Related Links: Interior Dept. press release Executive summary of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service final EIS (2/5/2013) Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has rejected a proposal to swap a parcel of Alaska state and Native-owned land on the Aleutian peninsula for a road corridor through a federal wildlife refuge.Jewell’s decision, announced on Dec. 23, drew praise from environmentalists, but strong criticism from Alaska’s senior U.S. senator and some local officials.Jewell said that the proposed road—from the town of King Cove through part of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to an all-weather airport near the town of Cold Bay about 20 miles

Related Links: Information on Baucus Energy Tax Proposal Information on Baucus Corporate and Accounting Tax Reform Proposal With President Obama's Dec. 20 announcement that he will nominate Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus to be U.S. ambassador to China, industry officials say they don't expect to see action any time soon on one of the Montana Democrat's main priorities: an overhaul of the federal tax code.If Baucus, as predicted, is confirmed to the China post, his successor as chairman of the powerful Finance panel is widely expected to be Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a strong

Related Links: Senate Clears Budget Bill With $45B Spending Hike for 2014 (enr.com 12/18/2013) House and Senate budget committees' summary of budget agreement (12/10/2013) Now that Congress has approved a budget bill that includes a sizable spending hike for the rest of fiscal year 2014, construction industry officials will gear up to battle with advocates for a wide range of other interests for a share of those dollars.MIKULSKIThe budget bill—the result of a deal between House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.)—won final congressional approval on Dec. 18, when the Senate passed

Related Links: WRDA Update: Views Differ on Negotiations' Status (enr.com blog 12/19/2013) House-Senate Talks on WRDA Bill Get Under Way (ENR 12/2-9/2013) As the House and Senate began their year-end breaks, there was no agreement in sight yet on a new Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA.The bill would authorize at least $8 billion in Army Corps of Engineers projects and make changes in Corps policies.Key lawmakers and staffers from both houses have been exchanging information since a House-Senate conference committee formally convened on Nov. 20 to work out the differences between the bills. The two chambers passed those measures

Related Links: U.S. Attorney for District of Columbia press release, summary of case EPA IG report on John Beale pay issues IG report on John Beale travel issues John C. Beale, a former high-ranking Environmental Protection Agency official, was sentenced on Dec. 18 to 32 months in federal prison and a $1.3-million fine for fraudulently receiving almost $900,000 in pay and benefits for lengthy periods of time he wasn't at work. Beale, 65, pled guilty in September to committing fraud over the past decade at EPA, falsely telling his supervisors that he was a Central Intelligence Agency agent and being paid

Related Links: Summary of Ryan-Murray budget agreement (Dec. 10) Congressional Budget Office Dec. 11 analysis of budget measure (excludes House Medicare amendment) A two-year budget measure that includes a $44.8-billion spending boost for 2014 has won final congressional approval, with the Senate's passage by a comfortable margin. The legislation next goes to the White House for President Obama's expected signature.The budget bill, which the Senate approved on Dec. 18 by a 64-36 vote, would avert a government shutdown in mid-January and increase discretionary spending by a combined $63 billion for the rest of this fiscal year and all of fiscal

Photo by AP Wideworld Justice Alito's ruling affirms forum clauses while also allowing courts to consider public-interest factors. Related Links: Text of Supreme Court's opinion http://enr.construction.com/policy/legal/2013/1014-supreme-court-hears-arguments-over-dispute-forum-selection.asp (ENR 10/14/2013 issue) All of the U.S. Supreme Court justices saw Atlantic Marine Construction Co. v. U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas the same way, ruling 9-0 generally in the company's favor. But construction attorneys' interpretations of that Dec. 3 decision differ. Lawyers supporting each side call the ruling a victory.The case originated in a payment dispute between prime contractor Atlantic Marine Construction (AMC), Virginia Beach, Va., and subcontractor J-Crew Management

Related Links: Justice Dept. press release Bilfinger SE statement Ex-Willbros Consultant Sentenced for Nigerian Bribery (enr.com 5/16/2013) [Subscription] The German construction firm Bilfinger SE has agreed to pay $32 million to resolve U.S. federal bribery charges connected to contracts on a Nigerian natural-gas project, the Dept. of Justice said.The agreement, which DOJ announced on Dec. 9, is the latest development in a multi-year federal probe of the $387-million Eastern Gas Gathering ProjectBilfinger and DOJ said they have entered into a three-year deferred-prosecution agreement. The company, based in Mannheim, said it will admit it had violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices

Related Links: Transcript of Dec. 10 oral arguments NLRB and Construction-Related Cases on Supreme Court Docket (ENR 10/7/2013 issue) [subscription] As the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Dec. 10 in two major clean-air regulatory cases, most of the justices appeared to be sympathetic to the Environmental Protection Agency’s position that it had not exceeded its statutory powers when it issued an air-pollution-control regulation in 2011.The cases, which the court consolidated into one proceeding, center on whether EPA overstepped its Clean Air Act authority when it issued the Cross-State Air Pollution rule in 2011. That regulation, also called the

Related Links: ENR Blog: House Bill Seeks to Keep Design-Build Short Lists Short Text of H.R. 2750 A House panel has heard industry officials' support for a bill that seeks to rein in lengthy short lists for federal design-build projects.The measure, which Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) introduced in July, would bar one-step D-B procurements for projects of $750,000 or more. It also would require an agency head's sign-off for D-B short lists of more than five teams. There is no Senate bill yet, and Graves' proposal had just 11 co-sponsors on Dec. 9; but House federal workforce subcommittee Chairman Blake