December 2012, Vol. 67 No. 12
Features
NTA Wraps-Up Active Year
The Northeast Trenchless Association (NTA), the nation’s most active regional trenchless industry organization, is closing out a busy 2012 and preparing for the association’s 2013 annual meeting in January.
“The NTA and its members continue to be a force on our industry’s national stage,” said Bill Haines, association president during 2012. “Members were instrumental in developing the recently-released pipe bursting guidelines, presented several papers in Nashville at the 2012 UCT and No-Dig conferences, and continue to be involved with the Trenchless Technology Center (TTC) at Louisiana Tech University.”
In mid-October, NTA hosted a Municipal Trenchless Users Forum in Springfield, MA. The forum provided the opportunity for engineers and representatives of cities and towns to share information and experiences about applying trenchless technologies to their underground utility infrastructures. Haines said more than 80 attended the one-day event which was co-sponsored by the TTC and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Education of its members and the industry at large is a priority of the association and during 2012 educational sessions were held on care of HDD drill rod, guided pilot tube tunneling, pipe ramming, advanced tracking, sliplining, grouting, electrofusion of HDPE pipes, CCTV pipeline inspection, pneumatic drilling, opportunities in the geothermal industry, health insurance, interpreting financial reports, OSHA training, and the nation’s 811 Dig Safe program.
NTA’s annual summer outing was held in August at Bear Brook Campground, Allentown, NH, and NTA is working with the Ohio Directional Drilling Association in the preparation of standard specifications for horizontal directional drilling.
The NTA web site, (www.northeasttrenchless.com) is a valuable source of news and association events, member contacts, general industry news, and information about trenchless utility construction that is useful not only to NTA members, but for public works representatives and engineers involved in planning utility construction.
The site contains clear, concise overviews of trenchless technologies, including horizontal directional drilling, pipe bursting, pipeline construction and a sample project specification. Links also are provided to other important industry web sites.
“Internally,” Haines said, “the NTA is moving towards a committee system to simplify the day-to-day activities of the organization and to increase involvement from its membership. Committees will include a training committee, website committee, educational outreach committee and membership committee to name a few.
“One of our missions for the coming years will be to establish outreach programs with some of the engineering and technical colleges and universities in our area to foster an interest in the trenchless industry. We need to start developing the next generation of trenchless professionals. Education will continue to be a prime focus of our organization.”
Established in 2004 by a small group of New England directional drilling contractors, membership has grown with the support of a diverse group of associate member suppliers and service providers who have expanded the scope of the organization to include a broad range of trenchless technologies.
Haines is U.S. director of engineering for Vari-Tech LLC, Topsfield, MA. His term as NTA president will end at the 2013 annual meeting Jan. 13-15 in Boxborough, MA, when Steve Marcusio, marketing representative, EJ Prescott Inc., Gardiner, ME, will take over the presidency for 2013. Other 2013 officers will be elected at the meeting.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Northeast Trenchless Association, www.northeasttrenchless.com
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