Related Links: Text of proposed regulation EPA Administrator McCarthy You Tube video National Association of Home Builders statement The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers have proposed a new regulation that aims to clear up the murky definition of which bodies of water fall under federal regulatory jurisdiction.The definition is important because contractors who want to build near federally regulated “waters of the United States” must obtain a Corps of Engineers permit before they can start work.Reactions to the proposed rule, which the agencies released jointly on March 25, came quickly and were sharply split. Construction industry and

Related Links: Text of Okland-Justice Dept. settlement agreement Justice Dept. press release In a civil settlement with the Dept. of Justice, Okland Construction Co. Inc. has agreed to pay the federal government $928,000 to resolve false-claims allegations related to the Small Business Administration’s small disadvantaged business (SDB) program, the department said.In announcing the settlement on March 21, DOJ said Salt Lake City-based Okland entered a mentor-protégé agreement with Saiz Construction Co. Inc., a West Valley City, Utah-based firm that participated in SBA’s 8(a) SDB program.In the settlement agreement, Justice alleged that Okland and Saiz did not form an SBA-approved joint

Photo courtesy of Maryland State Highway Administration A Maryland interagency work group met monthly and as needed to avoid project delays and excessive paperwork on the $2.83-billion Intercounty Connector project, on target to complete this summer. Related Links: Support for Environmental Review Reforms Gains Momentum Perfectly Aligned Political Will Pushed New NY Bridge Process Western Transmission Project Slow to Advance New California Streamlining Law Gets Mixed Reviews ICC Project Page Purple Line Project Page Before construction of the $2.83-billion Intercounty Connector began in 2007, Maryland State Highway Administration officials recognized a critical need to forge better connections among its various

Photo Courtesy of Washington DOT The Skagit River bridge replacement project in Washington state in 2013 was one of the first projects to benefit from MAP-21. Related Links: Perfectly Aligned Political Will Pushed New NY Bridge Process New California Streamlining Law Gets Mixed Reviews Streamlining Smooths Progress on $2.8B Maryland Highway Project Western Transmission Project Slow to Advance Federal Infrastructure Projects Permitting Dashboard Viewpoint by John D. Porcari: Project Environmental Reviews, Undo the Do-Over Loop As House-Senate negotiations on a new water-resources authorization bill head into the home stretch, construction industry officials are calling for the final bill to include

Photo Courtesy of Pacificorp The Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission project, first proposed in 2000, is not expected to complete until 2020. The project was placed on the Obama administration's list of projects to accelerate in 2011. Related Links: Project Website Information on Interagency Rapid Response Team for Transmission An Obama administration effort to expedite federal agencies' review of the proposed 300-mile, 500-kV Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission line through parts of eastern Oregon and southern Idaho has had both positive and negative effects on advancing the project, according to Idaho Power, the utility that started planning the project several years ago.Doug Dockter, manager of 500-kV

Image courtesy of National Basketball Association/Sacramento Kings In 2013, incremental CEQA reforms were merged with a bill allowing rapid development of a new basketball arena for the Sacramento Kings. Related Links: Sacramento Arena Gets Protection From Environmental Litigation, Signs PLA OPR's Preliminary Evaluation of Transporation Alternatives Metrics Recent legislative efforts to streamline the far-reaching California Environmental Quality Act should lessen the environmental-review burden on infill and transit-oriented projects, proponents say. Detractors contend the reforms won't reduce the lawsuits that, they claim, abuse CEQA's original intent. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed S.B. 743 into law in September 2013. The bill amalgamated

Photo courtesy New York State Thruway Authority Under presidential designation, new Tappan Zee Bridge project received expedited, collaborative permitting with high-level federal and state agency representatives meeting weekly. Related Links: Support for Environmental Review Reforms Gains Momentum Streamlining Smoothes Progress on Maryland Highway Project New California Streamlining Law Gets Mixed Reviews New York State's New Design-Build Law a Sign of the Times? Fourteen years ago, the New York State Thruway Authority proposed a plan to replace the then-44-year-old Tappan Zee Bridge, a 6,014-ft-long, seven-lane crossing carrying Interstates 87 and 287 over the Hudson River. That proposal followed decades of Band-Aid

Related Links: Webcast of 3/12/14 House subcommittee hearing on DOT budget Webcast of Senate subcommittee 3/13/14 hearing on DOT budget House and Senate appropriations committee members have criticized some parts of the Dept. of Transportation's fiscal year 2015 budget and praised others. Republicans seemed more critical than Democrats.During DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx's March 12 appearance before the House transportation-housing subcommittee, Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), the full committee's chairman, blasted the proposal's new transportation trust fund and its hike on the airport passenger facility charge. He called them "budget gimmicks that Congress has time and again said no to."Foxx also said

Related Links: Detailed GSA FY15 Budget Request Obama FY15 Budget a Mixed Bag (ENR 3/10/2014) After Congress drove the General Services Administration's new- construction account down to just $50 million in fiscal years 2012 and 2013, the agency's building program is rebounding.GSA construction appropriations leaped to $506 million this year. President Obama's 2015 budget plan would boost that program 47%, to $745 million, and hike GSA's renovations account 13%, to about $1.3 billion. On March 4, GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini told reporters, "There are still vital investments that need to be made."But 2015's total non-defense discretionary cap is barely above

Related Links: EPA Federal Register Notice on New Stormwater Rule March 6, 2014 EPA Will Revise Flawed Effluent Rule for Construction Sites (ENR 2/4/2013) Contractors will have greater flexibility in controlling stormwater discharges from construction sites under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new revisions to its effluent guidelines.The final rule, to take effect on May 5, addresses concerns industry groups have had with the rule since it was implemented in 2009, especially its numeric discharge limit of 280 nephelometric turbidity units for construction sites in which 20 or more acres are disturbed at one time.A 2012 settlement in a lawsuit