Related Links: Reuters: Candidates to Replace Perciasepe Unclear; Difficult Confirmation Process Anticipated PerciasepeRobert Perciasepe, deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since 2009, will start on Aug. 11 as president of The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, a Washington, D.C., climate-change and energy policy think tank. A 21-year EPA management veteran, he also had been the Maryland secretary of the environment and chief operating officer of the National Audubon Society. Perciasepe succeeds Eileen Claussen, who founded the non-profit group in 1998. At ENR press time on Aug. 8, an EPA spokeswoman confirmed that Lisa Feldt, associate deputy administrator,
CarlsonDonald R. Carlson, 84, a project architect and construction manager who helped build Chicago’s original McCormick Place convention center in the 1950s, died of renal failure on June 26.Carlson designed projects for Chicago-based C.F. Murphy Associates, which later became Murphy/Jahn Architects. He worked on the original $35-million, 320,000-sq-ft McCormick Place that opened in 1960 but burned down in 1967. He also served as architectural production chief during the early 1970s on all terminals, gates and operational facilities for the 13 original airlines at O'Hare International Airport.Carlson later worked for Martin B. Schaffer & Associates, redoing the top four floors of
University researchers have unveiled a new concrete bridge bent system that they say reduces earthquake damage while speeding construction. The new rocking design uses octagonal, prefabricated, pretensioned concrete columns for added elasticity and a recentering effect that minimizes seismic-related structural damage and displacement. The structural support system’s critical components are created under factory conditions for improved quality and reduced erection time. The state transportation departments of California, Washington and Nevada have expressed early interest in adopting the bridge bent system, whose only size limitations stem from transportation logistics of precast columns and beams. Image courtesy of University of Washington, Seattle/Network
Photo courtesy of Detroit Water and Sewerage Dept. Detroit sewer agency contract awarded to Lakeshore TolTest now has to be rebid. Related Links: Detroit water department to rebid contracts after protest Revenue Rises for ENR's Top 200 Environmental Firms The city of Detroit next month has to rebid two multiyear water and wastewater inspection and repair contracts, worth a total of $60 million, after Lakeshore TolTest Corp. filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation days after receiving the work on April 23.The contracting mishap is just one result of the puzzling collapse of the firm, which had been grown through acquisition
Photo Courtesy of Navistar International Corp. Navistar faces lawsuits from trucking companies alleging defective emissions controls. Related Links: Navistar Names New CEO Navistar Makes U-Turn on Diesel Engines Navistar International Corp. faces civil lawsuits over alleged problems with its MaxxForce diesel engines, which used a controversial method to scrub exhaust pollutants.Lisle, Ill.-based Navistar spent more than $700 million to develop exhaust-gas recirculation (EGR) technology for its 2010 and later engines. After the company was not able to certify the engines to meet pollution limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Navistar cancelled, in 2012, its EGR-only strategy and, last
Photo by Patrick Murphy-Racey Father and son, Ted Phillips Sr. and Teddy Jr., transformed a small Tennessee land-clearing business into a national civil-contracting powerhouse that counts the Tennessee Valley Authority among its oldest clients. Photo Courtesy of Phillips & Jordan Phillips & Jordan's 1,000-piece equipment fleet, including 150 dozers, 125 excavators and 75 loaders, enables the company to self-perform up to 80% of its work. Related Links: Mission Incredible: Clean Up, Then Tear Down New Orleans Katrina Disaster Risk Study Duke Energy Starts Ash Cleanup as N.C. Considers Tighter Regs Federal Aid Rolls Out for Post-Sandy Rebuilding Phillips & Jordan
New standards could prompt subjective decisionmaking for when and how much revenue to be recorded for such items as change orders, claims and incentives. Related Links: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP: E&C Revenue Recognition Supplement Construction Financial Management Assn Revenue Recognition Hub Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Website A new revenue recognition standard could soon create accounting murkiness for contractors and engineers, potentially changing the way some firms do business.The International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board recently approved a uniform revenue recognition method that consolidates and simplifies more than 200 items into a single approach.While it does not begin
Sunbaked Southern Nevada sees a scant 4 in. of rain annually. When a downpour occurs, however, it can be violent, abrupt and torrential. Often, the result is flash-flooding that particularly impacts low-lying northeast Las Vegas, where heavy rains routinely cause water damage to homes, businesses and properties. In 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency added 1,700 structures to the area's high-risk flood zone, making insurance premiums nearly five times pricier. Related Links: Engineering News Record Architectural Record "It meant we needed to meet a 100-year storm event. And we had never looked at the existing channel's capacity or flow rate,"
Martin Marietta With the completed buy of Texas industries, Martin Marietta would be an $8.5-billion firm with 400 quarries, mines, distribution yards and plants in 36 states, Canada and the Caribbean. Related Links: Martin Marietta Materials and Texas Industries Agree to Combine in $2.7-Billion Deal Martin Marietta, Vulcan Fighting for Survival in Aggregate Market Martin Marietta Materials, a Raleigh, N.C., crushed stone, sand and gravel producer, must divest an Oklahoma quarry and two Texas rail yards to clear anti-trust hurdles and complete its planned $2.7-billion purchase of Dallas-based rival Texas Industries Inc. (TI), the U.S. Justice Dept. said on June
