TOP NEWS
Trump Taps Chao
President-elect Donald Trump nominated former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to head the Transportation Department. Chao is a former U.S. deputy transportation secretary recently resigned from the board of Vulcan Materials Co.
Safety First at CalCIMA
The California Construction & Industrial Materials Association (CalCIMA) announced the recipients of its 2016 Safety Excellence Awards at its 2016 Education Conference.
Senate Leaders in Place
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee – which has jurisdiction over infrastructure spending and environmental regulations – will have a new chairman and ranking democrat in the new Congress. The committee will be led by the new Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and ranking Democrat Tom Carper (D-Del.)
USGS STATS
An estimated 687 million metric tons of total construction aggregates was produced and shipped for consumption in the United States in the third quarter of 2016, a slight decrease compared with that of the third quarter of 2015. The estimated production for consumption in the first nine months of 2016 was 1.78 billion metric tons, an increase of 5 percent compared with that of the same period of 2015, according to Jason Willett, crushed stone commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS.)
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that construction spending during October 2016, the most current month available at press time, was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,172.6 billion, 0.5 percent (±1.5 percent) above the revised September estimate of $1,166.5 billion. The October figure is 3.4 percent (±1.8 percent) above the October 2015 estimate of $1,134.4 billion.
At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $638.3 billion, new construction starts in November retreated 6 percent from October, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Each of the three major construction sectors experienced reduced activity. Highway and bridge construction in November fell 16 percent.
Total transportation construction and related market activity is expected to grow 1.3 percent in 2017, driven largely by increases in highway and bridge private construction activity supporting residential and commercial developments, according to ARTBA’s chief economist, Dr. Alison Premo Black.
MSHA WATCH
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced federal inspectors issued 130 citations and one safeguard during special impact inspections conducted at 10 coal mines and five metal and nonmetal mines in October 2016. MSHA conducted special impact inspections at mines in Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia. Aggregates and cement operations inspected were Pete Lien and Sons Inc.’s Owl Canyon Quarry & Mill in Colorado; Lehigh Cement Co.’s Evansville Plant in Pennsylvania; and Graymont’s Pleasant Gap Plant in Pennsylvania.
ENERGY
- WTI crude oil futures price: 12/20/2016: $52.23/barrels, down $0.75 from week earlier; up $17.49 from year earlier.
- Natural gas futures price: 12/20/2016: $3.263/MMBtu, down $0.211 from week earlier; up $1.352 from year earlier.
- Retail Heating Oil Price: 12/19/2016: $2.571/gal., up $0.04 from week earlier; up $0.361 from year earlier.
- Crude oil inventories: 12/16/2016: 485.4 million barrels, up 2.3 million barrels from week earlier; up 33.0 million barrels from year earlier.
- Weekly coal production: 12/10/2016: 15.818 million tons, down 0.499 million tons from week earlier; down 0.335 million tons from year earlier.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration