Business
Zayo Acquires Optic Zoo Networks
Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. today announced it has acquired Vancouver-based Optic Zoo Networks for CAD $31 million. Optic Zoo owns and operates high-capacity fiber in Vancouver and has achieved a significant penetration of customers, with a focus on the digital media sector. The transaction strengthe..
PPL Corporation Names Wood to Board of Directors
PPL Corporation today announced that Phoebe A. Wood, currently the principal of investment firm CompaniesWood and an executive with three decades of international, financial and operational management experience, will join the company’s board of directors, effective immediately. “We are very please..
Connecticut Water to Spend $17 Million Replacing Aging Pipes
Connecticut Water today announced it plans to spend an additional $17.4 million in 2018 to continue enhancing water system reliability by replacing aging pipes. “Connecticut Water is at the forefront of investing in replacing aging water mains,” Craig C. Patla, Connecticut Water’s vice president of..
INTREN Opens East Coast Headquarters
INTREN today commemorated the opening of its new east coast regional office in Baltimore with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony. The facility represents the first regional headquarters for the company on the east coast and enables INTREN to offer its complete range of construction servi..
Aqua Comms Joins Consortium Building North Atlantic Subsea Cable System
Aqua Comms DAC, the operator of Ireland’s first dedicated subsea fiber-optic network interconnecting New York, Dublin and London, announced it has joined the HAVFRUE consortium, which will own and operate a new subsea cable system connecting New Jersey to Ireland and Denmark, with connectivity optio..
NV5 Acquires Butsko Utility Design
NV5 Global, Inc., a provider of professional and technical engineering and consulting solutions, has acquired Butsko Utility Design, Inc., a leading provider of utility planning and design services in Southern California and Washington. The acquisition was made with a combination of cash and stock a..
Edwards Elected to INTREN’s Board of Directors
INTREN, LLC has appointed former Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) Commissioner Sherina Maye Edwards to the company’s board of directors, effective immediately. Appointed to a 5-year term in 2013, Edwards was the youngest commissioner ever to be selected for the ICC. Since her appointment, she has..
Nestegard Elected to ALLETE’s Board of Directors
Susan K. Nestegard, a member of the board of directors for Hormel Foods, has been elected to the ALLETE Inc. board of directors. Besides nine years of service on the Hormel Foods board, Nestegard most recently served as executive vice president and president of Global Healthcare, and chief technica..
Global Water Resources Joins WaterStart
Global Water Resources, Inc., a pure-play water resource management company based in Phoenix, Arizona, has joined WaterStart, a cluster of global leaders in the implementation of water technologies. Based in the Las Vegas campus of the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, WaterStart brings together..
Aclara And Suez Join Forces to Provide Smart Infrastructure Solutions to U.S. Cities
Aclara and SUEZ North America today announced an exclusive strategic partnership to deliver advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and smart infrastructure solutions (SIS) that will enable SUEZ to better serve municipalities across the United States. The Advanced Solutions division of SUEZ North Am..
FERC Approves Avista, Hydro One Merger
Hydro One Limited and Avista Corporation have received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on the companies’ merger application filed on Sept. 14, 2017. “This marks another important milestone in bringing together Hydro One and Avista,” said Mayo Schmidt, President and CEO..
Raven Lining Systems, VersaFlex Complete Merger
Raven Lining Systems® and VersaFlex® Inc. today announced the companies have merged, effective Jan. 1, 2018. As part of the merger, VersaFlex’s Polyurea University will be combined with Raven Lining Systems’ Certified Applicator Program to develop an industry leading training and technical support ..
Dominion CEO: Without Deal, South Carolina Power Company Fails
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The top executive of a company looking to buy a troubled South Carolina utility says the state’s leaders can either accept the deal or watch SCANA Corp. fail. News outlets report Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell told the Public Service Commission on Thursday that the Virginia c..
Finisar Names New CEO
Finisar Corporation, a global technology leader for subsystems and components for fiber optic communications, announced the retirement of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jerry Rawls, and the appointment of Michael Hurlston as Chief Executive Officer, effective Jan. 11, 2018. Hurlston will also..
Pipeline H2O Announces 2018 Class
Pipeline H2O, the award-winning water technology commercialization program managed by The Hamilton Mill, has announced its 2018 class, which includes the following companies: Cerahelix – ceramic pico filtration products used for high purity filtration. Drop Water – an innovative way to make and ..
