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Soil Cement Gets Into the
Flow in Florida
Local promotion with national support has revived a stagnant
segment of the Florida cement market. Not since the 1970s
has soil-cement for water resources applications been considered
for slope protection of dams and levees. But several new
projects and more in the planning stages promise to reverse
this trend:
- Placement of 350,000 cubic yards of soil-cement
is underway at the new Tampa Bay Water Supply Reservoir
and will consume 30,000 tons of cement over the next
four months.
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville
District, is set to award a $25 million contract to
construct the 10-Mile Creek Levee project in St. Lucic
County. This levee will use 75,000 cubic yards of soil-cement
with cement potential of 15,000 tons.
- The South Florida Water Management District
has begun preliminary design of a new water impoundment
structure, which would need one million square feet
of slope protection. The project design engineer, with
PCA assistance, is promoting the use of soil-cement.
PCA's Randy Bass has participated
as a speaker at the Florida Dam Safety annual training
conference for the last four years and at the Corps of
Engineers office and two of the Water Management Districts
on the uses of RCC and soil-cement.
Contact
Randy Bass.
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Concrete
Solution Impresses
Los Angeles High Rise Developers
PCA’s Attila Beres assisted the development team of
Los Angeles-based Wilshire Landmark with the challenge of
designing a high-rise condominium tower within the very
limited site footprint. The site sits along the high-rise
corridor dubbed Wilshire Canyon in Westwood neighborhood
in L.A.
Beres was able to work with the engineers and local building
officials to provide maximum 4-by-4-foot, high-strength
columns, sufficient to offer the appropriate lateral strength
with a cast-in-place moment frame. This unique solution
has prompted the developers to utilize a similar design
concept for a nearby project, also along Wilshire Canyon.
Wilshire Landmark, a joint venture of Los Angeles-based
California Landmark Development and the Fifield Cos. of
Chicago, has obtained the necessary permitting and is ready
to break ground on the 3.5-million-square-foot Wilshire-Malcolm
Tower. Occupancy is anticipated by spring 2005.
Contact
Attila Beres.
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Still
Time to Sign Up for MTC Webcast
PCA's Manufacturing Technical Committee will offer a Webcast
of its technical session presented at PCA's Joint Fall
Meeting, September 29-October 1 at Chicago's Downtown
Marriott Hotel.
The session on automation will be webcast from 1:30 to
3:00 pm, Central Daylight Time, Tuesday, September 30.
Presentations include:
- Distribution of Data Within the Plant
Environment, Gregory DiFrank, River
Consulting Inc.
- Automated Cement Loadout - Technology
and Experience, Lon Rice, Hanson Permanente
Cement.
- I/O I/O Its Off To Work I Go: When
the Reverse Air Collector is Running Right, the Entire
System Benefits, C. Thom Martin, BHA
Group, Inc.
View or download the papers when you sign up for the
Webcast.
Register
for the Web cast.
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Fundamentals
of Post-Tensioning Seminars Scheduled
PCA and Post-Tensioning Institute will co-host a series
of seminars on the fundamentals of post-tensioning throughout
November. These seminars represent additional dates added
after an earlier set of successful seminars in Washington,
D.C., New York, Minneapolis, and Chicago.
The seminars will instruct attendees on the analysis, design
and construction fundamentals of post-tensioning, with an
emphasis on buildings. Attendees will discover basic concepts,
code requirements, and practical design and construction
tips. Project examples will be used to illustrate the various
uses of post-tensioning. The speakers will be PCA's regional
engineer Amy Trygestad, P.E., and Bryan Allred, P.E., S.E.,
vice president of Seneca Structural Engineering in Laguna
Hills, Calif. Attendees can earn 0.4 CEUs or 4.0 PDHs.
Seminar dates:
- November 5 – Charlotte, N.C.
- November 6 – Miami, Fla.
- November 19 – Denver, Colo.
- November 20 – Salt Lake City, Utah
Contact Jannet Huff at (602) 870-4540 to register or
visit the PTI
Web site. Basic registration is $125 for PTI or PCA
members or $145 for non-members.
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Solios
Environmental Becomes Associate Member
Solios Environmental, the Montreal-based supplier of air
pollution control equipment, is the newest associate member
of PCA's Manufacturing Technical Committee (MTC). Andrew
Haberl will represent the firm on MTC. With the addition
of Solios Environmental, MTC has 17 associate members.
PCA's associate member program invites suppliers of equipment,
services, or materials to cement companies to participate
in MTC.
Contact
Ann Dougherty.
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| In last
week's Executive Report, the e-mail link for Doug
Burns, North Central Cement Promotion
Association, was incorrect. His e-mail address is
dwburns@integraonline.com. |
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House
Approves TEA-21 Stopgap
Measure, Senate to Follow
This week in a voice vote, the Houseapproved
a five-month extension of federal highway and transit programs
set to expire next Tuesday. The stopgap bill, which is necessary
because Congress was unable to finish work on a multi-year
TEA-21 reauthorization measure, provides $14.7 billion for
highway construction projects and $3 billion for transit
operating and construction programs.
As of noon on Friday, the full Senate had not yet cleared
an extension bill, but was expected to take up the House-approved
measure shortly. The Senate Finance Committee had hoped
to pass its bill that included language changing the way
gasohol is taxed, but lawmakers agreed to go with the House-passed
bill to avoid potential conflict in the narrow timeframe.
