Related Links: Red River Flood-Control Scheme Moves One Step Closer to Implementation Army Corps Plan Would Tame Red River, Prevent 100-Year Flood The Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Board Authority wasted no time starting work after President Obama signed the Water Reform and Resources Development Act on June 10. The authority is using the federal approval to proceed with construction on a controversial segment of its proposed $2-billion flood-mitigation project.Opponents say a levee downstream of the Fargo, N.D.-Moorhead, Minn., metro area would sacrifice the natural floodplain around the cities for commercial development. They sued in federal and state courts to stop the project.In

Related Links: Copy Of Class-Action Lawsuit Elk River Chemical Spill Triggers Lawsuits, Investigations A uniquely designed airport built in 1947 in Charleston, W.Va., has been swept up in the flurry of litigation surrounding a January incident that spilled 10,000 gallons of chemicals into the Elk River, contaminating the water supply of over 300,000 residents in nine counties. The federal class-action lawsuit, filed on June 20 in Southern West Virginia District Court, claims Triad Engineering and excavation contractor Cast & Baker were environmentally negligent on a Yeager Airport runway extension project, finished in 2011.The 10 residents and four businesses listed in

Photo Courtesy of PERI The Willy Brandt Berlin Brandenburg Airport is two years behind schedule and could see costs escalate to nearly $4 billion. Related Links: Berlin's New $4B Airport About Ready To Debut When Did Germans Forget How To Build? Construction of Berlin's new airport, already two years behind schedule and at least $1.3 billion over budget, has hit yet another hurdle stemming from an alleged bribery scandal.When Netherlands-based design and engineering firm Arcadis in May received an employee report of a bribe attempt by a Berlin Brandenburg Airport official, it immediately reported it to authorities, says Jost Slooten,

NYS Thruway Authority Workers perform test welds on Tappan Zee bridge; megaproject has begun using robots from a Louisiana firm to handle workload Related Links: ENR: Drifting Barges Lead to Payment Penalty For New Tappan Zee Bridge Builders The Journal-News: Robotic Welders are Helping Build the Tappan Zee Bridge With qualified welders in short supply on the $3.9-billion Tappan Zee bridge north of New York City, contractors have brought in robots from Louisiana—a move that prompted new disagreement among organized labor, nonunion groups and project owner the New York Thruway Authority over the job's project labor agreement.The robotic welders, supplied

Related Links: Alberta Vows To Speed Up Oil-Sands Road Project Boomlet Prompts Oil Shipper's Plan To Increase Its Capacity Alberta Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour Horizon Oil Sands Alberta labor officials are set to incorporate into law recommendations of a report commissioned from an Edmonton lawyer meant to improve craft workforce labor relations and "stability" in the province's growing construction workforce.Changes are most acute at large power and industrial project jobsites. But nonunion sector officials say the changes fail to acknowledge contract negotiations that occur outside of unions.Attorney Andrew Sims' report said collective bargaining between employers and unions

Photo by AP Wideworld Intensity of wind-whipped blaze, apparently started by a blowtorch cutting rebar, quickly flared out of control, destroying falsework and deforming steel and iron elements of bridge construction. Related Links: Pair of Big-City Blazes Sparks Review of Safe Welding Habits New Overpass Rises Swiftly From Ashes in Michigan Investigators had not determined at ENR press time whether the May 5 collapse of the $59-million Interstate 15 overpass project was caused by code violations or negligence: Before the collapse, a fire was ignited on that windy day as construction workers used blowtorches to cut excess rebar from falsework.The

Related Links: California Energy Commission AOE Winner Selkowitz Drives Nation Toward Better Performing Buildings Berkeley Lab's Demand Response Research Center Revisions to California's Building Energy Efficiency Standards take effect on July 1 and contain new rules for building controls and commissioning.Changed for the first time since 2008, the 2013 standard requires the design team to complete a commissioning plan before building begins. This mandate is meant to support the development of holistic, performance-based approaches to energy-efficient design, says Eric Soladay, managing principal for Integral Group.A focus on performance-based design means more widespread use of energy modeling. "For instance, lighting and

Related Links: Apple Apparently Moving Away From the Grid To Power Its Data Center in North Carolina Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signs bill to provide manufacturers with power tax cut After converting an abandoned manufacturing plant originally built for solar-panel manufacturer First Solar Inc., Apple Inc. has started shipping sapphire glass from its new production site in Mesa, Ariz. The facility's revival and ongoing construction continue after months of political maneuvering, the price collapse of solar panels and the subsequent fire sale to save the multimillion-dollar development.Apple is unwilling to disclose much about the plant's output, but technology blogs and

Photo Courtesy of HNTB New Interbelt Bridge in Ohio replaces a structurally deficient predecessor; other projects like these could be put on hold if federal transportation funding legislation isn't addressed by Oct. 1. + Image ENR Art Dept. Related Links: Obama Rolls Out $302-Billion Transportation Proposal Don't Wave The White Flag On Federal Transportation Funding As the Highway Trust Fund balance shrinks and the current surface transportation law's Sept. 30 expiration date looms, the Obama administration has fleshed out the details of its $302-billion plan to save the trust fund from insolvency and boost highway and transit spending over the

Related Links: Pipeline Bursts Heat Up Safety Questions Over Keystone XL Engineer Blows Whistle on Canada Pipeline Inspections Canada's National Energy Board released its final audit report on Trans- Canada's pipeline management system on April 24. NEB found the company to be in non-compliance with risk-assessment and hazard-identification regulations, monitoring and maintenance protocols, internal audits, inspections and management review.The setback to TransCanada's effort to secure approval to build a major new pipeline segment came less than a week after the U.S. State Dept. delayed, until after the November elections, its decision on construction permitting for the last leg of the