Willbros to Sell U.S. Pipeline Construction Equipment
Willbros Group, Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to sell certain U.S. mainline pipeline assets to WB Pipeline, LLC, an affiliate of Meridien Energy, LLC. Assets included in the sale consist primarily of cross-country pipeline construction equipment. Valuation is based upon independent third ..
Vortex Companies Announces Strategic Partnership with Source One Environmental
Vortex Companies today announced Source One Environmental (S1E) has agreed to be an authorized distributor of Picote Solutions products. Under the terms of the agreement, S1E will begin stocking and selling Picote Solutions products as early as February 2018. Picote Solutions systems are specifical..
Berkshire Hathaway Utility Unit Shuffles Top Executives
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway is shuffling the executives in charge of its utility unit after promoting Greg Abel to oversee all of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses. Abel’s promotion to vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway was announced Wednesday. Following that move, Berkshire promoted ..
Kentucky Water District Shuts off Service for Many
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky water district says it’s struggling to get water flowing to customers. A Martin County Water District Facebook post says storage tanks were drained because of several reasons, including high water usage. District office manager Joe Hammond tells The Lexington Heral..
CommScope and OFS Extend Long-Term Fiber Partnership
OFS and CommScope have entered into a new eight-year partnership to help ensure the availability of optical fiber supply to CommScope for use in its customers’ networks. “Through this agreement, CommScope secures access to a premier supply of optical fiber for development of innovative fiber cablin..
GoNetspeed Expands Fiber Optic Presence in Pittsburgh
GoNetspeed, a fiber-optic Internet service provider, today announced it has added Beaver Falls, Economy, Conway, Beaver, Monaca and Rochester, Pennsylvania, to its Pittsburgh service territory. In October 2017, the company launched its expansion efforts in the Pittsburgh area, by offering residenti..
Florida Power & Light Deploys Crews to Puerto Rico to Help Speed up Power Restoration Efforts
On Jan. 8, 2018, Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) deployed 140 additional lineworkers and support staff to Puerto Rico to help restore power to areas impacted by Hurricane Maria’s landfall. Hundreds of thousands of people remain without electric service nearly four months after the destructiv..
Louisiana Utility Regulators Looking for New Agency Chief
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s state utility regulatory agency is searching for a new top administrator. The Louisiana Public Service Commission is seeking candidates to be its next executive secretary, after Eve Kahao Gonzalez retired from the position, which oversees the day-to-day operation..
Missouri Senator Confirmed to State Utility Board
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri senators have confirmed appointments of two of their Republican colleagues to serve on tax and utility commissions. Both Silvey and Kraus resigned from the Senate to take the jobs. ..
Sewer Contractor Punished After Employees Showed Guns and KKK Sticker
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Wisconsin construction company where employees displayed a Ku Klux Klan sticker and openly brandished firearms at work last month could lose some pending contracts with Milwaukee worth nearly $1 million. A panel of the Milwaukee Common Council on Thursday also considered permanen..
ALLO Acquires Glenwood Telecommunications' Operations in Nebraska Town
Nebraska-based ALLO Communications today announced the purchase of the fiber network and customer contracts of Glenwood Telecommunications’ Hastings, Nebraska operations. “ALLO looks forward to operating the fiber network to serve the customers in Hastings with exceptional service and t..
Dominion Energy to Acquire SCANA
Dominion Energy, Inc. and SCANA Corporation have reached an agreement to combine in a stock-for-stock merger, in which SCANA shareholders would receive 0.6690 shares of Dominion Energy common stock for each share of SCANA common stock. Including assumption of debt, the value of the transaction i..
Xtera Partners With Fortress Solutions to Enhance the Lifespan of Subsea Cable Systems
Xtera, a provider of innovative subsea fiber optic solutions, announced a partnership with Fortress Solutions, a leading provider of telecom equipment repair, to enhance the longevity of its cable systems. As an ISO 9001, TL 9000, ISO 14001 and R2-certified equipment repair service provider, Fortres..
GOP Senator Appointed to Missouri Utility Regulation Board
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gov. Eric Greitens has appointed fellow Republican Sen. Ryan Silvey to the state’s utility regulation board. Greitens announced Silvey’s appointment to the Public Service Commission Tuesday, the day before the start of the 2018 legislative session. The commission regulat..
December 2017 Business News
Kubota Kubota Tractor Corporation announced it will purchase 203 acres near Edgerton, KS, where it currently leases a facility, for its North American Distribution Center (NADC). The company plans to design and build two facilities, 1 million square feet each, to expand distribution capacity and st..
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