Total construction starts rose 9% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.013 trillion, according to Dodge Construction Network. Nonresidential building starts swelled 32% due to the start of three large manufacturing facilities. By contrast, residential starts fell 3%, and nonbuilding starts fell by less than 1%. Without the three large manufacturing projects, total construction would have declined…
Read MoreDay: March 21, 2022
Here Comes Hempcrete
March 21, 2022 – Industrial hemp has been used in construction since Roman times. But in the mid-twentieth century, it got lumped in with its psychoactive relative, marijuana, and innovation fell on hard times. Now, in the wake of the 2018 Farm Bill’s legalization of production, it has bounced back into the limelight—this time with a distinctive twenty-first-century twist: carbon…
Read MoreRIP, Don Young
March 21, 2021 – Alaska Rep. Don Young (R) died last Friday while returning home from Capitol Hill. He led the House Transportation Committee from 2001 to 2007 and famously named a $286 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill, SAFETEA-LU, after his late wife, Lu Young. He is also famous for making the phrase “bridge to nowhere” popular after his use of earmarks…
Read MoreA 15,889 Ft. World Record
By Mark S. Kuhar Lundin Mining and its Eagle underground nickel mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula recently worked alongside luxury carmaker Porsche to set a new Guinness World Record: the greatest altitude change ever achieved by an electric car. The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo went from the lowest accessible point, at a depth of 1,774.4 ft. below sea level at…
Read MoreEmbarrassing MSHA Enforcement Actions
MSHA Has Issued A Number Of Citations Or Orders That Do Little To Advance Miner Safety And Health. You Won’t Believe Some Of Them. By Brian Hendrix No one is perfect, and humans make all sorts of mistakes for all sorts of reasons. Mine operators and miners make mistakes, and so do MSHA inspectors. Human nature, the complexity and dynamic…
Read MoreLook for the Pony
Business Success Is Driven By Difficult Adaptation. We Must Adjust To Changing Needs Of Customers, Employees, The Market And The Community. By Thomas J. Roach During the pandemic, organizations changed the way they do business. When the pandemic totally recedes, some aspects of business culture will return to normal, but many of the adjustments of the pandemic will remain in…
Read MoreAccountability: Is It a Hollow Word These Days?
Has The Spirit Of People Taking Responsibility Been Lost? By Steve Schumacher The concept of accountability for results has been around since the beginning of time. Individual responsibility for one’s actions, whether it be for just one person or more than one person, has been the fuel of progress in our society. Leaving things to chance or luck has not…
Read MoreWorking Within the System
CRH’s Ericka Baxter Focuses On Environmental Leadership Within Her Company, Industry Associations and State Government. By Therese Dunphy For most, adapting to change is one of life’s more difficult challenges. For Ericka Baxer, MScEM, senior environmental director at CRH Americas – Central Western Division, it is simply a way of life. Baxter joined the aggregates industry right out of high…
Read MoreVaccination Pilot Program Targets Miners in Kentucky, Arizona
The U.S. Department of Labor announced a new program designed to encourage and help America’s miners to get the COVID-19 protections that vaccinations offer. The department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will pilot the Mine Vaccine Outreach Program to deliver free vaccinations in mining communities and provide educational outreach to mining communities in Kentucky and Arizona on the safety…
Read MoreLafarge Canada Spearheads Conservation Effort
Lafarge Canada announced its key role in the massive conservation effort undertaken in the sensitive Great Lakes region as a partner with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). The NCC’s Manitoulin Island acquisition is one of its largest-ever in Ontario. With a $16-million price tag, the initiative relied heavily on the support of many partners. Lafarge Canada provided a donation…
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