The House and Senate both approved three bilateral free trade agreements with the countries of Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. AGC supported approval to increase demand for construction services and keep costs low for components, materials, and manufactured goods.

On Tuesday, Congressman Rahall (D-W.V.), Congressman Bishop (D-N.Y.), Congressman LaTourette (R-Ohio) and Congressman Petri (R-Wisc.) introduced the “Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act” (HR 3145). The bill includes Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (CWSRF) reauthorization with language similar to many of the reauthorization bills of the last few Congresses.

AGC joined several other industry and trade groups in the business community calling on Congressional leaders to oppose the expansion of Buy American provisions in the president’s jobs bill, the American Jobs Act of 2011. These provisions, while similar to language in the Recovery Act passed in 2009, are expanded to cover programs that have never been covered before.

Register today for AGC’s 2011 Highway and Utilities Contractors Issues Meeting to be held in Indian Wells, California, Nov. 10-12, 2011.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released three new guidance products to educate workers and employers about the hazards workers face in trenching operations. The new information products, which are available on OSHA's Publications page, include: "Trenching and Excavation" fact sheet – an overview of the hazards that can occur while performing trenching operations and the safety measures required to protect workers; "Working Safely in Trenches" QuickCard – an easy-to-use guide to trenching hazards and safety measures with graphics; and "Do Not Enter an Unprotected Trench!" poster – a resource for construction workplaces informing workers what steps must be taken to ensure trench safety, along with the warning "An Unprotected Trench is an Early Grave."

This week, AGC met with staff from the National Economic Council, which is primarily responsible for taking ideas and initiatives and translating them into policy for the administration. The primary focus of the meeting was the proposed National Clean Water Trust Fund (CWTF) and the potential role it could play in the administration’s upcoming policy for the Join Select Deficit Reduction Committee’s work to reduce the deficit.

On Sept. 7, Representative Bill Shuster (R-Penn.) introduced the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011. This bill would reauthorize the previous pipelines law, the 2006 Pipeline Integrity, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety Act, which expired on Sept. 30, 2010. The bill would strengthen pipeline safety programs, improve the nation’s pipeline network, and ensure the regulatory certainty in pipelines transportation necessary to create jobs.

Today, on 8/11, AGC joins the rest of the underground damage prevention community to remind everyone that is involved in an excavation project to follow the key steps to safe digging and damage prevention - dialing 811. Homeowner, landscapers, and other casual excavators must join professional excavation contractors in dialing 811 before any digging project.

The House Appropriations Committee approved its Interior/Environment Appropriations legislation, which includes dollar allocations for FY2012. Following on April’s FY2011 budget agreement, the Environmental Protection Agency’s State Revolving Fund programs were again a major target. The whole agency saw a $1.53 billion, or 18 percent cut, from current spending with nearly two-thirds cut from the clean water programs. The bill would fund the Clean Water SRF at $689 million, down from $1.5 billion in FY2011 and $2.1 billion in FY2010. The Drinking Water SRF would be funded at $829 million, down from $965 million in FY2011 and $1.4 billion in FY2010. Total cuts to the SRF programs would be $967 million from FY2011 numbers, bringing the SRFs back to FY2008 levels.

The bill to reauthorize the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA), which was introduced in the Senate in February by Sen Lautenberg (D-NJ), currently has 5 cosponsors and passed out of committee in mid/late June. It is awaiting action on the Senate floor, though time for it has yet to be scheduled. The bill does a few things of interest to excavators: