State Association News
Tuesday, June 01, 2010 - CA

California - a draft Air Resources Board greenhouse gas cap and trade plan specifically addresses cement manufacturing.  Among the provisions, it would provide an initial free allocation of credits to the cement industry, to the extent feasible; propose greenhouse gas efficiency ¡°benchmarks¡±; and provide for periodic updates to reflect changes in production each year.  Document is available at http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/meetings/meetings.htm.   Iowa ¨C Plans gear up for the ¡°All Things Concrete¡± exhibition at the Iowa State Fair in August¡­in addition to general concrete, the display will focus on ICF¡¯s and decorative concrete¡­approximately 1 million people are expected to attend the fair ¡ñ A successful rally was held May 7th at the state capital to encourage the federal government to fully fund a long-term transportation bill¡­both Congressmen Latham and Boswell were speakers at the event ¡ñ IRMCA has issued updated use and care stickers to provide homeowners upon the completion of exterior concrete work¡­stickers highlight important care and maintenance steps that will increase the life of the concrete.   Kansas ¨C US Congressman Jerry Moran paid a visit to Lafarge cement plant¡­topics discussed included manufacturing, transportation funding, worker safety, recycling, greenhouse gasses, health care, and the economy ¡ñ Members of the KS construction industry recently presented a check to KS DOT to support promotion of the ¡°Give ¡®Em a Brake¡± workzone safety program.   Kentucky ¨C June will bring the first-ever truck driver rodeo to the state, winner to go on to NRMCA¡¯s national contest in October ¡ñ  Article on the benefits of proactively identifying accident risks to avoid them before they happen ¡ñ Article on the importance of political advocacy, and grassroots activity in particular, as a means of educating decision makers to the benefits of concrete and encouraging legislation that will lead to increased concrete markets through sustainability and life cycle cost awareness.   Ohio ¨C ORMCA board approved the appointment of Greg Colvin as their new Executive Director¡­Colvin has extensive professional career in the concrete industry, most recently with the Fly Ash division for McCoig Recycle, LLC ¡ñ Article outlining seven steps to improving employee safety training, including implementing a New Employee Safety Training Program ¡ñ Ohio Bureau of Workers¡¯ Compensation has established a new drug-free safety program¡­employers can receive a discount on their workers¡¯ compensation premium in exchange for meeting the program requirements.   Pennsylvania - Pennsy Supply continued its tradition of student outreach by conducting their 6th Annual Concrete Cylinder Challenge¡­this year¡¯s winner was Cumberland Valley High School ¡ñ 4Winds Concrete recently conducted a Pervious Concrete certification class at its facility in Bethlehem, PA. Recognizing the potential of this technology, the company not only wanted to certify their own personnel, they also wanted to provide training to members of their contractor base¡­in addition, several local municipalities sent personnel for training and information ¡ñ PACA/PCPC has launched a new web site geared toward external audience¡­specifically architects and engineers¡­ www.specifyconcrete.org.   Virginia ¨C Article on the rise of retaliation-based employment discrimination claims¡­retaliation claims are premised not on the underlying discrimination but, rather, stem from an employee¡¯s complaint about discrimination or mistreatment and the company¡¯s resulting decision to ¡°retaliate¡± against the employee for complaining (often via some adverse consequence to the employee, such as termination or demotion) ¡ñ Recap of recent presentation to architects, engineers and officials¡­question was raised whether any research had been done on the possible evapotranspiration benefits of pervious concrete.
Contact Info:	Nicole Maher Email: nmaher@nrmca.org Phone: 301-587-1400