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: Transcript of Feb. 24 oral arguments Briefs in Case The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Feb. 24 in a significant environmental case in which the justices appeared to be split on whether the Environmental Protection Agency had the authority to develop greenhouse gas regulations for powerplants, refineries, and other “stationary sources.”The justices did not appear willing to revisit the court's 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA decision, which said that EPA could regulate greenhouse gases if the agency found that they endangered public health.Instead, the case before the court on Feb. 24 centers on a narrower question of whether
The U.S. government still owes contractors good faith and fair dealing, a federal appeals court ruling indicates.Some attorneys believed that good faith and fair dealing had been pared back in previous court cases, but the appellate court’s Feb. 11 ruling in favor of Metcalf Construction Co. v. U.S. is apparently good news for contractors.Construction industry associations had filed briefs supporting Metcalf, a Hawaii-based general contractor that had been hired by the U.S. Navy in 2002 to build housing units under a design-build contract. The ground conditions involving expansive soils and the presence of chlorate, a pollutant, vastly exceeded what the
Related Links: Dept. of Justice press release The Dept. of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Kellogg, Brown & Root Services and two Kuwait-based companies, charging that they filed false claims and engaged in kickbacks related to a U.S. Army contract in Iraq a decade ago.DOJ announced on Jan. 23 that it filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Rock Island, Ill. The government alleged that in 2003 and 2004, Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) workers took kickbacks related to subcontracts that company had awarded to the two Kuwaiti firms—La Nouvelle General Trading & Contracting Co. and First Kuwaiti
Googlemaps Three towns, Saluda (B), Tryon (A) and Columbus (C), are unhappy with water pressure in their multi-community system in the hills of North Carolina. Three small towns in the mountain country of North Carolina, not far from Asheville, say they are suffering from poor water pressure and they are blaming the engineering firm that designed the water delivery lines connecting the towns. The towns of Columbus and Tryon and the city of Saluda are suing Asheville, N.C.-based engineer Joel E. Wood and Associates, LLC.A judge recently transferred the lawsuit from state superior court in Polk, N.C. to federal court
Related Links: Jan. 13 oral argument transcript High Court to Hear Arguements in NLRB Appointments Case The U.S. Supreme Court Justices seemed to be skeptical of the Obama administration’s position during Jan. 13 oral arguments in a case centering on the president’s ability to make recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, courts, and other government offices.The case, NLRB v. Noel Canning, is significant for construction because it involves two appointments to the NLRB, the body that adjudicates labor cases important to construction firms and unions, that were invalidated as unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
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
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
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