Transportation construction groups continue to press for
the Finance Committee language, which would add $2 billion
annually to the Highway Trust Fund in another “must-pass”
bill.
Contact
David Hubbard.
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NSR
is Focus of Leavitt Hearing
The Bush Administration’s efforts
to reform the New Source Review (NSR) program was a key
issue at the confirmation hearing for EPA Administrator
nominee, Governor Michael Leavitt (R-UT).
During the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
hearing, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), James Jeffords (I-VT),
and John Edwards (D-NC) all urged Gov. Leavitt to withdraw
the equipment replacement rule recently signed by Acting
Administrator Marianne Horinko. Sen. Edwards threatened
to stall the nomination until a response from EPA on the
health impacts of the suite of NSR changes is provided
to the Senate. Other threats on the nomination came from
Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Harry Reid (D-NV), and Joseph
Lieberman (D-CT). Mr. Leavitt’s nomination is expected
to be endorsed by the EPW Committee despite the partisan
criticisms of the NSR program changes.
Contact Tom
Carter or Andy
O’Hare.
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Water
Resources Bill Clears House
The House overwhelmingly passed a $4.6-billion bill this
week reauthorizing the Water Resources Development Act
(WRDA) that provides funds for hundreds of Army Corps
of Engineers flood control, navigation, and other projects.
Aside from the insertion of many congressionally earmarked
projects, the bill gained wide support also because of
the so-called Corps reform provisions that require an
independent peer review of projects costing more than
$50 million. Flexibility is provided for the Corps to
exempt certain projects.
The bill also includes $6 million for state dam safety
programs, which was advocated by PCA. The Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee has not yet scheduled hearings
on its WRDA reauthorization bill, but may draft a bill
next year, according to committee staff.
Contact
David Hubbard.
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States
Lining Up Again on NSR Challenge
Five New England states and Illinois have stated their intent
to challenge the NSR replacement rule as soon as it is published
in the Federal Register. The same 14 states that challenged
the December 31 emission accounting rule are likely to join
the suit. PCA staff is part of an effort to increase the
number of states filing intervention briefs in support of
the rule beyond the nine states that supported the emission
accounting rule.
Contact
Tom Carter.
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Six
States Express Support for Clear Skies
Chiefs of six state environmental departments have
written a letter to Congress expressing support for the
President’s Clear Skies Initiative, which is currently
before both houses. The states are Colorado, Texas, Minnesota,
Arkansas, South Dakota, and Idaho. The Clear Skies bills
have stalled, but the White House is now urging Congress
to push them through, perhaps as an attachment to the
energy bill.
Contact Tom Carter
or Mark Washko.
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National
Safety Council Teams Up with Government
OSHA and MSHA announced at the recent
annual meeting of the National Safety Council (NSC) that
they had formed alliances with the organizations to enhance
workplace safety. The focus of the OSHA/NSC alliance will
be on joint development and dissemination of employee
training information. OSHA and NSC will also partner to
conduct training exercises for select industries. MSHA
plans with coordinate joint technical sessions with NSC
at regional and national conferences and will share health
and safety data with NSC for dissemination through the
NSC Web site and other communication tools.
Contact
Andy O’Hare.
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Vote
on Energy Legislation Expected Next Week
Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), Chairman of the House-Senate
energy conference and Chairman of the Committee on Energy
and Natural Resources, hopes to have a final vote on an
energy conference report by the end of next week.
To date, language has been released for many of the provisions
that will be included in the final report. Conferees have
not yet released language on electricity restructuring,
one of the most contentious issues that will be included
in the final report. If the conference committee votes next
week to approve the proposed report language, the Senate
would be able to vote on the report in mid-October, when
it returns from a week-long recess period (October 4 - 13).
The House has not scheduled a similar recess period.
More
on the conference.
Contact Mark Washko.
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Regional
Courses
Coal Mills—Challenges,
Considerations, and Common Sense Operation
September 25, St. Louis, Mo.
November 12, Colton, Calif.
Clinker Coolers—Balancing
Cooler
Conditions with Clinker Quality and Combustion Requirements
September 26, St. Louis, Mo.
November 13, Colton, Calif.
Register
online at www.cement.org/learn
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PCA's
education and training group will conduct the following
courses at PCA's Skokie, Ill., facility. Customized and
off-site courses are also available. Plus, Web-based
courses are available. For more information or to register,
contact Julie Clausen.
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Cement Manufacturing
for Process Engineers
October 6-9, 2003
Mill Grinding
October 20-22, 2003
January 12-14, 2004
Concrete:
Principles
and Practices
October 27-30,
2003
December 8-11, 2003
March 8-11, 2004
Cement
and Concrete
Overview
January 19-20, 2004
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Logistics
for the
Cement Industry
January 21-23, 2004
Kiln
Process
November 3-6, 2003
February 9-12, 2004
Microscopy
November 10-14,
2003
February 16-20, 2004
Troubleshooting
November 17-19, 2003
February 2-4, 2004
Aggregates
and Admixtures in Concrete Mix Designs
December
1-3, 2003
February 23-25, 2004
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Portland Cement Association
5420 Old Orchard Road Skokie, Illinois 60077
847.966.6200 info@cement.org
1130 Connecticut Avenue, N. W., Suite 1250
Washington, D.C. 20036
202.408.9494 fax 202.408.0877
©2003 Portland Cement Association
All rights reserved |
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