May 2022 Vol. 77 No. 5
Newsline
Newsline
Gold Shovel Association Joins CGA as the Damage Prevention Institute
Common Ground Alliance (CGA) and the Gold Shovel Association (GSA) announced that the GSA organization will become part of the CGA as a new arm called the Damage Prevention Institute.
“The Damage Prevention Institute’s mission is to take the industry to the next level by consolidating the rich data and resources of CGA and GSA to generate powerful insights and efficiencies that will reduce the rate of damages to buried infrastructure,” CGA said in its announcement. “Building on CGA’s Best Practices and foundational DIRT (Damage Information Reporting Tool) data, as well as GSA’s metrics development, the Damage Prevention Institute will be structured around a metrics-focused, peer review-based model of shared responsibility.”
The Damage Prevention Institute will be governed by an Advisory Committee that will include members of both CGA’s and GSA’s boards of directors. The Institute’s focus will be on metrics development – including excavation and pre-excavation metrics – and establishing a multi-stakeholder, peer-reviewed accreditation process.
Michigan Governor Signs Over $4.7 Billion for Infrastructure
Michigan is investing more than $4.7 billion to improve infrastructure, including drinking water upgrades, internet access and fixing roads, bridges and dams.
The spending plan includes some of the biggest infrastructure investments in state history, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said before signing the bipartisan legislation. About $4 billion comes from federal funds, including COVID-19 recovery funds and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The spending plan includes more than $2 billion to be invested in clean drinking water, wastewater and other water infrastructure projects.
Midland and Gladwin counties will receive $210 million for dam repairs and another $40 million will be used to address dam repairs and removals elsewhere in the state. The plan also includes $325 million to replace lead service lines and $250 million to expand internet connectivity.
Judge: Officials Must Testify in Flint Water Civil Trial
Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and several other officials must testify in a civil trial involving engineering firms being sued over liability for lead-contaminated water connected to the Flint water crisis, a judge.
U.S. District Judge Judith Levy denied motions by Snyder, his former advisor, two former state-appointed emergency managers and an ex-Flint city official to quash subpoenas compelling them to testify.
Snyder faces misdemeanor charges in the water crisis. His attorney has said Snyder would invoke his right to remain silent if called as a witness in the ongoing civil trial in federal court in Ann Arbor.
Maine Moves Ahead with Utility Oversight Bill
The Maine Legislature voted in favor of a bill to increase oversight of the state’s two major electric utilities after a disagreement in the House put the proposal into limbo.
The bill establishes new performance measures and adds financial penalties for failure to meet the benchmarks. In extreme circumstances, the utilities could face a forced sale for repeated violations.
The proposal comes amid widespread discontent with the state’s privately owned electric utilities. Critics tried unsuccessfully to put a proposal on the ballot this year to replace them with a consumer-owned electric utility.
“It’s clear Maine people are at a breaking point, and that many of our constituents have lost faith in their utilities,” said Sen. Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, who serves on the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee. She said the state’s residents “are demanding more accountability from their electric utilities, and they’re demanding it now.”
Gas-Fired Power Plant for NJ Sewage Facility Back on Track
A New Jersey sewage treatment plant in a minority neighborhood is pressing forward with its plan to build a gas-fired power plant, months after the state’s governor paused the proposal.
In January, Gov. Phil Murphy directed the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission to pause a plan to build the largest part of a $180 million backup power plant, designed to kick in when the main facility is knocked offline.
The governor acted after residents of Newark’s Ironbound section complained that they already bear the brunt of numerous sources of air and other pollution in the state’s largest city.
But the commission has applied to the state Department of Environmental Protection to modify its air quality permit and scheduled a public hearing on the plan. The permit is the last major approval the project would need, the DEP said.
Feds Restore Rigorous Environmental Review of Infrastructure Projects
The Biden administration is restoring federal regulations that require rigorous environmental review of major infrastructure projects such as highways, pipelines and oil wells — including impacts on climate change and nearby communities.
The longstanding reviews were overhauled during the pandemic in 2020 by the Trump administration in a bid to fast-track projects and create jobs.
A rule finalized in April restored key provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, which governs reviews for a wide range of federal proposals, including roads, bridges and energy projects authorized in the $1 trillion infrastructure law Biden signed last fall, the White House said.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality said the new rule, which takes effect in late May, should resolve challenges created by the previous administration’s policy and restore public confidence during environmental reviews.
Biden Administration to Require US-Made Steel, Iron for Infrastructure
The Biden administration is taking a key step toward ensuring that federal dollars will support U.S. manufacturing — issuing requirements for how projects funded by the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package source their construction material.
