Another chapter has closed in developer John Rapanos’ long legal battles over federal wetlands jurisdiction. In a settlement announced on Dec. 29 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Dept., Rapanos and other defendants agreed to pay a $150,000 civil penalty and spend about $750,000 to re-create about 100 acres of wetlands and buffer areas at three Michigan sites. Federal officials say Rapanos put excavated dirt into wetlands with-out Clean Water Act authorization. Rapanos and co-defendants did not admit any wrongdoing. A related criminal case is pending. Rapanos had sued, arguing the Clean Water law did not cover the

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) has withdrawn from his nomination as Dept. of Commerce Secretary in President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet. In a Jan. 5 news conference, Richardson stated that an ongoing federal grand jury investigation into a state contract related to Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership (GRIP) won by Beverly Hills, Calif.-based CDR Financial Products “would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process.” The investigation centers around a $1.48-million consulting contract CDR won in 2004 with the New Mexico Finance Authority, a state instrumentality that finances infrastructure projects by providing low-cost funds and technical assistance. CDR was part

President-elect Barack Obama’s picks to lead the departments of transportation and labor took many construction industry officials by surprise. Obama announced on Dec. 19 that he had chosen 14-year Republican congressman Ray LaHood (Ill.) to serve as transportation secretary and Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), as labor secretary. Photo: AP/Wideworld Solis and LaHood were not on everyone’s short list. Industry officials were caught off guard by LaHood’s nomination. He wasn’t on the rumor-mill lists of possible candidates and has not been a leading legislator on transportation matters, though he did serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for his first six

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on Dec. 17 an-nounced that the state has reached a settlement with Powers Fasteners Inc. regarding the July 10, 2006, Interstate-90 tunnel-plenum collapse that crushed a car and killed a 38-year-old local woman, Milena Del Valle. The tunnel is part of Boston’s $14.6-billion Central Artery/Tunnel project, which was completed in 2005. The collapse of some of the new tunnel’s concrete ceiling panels has been linked to improper use of the Brewster, N.Y-based firm’s fast-set epoxy in the an-choring system. Under the agreement, Powers will stop selling the fast-set epoxy and recall all previous sales. The

President-elect Barack Obama has selected a veteran team of regulators and administrators to fill his administration’s top energy and environmental posts. Environmental and industry groups expect the team, announced on Dec. 15, to be more focused on climate change and renewable energy than the Bush administration. They believe the designees will be sympathetic to boosting funds for programs like Environmental Protection Agency water-infrastructure aid, but overall budget pressures may work against that. Photo: AP / Wideworld Veteran. Lisa Jackson to be EPA nominee. For energy secretary, Obama tapped Steven Chu, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics and heads

The U.S. Interior Dept. issued final regulations on Dec. 11 that clarify when consultations with other agencies are required under the Endangered Species Act. Interior says the change was needed to prevent lawmakers from using the law as a back door way to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The new rules were narrower than an August proposal, which was widely criticized by environmental groups. The final version permits agencies to forgo consultation only in limited circumstances, Interior says. Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), the top environment committee Republican, calls the revision “a step in the right direction.” But the National Audubon Society is

President-elect Barack Obama on Dec. 13 named New York City Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Shaun Donovan as his pick for Housing and Urban Development Secretary. Donovan was a HUD deputy assistant secretary in the Clinton administration and later a Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. managing director. HUD construction programs include Community Development Block Grants.

The Senate and House cleared a pension bill that offers temporary help for single-employer and multi-employer funds and individual retirees hurt by the financial markets’ downturn. Final action came with Senate passage on Dec.11. Multi-employer plans are important in unionized construction. The bill gives underfunded multi-employer plans 13 years, up from 10 now, to implement improvement plans. It also lets multi-employer plans elect to freeze their category—healthy, endangered or seriously endangered—for one year, which would help plans that were healthy until the markets’ plunge. “It’s a great temporary fix and ...was very much needed,” says Dana Thompson, Sheet Metal and

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced December 17 that a settlement has been reached with Powers Fasteners, Inc., Brewster, N.Y., regarding the July 10, 2006 Interstate 90 tunnel plenum collapse that killed a 38-year-old local woman, Milena Del Valle. According to the agreement Powers will stop future sales of its fast-set epoxy and recall all previous sales. The firm will also pay a $16 million settlement: $15.5 million will go to a state transportation infrastructure fund and $500,000 to the City of Boston. According to Coakley the deal closes out most civil and criminal matters resulting from the tragedy. In

Timing is everything. With the nation buzzing about the economic stimulus package—considered extremely likely to include billions of dollars for infrastructure—the American Society of Civil Engineers brought 80-plus experts together for a critical infrastructure summit. The meeting was part of ASCE’s long-range planning effort, but attendees found themselves discussing the next few months as well as the decades to come. Blaine Leonard, ASCE president-elect and research program manager of Utah Dept. of Transportation, told attendees at the Dec. 8-10, Landsdowne, Va., session that their mission was to begin to identify how organizations that work with multifunded, multijurisdictional, long-term construction and