San Francisco 49ers Buy Low-CO2 Concrete for New Stadium

(Environmental Leader 5-22-2012)   Central Concrete, a US Concrete company, will supply about 80,000 cubic yards of its low-CO2 concrete for the new San Francisco 49ers stadium, the company said.
 

Henderson entrepreneur recognized for GreenStone building product

(Las Vegas Review Journal 5-19-2012) Tourists, drink up. Scott McCombs needs your empty bottles. He has things to build. McCombs, founder of Henderson-based Realm of Design, recycles glass bottles into a building product called GreenStone, which he used in building his own 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 1188 Center Point Drive.
 

Rochester businessman adding plastics to green movement

(Post-Bulletin 5-18-2012)    P.J. Schmitt has a very green and novel vision of the future of plastics. "Imagine taking trash that would go into a landfill and make it a reusable commodity that could be made into a wide variety of products," says Schmitt, a building contractor and self-taught plastics engineer. The Rochester native recently formed Envirolastech Inc. in Rochester with local friends to try to do just that.

Hall County considering fly ash for road projects

(The Independent 6-2-2012) Fly ash -- a very light, talcum-powder-like tan dust left over from burning coal in a power plant -- may be the next best thing for Hall County roads. Hall County Public Works Director Casey Sherlock and county engineer Steve Riehle are looking at ways to upgrade gravel and failing asphalt county roads with fly ash.  "When you mix it with sand, road dirt materials, ground up asphalt -- fly ash becomes a binder and you wet it down and it turns into cement," Sherlock said.

A fortune in fly ash? Neumann Systems digs for rare earths in power plant waste

 (The Gazette 6-1-2012) Outside the Ray Nixon Power Plant south of Colorado Springs sits 3.3 million tons of coal ash, the remnant of three decades of coal-fired power generation. Nationwide, 20 percent of that residue, called fly ash, is recycled into concrete, but the 80,000 to 100,000 tons of fly ash produced each year by Colorado Springs Utilities’ two coal power plants doesn’t consistently meet construction industry standards. So, it collects in a landfill that grows by hundreds of tons every day.
 

Federal Transportation Bill: What's the Holdup, Washington?

(Sunshine State News 6-6-2012) Florida‘s construction industry is watching intently as the final agreement on the federal transportation bill is being reached. While Congress has set another self-imposed deadline, the debate surrounding this fiscally important legislation continues to stall. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking as the June 30 funding deadline looms for much-needed infrastructure construction projects and a special surface transportation amendment that is both pro-growth and pro-environment.

Alejandro de los Rios takes a spin on a new Westbank track for motorcycles and go-carts

(Best of New Orleans 6-5-2012) It's a crisp, clear spring day and perfectly dry — ideal conditions for driving fast. Laney Chouest, owner of NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, is taking me for a few laps around the 2.75-mile, 16-turn north track in a Nissan GT-R, a 500-plus horsepower marvel of Japanese engineering. The first few laps go without incident as Chouest warms the tires and talks about the process of learning to drive at high speeds.
 

Congressman steps up criticism of Rockefeller

(Charleston Daily Mail 5-2-2012) CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Rep. David McKinley on Tuesday stepped up his disagreement with Sen. Jay Rockefeller and said the senator "just doesn't get" the importance of preventing federal regulators from labeling coal ash as hazardous waste. McKinley, R-W.Va., said Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is taking a position that could drive up the price of concrete and reduce the number of roads and bridges built in America. McKinley wants to partially tie the hands of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate coal ash.

Jay, McKinley spar on coal ash provision

(The Charleston Gazette 5-2-2-2012) CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va, stressed his support for coal ash recycling on Wednesday and said statements made by Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va, about his position were misleading. "I do not and have never supported federal efforts to label coal ash as a hazardous waste, and he knows it. "Reuse and recycling of coal ash is absolutely in the best interests of West Virginia and the country.

Coal ash bill protects environment, preserves jobs

(The Hill 5-7-2012) Today our nation faces an economic climate in which our national debt is headed toward a record $17 trillion dollars. If we continue on this path, America will meet the fate countries like Greece, Italy and Portugal are now facing. Let’s put this into terms to which we all can relate:  $17 trillion is a debt that exceeds all the worth of our country’s production. If our government’s spending were like that of a family, the collection calls and overdue bills would have long ago caused families to cut spending.