President Joe Biden said that the $700 billion the government devotes annually to procuring goods is supposed to prioritize U.S. suppliers but regulations going back to the 1930s have either been watered down or applied in ways that masked the use of foreign imports.
New guidance issued in April requires that the material purchased — whether it’s for a bridge, a highway, a water pipe or broadband internet — be produced in the U.S. However, the rules also include three standards for these requirements to be waived: if the purchase “would be inconsistent with the public interest;” if the needed materials aren’t produced “in sufficient and reasonably available quantities or of a satisfactory quality”; or if U.S. materials increase a project’s cost by more than 25%.
DCA Launches Government Relations Microsite
The Distribution Contractors Association (DCA) has launched a new government relations auxiliary microsite. It joins three previously launched sites that went live last year. The new site keeps members abreast of regulatory guidance and proposed legislation with rationale for advocating or opposing those items most relevant to the industry.
The Government Relations site features a new Muster Program, an online mobilization platform enabling DCA to call its membership to action, such as initiating grassroots messaging campaigns. The site also hosts a library linking members to nine years of select DCA literature.
The goal of the DCA microsites is to provide underground industry professionals access to key resources such as education, training and recruitment tools from a single, user-friendly location. Future microsites, such as Safety/Risk Management, are currently in development.
Wisconsin Judge to Rule on DNR authority to Regulate PFAS
A judge was set to rule on whether state regulators can require businesses to clean up PFAS contamination without established limits on the chemicals, a decision that will define how far the state can go to control emerging soil contaminants without explicit laws or rules addressing them.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren was slated to deliver an oral ruling in a lawsuit Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business group, and Leather Rich, Inc., an Oconomowoc dry cleaning business, filed in 2021.
They allege that the state Department of Natural Resources has been requiring businesses that volunteer to mediate soil contamination at their sites to clean up pollution from PFAS and other so-called emerging contaminants since 2019 without any basis in statute or administrative rules restricting those pollutants.
They also contend that the DNR put together a list of emerging contaminants without any notice, legislative oversight or opportunity for public comment. The term “emerging contaminants” doesn’t exist in state law or rule, the lawsuit maintains, and the DNR hasn’t drafted any rules explaining how they identify substances as such.
Indiana City Plans Cleanup of PCBs in Tainted Soil
The city of Kokomo, Ind., has drafted a plan for cleaning up contaminated soils that halted an expansion of the city’s sewage treatment plant when they were discovered last year.
City officials recently submitted their proposed cleanup plan to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management spelling out how they will address the toxic soils found on land at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
Tests revealed that soils on that land contain arsenic, lead, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, at levels that exceeded the limits set by IDEM, the Kokomo Tribune reported. That discovery led the city to immediately halt construction on a major sewer project that involves building a new wastewater line to the facility.
The cleanup plan calls for all areas contaminated by PCBs to be excavated and the soil removed to a dumpsite approved for hazardous waste. The excavated area would then be backfilled with clean soil.
Long-running Love Canal Suits Scheduled for Hearing
Long-pending lawsuits stemming from toxic waste contamination in Niagara Falls’ notorious Love Canal neighborhood have a new court date this month.
The Buffalo News reported that a federal appeals court in New York City will hear arguments in May on whether 19 pending lawsuits involving more than 600 people should be heard in state or federal court.
The suits stem from a 2011 incident in which sewer repair crews struck contaminated waste in the area and claim a containment structure built in the 1980s to store toxic waste has leaked.
Love Canal was the site of a landfill where massive contamination occurred in the 1970s, causing extensive health and property damage.
NY completes $148M in infrastructure upgrades to reduce flooding
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has announced the completion of the $148 million, three-phase program to
reduce street flooding, ensure the reliability of the drinking water delivery system and improve the health of Fresh Creek and Jamaica Bay.
The three-phase project includes sections throughout the Canarsie and East New York neighborhoods of Brooklyn. A total of 6.3 miles of high-level storm sewers were installed to alleviate flooding. To reduce combined sewer overflows into Fresh Creek, 0.2 miles of combined sewers were replaced and converted to sanitary sewers and an additional 0.16 miles of existing sanitary sewers were also replaced. To better capture and direct stormwater to the new storm sewers, 176 catch basins were installed.
Alongside the new sewers, 8.3 miles of new ductile iron distribution water mains were built to replace the older cast iron pipes, ensuring a reliable supply of high-quality water. Fire protection was enhanced with the installation of 128 fire hydrants to ensure that the FDNY has ready access to the city’s water supply. •
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