courtesy of Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. The leak happened near pumping station 1 (seen on map as PS1). “The leak was discovered by one of the personnel during routine surveillance of the system,” says

Funding will be the key to one of the largest dam removal projects in California history. State government officials and the California American Water Co. agreed on Jan. 11 to remove the 106-ft-tall San Clemente Dam on the Carmel River in Monterey County. The concrete arch dam, built in 1921, once provided drinking water to Monterey Peninsula residents, but its reservoir has since silted up 90%. In 1991, state dam inspectors also concluded the dam risked failure in a significant earthquake or flood event, which could release an estimated 2.5 million cu yds of sediment and more than 40 million

Florida roadbuilders are concerned about the state’s high-speed-rail funding scheme and its effect on other transportation funding. State transportation planners aren’t committing any state funding to the rail plan for the foreseeable future, expecting private-sector funding for operating expenses between Orlando and Tampa, according to the state’s application for federal funding. “There doesn’t appear to be any recognition at all of the cost to the state,” says Robert G. Burleson, president of the Florida Transportation Builders Association in Tallahassee. “All the studies show that the train isn’t really profitable until you get it extended to Miami.” Burleson estimates that extending

An official road-building rating system similar to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for buildings may be coming soon. While the Federal Highway Administration prepares to select a team to create national guidelines, the University of Washington and engineering firm CH2M Hill have already compiled a comprehensive system called Greenroads. Source: ACP Greenroads Category Weights: Shows the distribution of voluntary credit points in each of the categories. The performance metrics system, officially unveiled this month at the annual Transportation Research Board meeting in Washington, D.C., outlines minimum requirements to qualify as a green roadway, including noise mitigation, storm-water management

Las Vegas Monorail Co., private owner of a $650-million, 4.2-mile automated rail line connecting eight Las Vegas Strip resorts and the convention center, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 13, one month after an announced $500-million expansion to McCarran International Airport. The dual-line system began operation on July 15, 2004. Granite Construction Co. Inc., Watsonville, Calif., and Bombardier built the monorail under a $354-million, fixed-price contract. Estimated to carry 40,000 passengers a day, the monorail ran into trouble when, on Sept. 1, a 20-in., 60-lb rubber steering tire broke off during transit. Officials replaced the wheel assemblies and

The Panama Canal Authority is planning a permanent road connecting North and South American land masses on the canal’s Atlantic side. Source: ACP In the next few weeks, officials with the agency, known by its Spanish acronym ACP, plan to award a feasibility contract for possible alternatives for a permanent vehicular crossing at the Gatun Locks near Colon. Preliminary plans call for either a bridge or tunnel. Currently, traffic must use a small road that runs directly in front of the locks. The arrangement requires that the only road crossing at that end of the canal must be closed when

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation is changing the criteria it uses to evaluate which new transit projects it will fund. Industry officials say the shift is likely to give a boost to streetcar and urban light-rail projects in the competition for federal money, but other options, such as bus rapid transit, will still be in the game. Photo: Trimet Observers say future urban light-rail projects, such as the existing system (above) in Portland, Ore., and streetcar-line proposals will benefit from DOT’s policy shift on new transit starts. In unveiling the shift on Jan. 13, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said the

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a $35,000 civil penalty against the Babcock & Wilcox Facility in Lynchburg, Va., claiming the facilities staff failed to declare an alert emergency classification in a timely manner as required by their emergency plan. On July 15, 2009, the firm “failed to declare an emergency for more than two hours after they discovered a band-saw-cooling reservoir did not have the proper criticality controls,” says NRC. While the event posed no threat outside the facility, “the results could have been significant under different circumstances,” says NRC.