AGC last week joined a broad coalition of environmental, science-based, public health, industry, and state and local government groups by signing a group letter in support of expanded funding in fiscal year 2011 for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Diesel Emissions Reduction Program (DERP).  

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set new rules for certain contractors who renovate or repair housing, child-care facilities, or schools built before 1978.  Workers must follow lead-safe work practice standards to reduce potential exposure to dangerous levels of lead during renovation and repair activities.

AGC hosted a special forum at this year's Convention focused on environmental challenges specific to the construction industry.  AGC recognizes that environmental requirements have become a great and growing responsibility for contractors, delaying if not threatening construction projects and increasing the cost of doing business.  AGC works year-round to provide its members with compliance tools and to advocate for constructive solutions to complex ecological and economic challenges.

  April 22, 2010 • 3:00 - 4:30 ET For owners seeking a third-party green-building certification, it is essential to all parties that the green building objectives and responsibilities are clearly delineated in order to effectively achieve project goals.

AGC sent a letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski (R- Alaska) on February 12, 2010, in support of S. J. Res. 26, a bipartisan resolution that would block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act.  Cosponsored by 37 Republicans and three Democrats, Senator Murkowski's resolution would nullify EPA's December 2009 finding that GHG emissions endanger public health and welfare and thus are subject to federal regulation under the Clean Air Act.  Similar resolutions have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is seeking public comment on the definitions and categories it plans to use to collect data on the number, occupational, industrial and geographic distribution of green jobs.

AGC joined members of the Waters Advocacy Coalition (WAC) Wednesday in a letter to the editor of The New York Times in response to an article the newspaper published March 1. The article addressed concerns with water and wetland protection under the Clean Water Act following two Supreme Court decisions over the last decade. 

AGC joined members of the Waters Advocacy Coalition (WAC) Wednesday in a letter to the editor of The New York Times in response to an article the newspaper published March 1. The article addressed concerns with water and wetland protection under the Clean Water Act following two Supreme Court decisions over the last decade. The New York Times article reports that WAC, of which AGC is a founding member, has used scare tactics to block consideration of the Clean Water Restoration Act, which its proponents claim would restore federal jurisdiction over waters and wetlands they believe have been lost due to the Supreme Court's rulings. WAC's letter to the editor responds to this mischaracterization by stating that WAC fully supports the Clean Water Act and its implementation to protect waters and wetlands, and that WAC's concerns with the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) are valid and based on the explicit language of the bill.  The bill would grant EPA and the Corps virtually unlimited regulatory control over all "intrastate waters" - essentially all wet areas within a state, including groundwater, ditches, pipes, streets, gutters and desert features.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently announced that until further notice, no enforcement action will be taken for noncompliance with the March 1, 2010, deadline for large fleets (exceeding 5,000 hp) across the state to meet the first of California's strict exhaust standards, per CARB's new "diesel retrofit" requirements.  CARB also announced that - in accordance with AGC's request - it will hold a public hearing on March 11, 2010, in Sacramento, on the question of whether the off-road regulations should be further modified to account for the down economy and subsequent emissions reductions.  These actions come in direct response to the emergency legal petition that AGC filed Jan. 11 with CARB requesting a two-year extension of the rule's fleet performance requirements to avoid needless job losses for the already hard hit California construction industry.  To read CARB's response letter to AGC, click here.

According to the Regulation Gateway Web site the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched this month, the agency expects to release a rulemaking on coal combustion residuals (or waste) in April 2010, with a hazardous designation reported likely.