With the failed blowout preventer atop BP’s Macondo well removed and BP moving toward a final plugging and abandonment of the well, the industry is beginning to focus more on the causes and eventual outcomes of the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon that led to the deaths of 11 men and months-long oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Blowout preventer that failed to operate in April was brought to the surface on Sept. 4. It is now undergoing forensic investigation onshore in Louisiana. BP, a joint industry task force and a team of

A four-year legal spat over the Hoover Dam bypass project’s collapsed cableways has ended in a private settlement stemming from an April 20 arbitration ruling. A joint venture of Obayashi Corp., San Francisco, with PSM Construction USA Inc., Brisbane, Calif., will reimburse American Bridge Co., Coraopolis, Pa., an undisclosed amount for a cableway system that broke in 2006, causing a two-year delay. In 2005, the joint venture signed a two-year, $105,000-a-month lease with American Bridge Co. to use two pairs of refurbished, 330-ft-tall lattice-framed towers with 2,500 ft of 3-in-dia. cableway strung between them. The so-called high lines function like

With state budgets still hamstrung by the recession and Congress hesitant to hammer out a new federal funding measure, it seems the only thing growing in the U.S. transportation sector these days is the number of firms vying for the few opportunities that do arise. Photo: Courtesy of Austin Bridge and Road TxDOT has awarded more than $4 billion in projects over the past year. Related Links: Environment: Treatment-Facility Work, Cleanups Bolster Sector General Building: Firms Find Little Respite From Weak Economy Manufacturing/Telecommunications: Tough Market Requires Top-Notch Players Petroleum: Projects Cancelled in Uncertain Climate Power: Federal Policy Drives New Power

Cape Wind, the estimated $1-billion offshore wind farm planned for Nantucket Sound off the Massachusetts coast, cleared a major hurdle on Aug. 30. The state supreme court upheld a state board’s approval for an underground and undersea transmission line between the project’s 130 proposed turbines and the regional power grid. Cape Wind, set to generate 420 MW of power, had federal approval to build, but its 18.4-mile power line required state siting approval. The 4-2 decision effectively upheld the state board’s ability to overrule local authorities, which had denied Cape Wind’s permit request.

In a first-of-its-kind deal, waste management firm EnergySolutions Inc. has taken control of the shut-down Zion nuclear powerplant near Chicago from owner Exelon Corp.; the firm will decommission and dismantle the facility, built in 1973, and return it to a greenfield state under budget and ahead of schedule. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted EnergySolutions, Salt Lake City, control of the Lake County, Ill., plant’s license. The firm is set to clean up the 257-acre Lake Michigan site in seven to 10 years, including paperwork and environmental remediation, and return license and site control to Chicago-based Exelon.The industry standard

Through most of the past decade, rising demand for electricity in the U.S. led utilities and independent power companies to plan, design and build scores of new powerplants. Photo: Courtesy of International Power Zachry is part of a consortium designing, equipping and building a 650-MW coal plant in Texas. Related Links: Environment: Treatment-Facility Work, Cleanups Bolster Sector General Building: Firms Find Little Respite From Weak Economy Manufacturing/Telecommunications: Tough Market Requires Top-Notch Players Petroleum: Projects Cancelled in Uncertain Climate Transportation: Dearth of Funds Keeps Sector in Doldrums The Top 400 Contractors List With an anemic economic recovery and a focus on

There was both bad and good news for petroleum contractors this summer. The bad news was a pall of uncertainty currently shrouding petro markets as major oil-spill disasters—Gulf of Mexico rig explosions and a Michigan pipeline leak so far this year—ratcheted up scrutiny, opposition, delays and cancellations of new projects. But if there is good news for petro contractors, it is the fact that America’s monstrous thirst for oil remains unabated, and contractors know it’s only a matter of time before the carbon-based infrastructure market comes roaring back to life. Photo: Courtesy of SAIC SAIC has three contracts for hydrocracker

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors are setting a record for achieving the fastest gain in consolidation and strength on earthen levees—a mere 60 to 90 days, compared with 10 to 11 years—by using an intricate design that layers a sand blanket, geotextile fabrics, rock and wick drains to evacuate moisture from marshy soils. “Something of this major import, of this scope, is rare, and we are using unique and unusual means to achieve those goals,” says Al Naomi, program manager, URS Corp., San Francisco. URS performed geotechnical design and developed plans and specifications for the levee

America’s aging infrastructure—which, in 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated would require $2.2 trillion over a five-year period—continues to provide work for environmental contractors through American Recovery and Reinvestment funding. Photo:Courtesey of PCL Utilities are still retrofitting aging facilities, like the South Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant. Related Links: General Building: Firms Find Little Respite From Weak Economy Manufacturing/Telecommunications: Tough Market Requires Top-Notch Players Petroleum: Projects Cancelled in Uncertain Climate Power: Federal Policy Drives New Power Projects Transportation: Dearth of Funds Keeps Sector in Doldrums The Top 400 Contractors List Specifically, contractors are finding work in assuring the safety

BP’s Macondo well is no longer a threat to the Gulf of Mexico, retired-U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Sept. 4 after the blowout preventer was removed from the top of the well without the release of any additional oil. The BOP was shipped to a government facility in Louisiana for analysis. BP says it will still finish a relief well as an extra measure of safety later this month. Meanwhile, BP announced it would provide results of its investigation into the April 20 accident on the Deepwater Horizon on Sept. 8. An oil industry response task force Sept.