Water

Dire Reports of Water Shortages Mean Processing, Usage and Recycling Challenges for Quarry Operations. By Mark S. Kuhar Water: Quarry operations need it. Municipalities protect it. Community members worry about it. Congress legislates it. Manufacturers devise ways to utilize it to the benefit of everyone. The balance between too much and not enough is often difficult to achieve.

Read More

Guest Editorial: Improving the Aggregate Industry Starts with Fixing Supply Chains

By Priyesh Ranjan Aggregates are quite literally the bedrock of U.S. infrastructure. In 2020 alone, the estimated U.S. output of construction aggregates produced and shipped for consumption was 2.43 billion metric tons. But despite a growing aggregate demand, there is one cog in the machine that’s preventing the industry from reaching its full potential: a broken supply chain network. 

Read More

The Economic Boom I Expected

Last month, I wrote about the housing boom that I had been predicting, and since then, the National Association of Realtors released a report stating that construction of new housing in the past 20 years fell 5.5 million units short of long-term historical levels and called for a “once-in-a-generation” policy response. But a booming housing market rife with shortages is…

Read More

The Horses Are Out of the Barn

Well, the barn door has been kicked open, and the horses are out. After more than a year of COVID-19-driven inactivity, a lot is starting to happen.  For openers, two major mergers rocked the aggregates industry, changing the landscape regionally and nationally. Vulcan Materials Co. and U.S. Concrete Inc. entered into a definitive merger agreement; and Martin Marietta Materials Inc.…

Read More

First Look July 2021

TOP NEWS • USGS STATS • ECONOMIC INDICATORS • MSHA WATCH • ENERGY TOP NEWS  Bipartisan BillPresident Biden and a bipartisan group of senators have announced a deal on infrastructure spending. According to the White House, the price tag comes in at $1.2 trillion over eight years, with $579 billion in new spending. Other sources peg the legislation as a $973-…

Read More