Establishes New Office to Root out Inefficiency

Both Congress and the White House have turned to AGC for common-sense recommendations on streamlining the federal environmental permitting and review processes.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt announced a one-year delay of EPA’s final designation of counties that are not attaining the 2015 ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). The 2015 standard tightened the existing 2008 standard from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to 70 ppb. Designations for the 2015 standard were originally due by this October. EPA is taking this additional time to review and re-evaluate many of the complicated issues that AGC raised in its comments on the proposed version of the 2015 rule.

Danielle Feroleto, Small Giants I’m going to go out on a limb and confess and unpopular view…I hate selfie sticks. I actually will alienate myself from almost every reader and tell you I also hate selfies. Now, before you stop reading and throw this offensive article in the trash, let me tell you why. I love networking! Every single little thing about it….from the first uncomfortable conversation to the rewards you reap in relationships built throughout your career, it is, in my opinion, The most important business skill you can acquire. It’s not for everyone and it’s not as easy as most think to do it well. I will give you some of the best tips I have learned in networking all through the reasons I believe your selfie stick is ruining your networking life!

EPA Extends and Expands 2017 ‘DERA’ Clean Diesel Funding Competition Now Underway

Join us on September 13-14, in Crystal City, Virginia!

AGC members report struggles with Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements that delay infrastructure projects and significantly increase costs while not necessarily providing commensurate species and habitat benefits. At the request of Congress, AGC has identified legislative and administrative improvements to the ESA that support: the protection of listed species; responsible land and resource management; and streamlined delivery of critical infrastructure projects.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will announce in tomorrow’s Federal Register that it will indefinitely suspend portions of a rule requiring states to develop performance measurements for tracking Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions for federal-aid highway projects. The suspension of the rule is a significant victory for AGC and our industry allies who fought the GHG rule that was issued in the waning days of the Obama Administration.

Per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) request, AGC provided 30 pages of comprehensive and detailed recommendations for EPA’s regulatory evaluation in line with recent executive orders and presidential initiatives. In its submissions, AGC highlights the regulatory burden the construction industry bears and offers specific program modifications and solutions relating to water issues, oil spills prevention and preparedness, air and climate issues, lead-based paint issues, contaminated sites and liability, as well as compliance and enforcement initiatives. To view the complete set of AGC submissions to EPA, click here, here and here.

AGC’s head of Environmental Law and Policy Leah Pilconis testified before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works at a hearing entitled “Infrastructure Project Streamlining and Efficiency: Achieving Faster, Better, and Cheaper Results.” AGC took the opportunity to discuss many of the ideas in its new document “Reforms for Improving Federal Environmental Review and Permitting,” which were well received.