Republican governors in Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida grabbed headlines by rejecting federal high-speed-rail funds awarded to their states, but many other governors—Democrats and Republicans—are hungry for the money that was turned back. In a signal that demand for rail money still outpaces supply, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation has received almost $10 billion in requests for shares of $2 billion in rail aid Florida rejected earlier this year. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said on April 6 that 24 states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak submitted more than 90 applications for the money Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) turned back.

By the end of April, President Obama will release details of a proposal to realign, consolidate and dispose of excess federal buildings, Obama administration officials say. The plan, modeled on the military's Base Realignment and Closure program, includes a commission that would recommend which buildings ought to be sold. Obama proposed the panel in his State of the Union speech. The Office of Management and Budget suggests the program could save $15 billion. Another money-saving idea would retrofit buildings to be more energy efficient, said Daniel Werfel, OMB controller, at an April 6 House transportation and infrastructure subcommittee hearing. Subcommittee

Despite the Dept. of Labor's efforts to improve its process for determining Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wages, it continues to produce potentially inaccurate data, according to the Government Accountability Office. A March 22 GAO report finds that Labor's wage survey has shortcomings in how timely and representative the information is and in using local data as the basis for wage calculations. Among surveys reviewed by GAO, Labor issued 11% of key wage rates at the county level, 42% at the multi-county level and 40% at the state level. More than 25% of rates were based on six or fewer workers. GAO

In a move welcomed by construction groups and other business organizations, Congress has cleared a bill to repeal a tax-reporting provision of last year's health-care law. Final congressional approval came on April 5, when the Senate passed the measure on a 87-12 vote. The House had approved the bill on March 3. The measure now goes to the White House for President Obama's expected signature. After the Senate vote, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a statement saying that "we are pleased Congress has acted to correct a flaw that placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses." The

Will this be the year a long-delayed, multi-year aviation bill finally becomes law? There has been progress. The House on April 1 passed a four-year bill, but infrastructure advocates don’t like its cuts to Federal Aviation Administration airport construction grants. House lawmakers next will take their bill into negotiations with the Senate, which approved a two-year bill in February. Construction groups prefer the Senate version’s funding for Airport Improvement Program (AIP) construction grants, which finance runway work and other projects. The Senate bill averages about $4 billion per year for AIP. However, the House bill slices the program to an

After a long delay, the Army Corps of Engineers’ first rewrite in 28 years of its “Principles and Guidelines” for evaluating water projects is expected to be released in June, top Army officials say. The new standards will be a major shift away from the present P&G, issued in 1983, which said the sole federal water-resources planning objective is “to contribute to national economic development” while being “consistent with protecting the nation’s environment.” Photo Courtesy U.S. Senate Environment And Public Works Committee Darcy (left) and Van Antwerp say new project evaluation standards will be out in June. Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant

In a move aimed at spurring U.S. exports of construction equipment and services to Brazil, the U.S. Export-Import Bank is providing a $1-billion line of credit for infrastructure projects in that country.

More North Carolina passenger-rail construction projects appear to be on tap, thanks to a recently signed agreement among federal and state agencies and railroad companies. With the signing of the pact on March 22, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has formally obligated $461 million in stimulus-act funds to the North Carolina Dept. of Transportation (NCDOT) for rail improvements between Raleigh and Charlotte. But there is a potential hurdle: A Republican member of the state’s House of Representatives has introduced a bill that would bar NCDOT from spending any federal high-speed-rail funds unless the state Legislature approves it. FRA awarded the

A federal jury in New Orleans awarded a $451,000 settlement on March 24th to a former employee of Boh Bros. Construction Co. to settle charges that he was sexually harassed by his superintendent. The verdict, which was announced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission March 29, is one of an increasing number of same-sex harassment lawsuits filed under federal sexual harassment laws. The jury declined to find liability and to award greater damages for retaliation against the worker by Boh Bros. He had claimed that, in reponse to his complaints, he was transferred to another, more distant location from his

Nearly half of existing coal- and oil-fired powerplants may need pollution-control upgrades under a newly proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule that sets the first national standard for mercury, arsenic, nickel and other pollutants. The proposed rule was released on March 16 in response to a court-ordered deadline that was set following a case brought by several environmental groups. A final rule is required by November. EPA estimates that coal-fired plants produce 99% of mercury emissions and that existing technology could prevent 91% of mercury in coal from being released. EPA expects the rule, when final, to encourage the 44% of