A U.S. Dept. of Transportation plan to reshape and rename the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grants has come under fire from senior Senate appropriators. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the appropriations subcommittee responsible for DOT’s budget, and Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the panel’s top Democrat, say DOT’s plan to make states’ and localities’ ability to raise transportation revenue a grant-selection criterion is a bad idea.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, appearing at two House hearings on April 26, faced criticism about the agency’s proposed fiscal year 2019 budget request and also was grilled about controversies surrounding his management and use of agency resources.

The regional operator of the MidAtlantic power grid has said the closure of three nuclear units totaling 4,048 MW in Ohio and Pennsylvania will not threaten electric reliability, though some transmission projects may need to be accelerated to connect new supply.

Bay Area Rapid Transit’s Board of Directors has approved construction of a 4.7-mile single-bore tunnel as part of the $4.8-billion second phase of a program to extend service to Santa Clara County’s Silicon Valley.

Plans to redevelop one of the Port of San Francisco’s historic pier buildings into a retail center have suffered a setback, following the developer’s withdrawal from the project.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded $1.9 million to a team of universities, led by Marc Edwards of Virginia Tech, to detect and control lead in drinking water.

Milan-based Salini Impregilo S.p.A. has named Goldman Sachs to advise on the possible sale of the $600-million-a-year paving unit of its U.S. subsidiary Lane Construction Corp.

Efforts to nix South Carolina’s nuclear construction fee to ratepayers could imperil Dominion Energy’s pending offer to purchase one of the utility owners of the canceled V.C. Summer nuclear expansion project.

The long-delayed Kitimat liquefied natural gas project in British Columbia got a boost in late April when LNG Canada selected Fluor Corp. and partner Yokohama-based JGC Corp. as the EPC contractor for the natural gas export-plant portion of the $40-billion development. Industry analysts expect Fluor’s portion of the award could be as much as $7 billion. 

The Michigan Public Service Commission gave final approval recently to a nearly $1-billion natural gas-fired plant along the St. Clair River near the Canadian border.