June 2014, Vol. 69, No. 6

<strong>Editor’s Note:</strong> <em>The following comments are in response to the March Editor’s Watch column written by Underground Construction Editor Robert Carpenter, entitled “Labor: Inhibitor To Growth?”</em>

Ruth Michels was awarded the University of Wisconsin-Madison Construction Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award on April 25 at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.

AT&T announced in April that it wants to bring its ultrafast U-Verse GigaPower Internet service to as many as 25 metropolitan areas in the U.S.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers sold more than $46 million of heavy equipment and trucks during a two-day unreserved public auction at the company’s permanent auction site in Houston, TX, on April 16-17.

The PFERD Tool Mobile program, which was launched in the U.S. 10 months ago after proving successful in Europe and Australia, has hired a new applications sales engineer.

EPA recently announced that Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, was awarded first place in the site design category in EPA’s second annual Campus RainWorks Challenge competition.

<em>The Province</em> reports that Enbridge has ensured labor peace for its $6.5 billion (CN) Northern Gateway pipeline project.

Supporters and opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline have been in hot debate over its delayed construction, saying it is a political ploy aimed at putting off the decision on the devisive pipeline project until after midterm elections in November.

Homeowners in Salt Lake City are being offered optional coverage for private sewer line insurance by the city’s Department of Public Utilities.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners recently announced it would build and operate a new, 213-mile, 15-inch diameter pipeline to transport carbon dioxide from the company’s St. Johns source field in Apache County, AZ, to the Kinder Morgan-operated Cortez Pipeline in Torrance County, NM.

As reported in the <em>New York Times</em>, spurred by a series of train crashes, the United States said on April 24 that they would push forward their tank standards for transportation of oil by rail, potentially resolving a critical safety issue that has been bogged down in the regulatory process for years.

The American Water Works Association has tracked water industry issues and trends since its founding in 1881.

<em>Underground Construction's</em> 2013 Pipe Selection Chart is your guide to which manufacturer produces what pipe: lengths, diameters, types and coatings, plus manufacturer specialties and contact information. <a href="http://ucononline.com/sites/default/files/UC June 14_PSC.pdf"> Download or view the 2014 Underground Construction Pipe Selection Guide</a>

<a href="http://ucononline.com/sites/default/files/UC June 14_ESG.pdf">2014 Equipment Selection Guide</a>

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) has updated its Roller Compactor and Directional Drilling Tracking Equipment Safety Manuals with new pictorial graphics that conform to ISO and ANSI standards and are included in the AEM Pictorial Database.

Sprayroq Inc., an industry leader in the development of spray-applied polyurethane solutions for infrastructure rehabilitation, corrosion management and infiltration control, welcomes Empipe Solutions Ltd. of Hannon, Ontario, Canada, to its Sprayroq Certified Partner (SCP) network.

The Ditch Witch organization recognized the Ditch Witch of Oklahoma & Arkansas dealership with its Top Electronics Dealer Xcellence Award – the highest honor for a Ditch Witch dealership’s electronics sales volume.

McElroy has recently announced the addition of three new distributors that will serve domestic and international customers from East to West.

Advertisers from the print edition of <em>Underground Construction</em>, June 2014, Vol. 69, No. 6.

Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. (ADS), a manufacturer of corrugated plastic pipe, has opened a new distribution yard.

S&N Communications, a provider of construction and maintenance services to telecomm, cable and utility companies, based in Kernersville, NC, and with corporate offices in Louisa, VA, was recently awarded a major contract for fiber optic work in West Virginia and Pittsburgh, PA.

The PFERD Tool Mobile program, which was launched in the U.S. 10 months ago after proving successful in Europe and Australia, has hired a new applications sales engineer.

Thompson Pump and Manufacturing Company has recognized James Copeland as their 2013 Branch Manager of the Year.

Doosan Infracore Construction Equipment America has announced the winner of its CONEXPO-CON/AGG trade show “Win a One-Year Lease” contest.

Atlas Copco was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute for the second consecutive year.

PCCA held its first Project Manager Academy (PMA) Jan. 13-16, in Atlanta, and by all accounts, it was wildly successful as participants, instructors and the association came away enlightened, enriched and energized.

The Northeast Trenchless Association (NTA) kicked off the new year with its first-ever annual meeting held outside New England.

It is often said along the East Coast that no two storms are alike, and so it was with Superstorm Sandy, which unleashed the full brunt of its fearsome wrath on the New York City area on Oct. 29, 2012.

Many northeast Ohio communities that are located in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays are taking proactive steps to address an aging, inadequate utilities infrastructure.

Michels Pipe Services knows quality is not a game of chance, but rather something achieved through experience and ingenuity.

I cannot recall a winter in our company’s12-year history where our industry was so affected by the weather.

It’s a big, new world. At least big in terms of horizontal directional drilling rigs (HDD).

Gas utilities and the contractors that work for them, together build the infrastructure that delivers safe and reliable gas to countless American’s every day, in a cooperative process that requires experience, trust and continuous communication.

Drilling fluid additives and the water that contains them are an essential part and expense of successfully completing a horizontal directional drilling (HDD) installation, and the longer the bore and larger the product being installed, the more drilling fluids cost.

Inrock has introduced a sophisticated new directional drilling guidance tool component that accurately measures bit inclination and notifies guidance engineers of any deviation or deflection in a horizontal directional drilling (HDD) drill path.

A practical and cost-efficient method to accurately locate buried plastic pipe has been developed by 3M, addressing the inability of conventional locating equipment to detect HDPE, MDPE and PVC pipe and conduit that does not contain tracer wire.

Vermeer now offers two new products in its pipeline portfolio with the new DECKHAND pipe handling systems.

Attaching to the back of a DigiSewer III side-scan camera, the new DSL7 accessory casts a ring of laser dots onto the inner wall of a pipe.

Tiger Paw abrasive flap discs are designed for aggressive performance on tough edge grinding applications.

StifPipe (patent-pending) honeycomb technology by QuakeWrap is ideal for repair of deteriorated pipes, culverts and tunnels.

Offering stability with a 90-ton lifting capacity, the PL4809D features Volvo patented 360 degree swing capability for handling large, heavy pipes with ease. The PL4809D’s excavator-based design also allows the machine to be converted into a high-performance excavator, simply by swapping the pipelayer boom for the excavator boom included in the optional digging kit. Hydraulics are optimized for both pipelayer and excavator applications as standard. Service and maintenance have never been easier with more than 80 percent of parts in common with other Volvo excavators.

Kobelco Construction Machinery USA currently offers four mini-excavators in the 3,000 to 12,000 pound classes.

The Cat D9T Dozer features a Cat C18 ACERT engine, which meets Tier 4 Final/Stage IV emissions standards, and delivers 436 net hp at 1,800 rpm.

With a Yeti automated HDPE pipe stringing trailer, the driver of the pipe truck can string pipe end-to-end without ever leaving the cab and without any outside help.

Beginning in 2015, the John Deere Construction & Forestry Division will offer a retrofit kit that will enable Interim Tier 4 (IT4) machines to be sold in countries where ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel is not available.

Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas’ H930C backhoe is currently available to the Latin America market but will be released in North America towards the end of 2015.

Often, detailed industry insights are hard to mine from the limited data sources generally available.

A federal court decision allowing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move forward with a rule limiting mercury emissions from power plants has heightened concerns in some quarters about interstate pipeline infrastructure inadequacy.