AI Weekly: A weekly newsletter brought to you by American Infrastructure

ENERGY

US backs power lines for clean energy

Earth Techling
A lot of the big solar and wind power projects being built in the West are on private property – but the power lines that will bring their electricity to the grid just as often cross public lands. Such is the case with the Centinela Solar Energy Project in California and the Echanis Wind Energy Project in Oregon, each of which has now received Obama administration approval for its transmission lines, despite some opposition.

Turbine market forecast to spin to $96 billion
Earth Techling
You can expect to see a lot more wind power plants popping up across the U.S. and the rest of the world in the next five years. According to a report by the research and consulting firm Lucintel, the wind turbine market will maintain its significant growth trajectory and is projected reach $96 billion with a total capacity of 568,310 megawatts (568.3 gigawatts) by 2016. Wind power is gaining momentum as interest in renewable energy sources rises from concern for climate change, rising oil prices, and increasing energy demand.

Two more major US renewable energy projects announced

Energy Matters
Adding to a recent U.S. Department of the Interior (DoI) announcement of two new renewable energy projects being approved, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has approved the construction of a further two projects - a utility-scale solar power plant in California and a transmission line for a wind farm in Oregon. Salazar says when the two projects are completed they will deliver 379 megawatts of power - enough to power 112,500 homes - and help support over 600 jobs through construction and operations.

ENVIRONMENTAL

NY gas drilling opponents aim for local bans

Seattle PI
As state environmental regulators wrap up their review of shale gas drilling in New York, opponents of a drilling method called hydraulic fracturing are taking a local approach, enacting zoning and planning laws that ban the practice. This home rule tactic will be a key focus of environmental groups in the new legislative session that begins Wednesday with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's state-of-the-state address in Albany. Legislation is planned that would give local governments veto power over natural gas drilling through zoning authority.

Court delays EPA smog rule

The Wall Street Journal
A federal court on Friday suspended the Environmental Protection Agency's latest effort to regulate soot and smog-forming pollution from power plants that wafts across state lines, days before it was to take effect on Sunday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted requests to stay the rule pending the outcome of legal challenges to the case. A power plant in Salem, Mass. Downwind states on the East Coast have long complained about pollution from upwind neighbors. The rule is one of several advanced by the EPA recently, and the remaining rules may still force power companies to put cleaner technologies in place.

Supreme court to hear environmental case from Idaho
Fox News
Mike Sackett remembers what he thought when he saw the eye-popping fines of more than $30,000 a day that the Environmental Protection Agency was threatening to impose on him over a piece of Idaho property worth less than one day's penalty. "If they do this to us, we're going to lose everything we have," Sackett said. The EPA said that Sackett and his wife, Chantell, illegally filled in most of their 0.63-acre lot with dirt and rocks in preparation for building a home. The agency said the property is a wetlands that cannot be disturbed without a permit.

EPA acts on power plant emissions
Chemical & Engineering News
After lawsuits and regulatory battles that stretch back to the Clean Air Act of 1990, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued a regulation requiring coal-fired and oil-fired electric power plants to cut mercury, arsenic, cyanide, and other toxic air emissions. The new regulation will reduce mercury emissions from the worst-performing plants by 90%. The new regime affects 1,400 utilities, 1,100 of which are large, coal-fired electric power plants that provide nearly half of the U.S.’s electricity

EPA: Ethanol production expected to grow in 2012

Des Moines Register
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday said ethanol production in 2012 should reach 15.2 billion gallons, an increase of about 1.25 billion gallons from this year. The agency’s 2012 targets for renewable biofuels, however, shows non-corn ethanol made from crop residue, grasses or wood chips falling short of the goals set in the 2007 federal law mandating biofuel use. In a statement, the EPA projects that cellulosic ethanol will hit 8.65 million gallons, or 0.06 percent of the 15.2 billion gallon total. That is considerably short of the 500-million-gallon target for 2012 set by Congress in 2007 when it wrote the law mandating that 36 billion gallons of non-petroleum biofuels be used in the nation's transportation fuel mix by 2022.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Bank approves millions for USA-Mexico border area projects

Mexidata
The Board of Directors of the North American Development Bank (NADB) has approved more than US$136 million in new financing for environmentally-related initiatives on both sides of the US-Mexico border. In an announcement last month, the San Antonio-based bank listed four new projects that will receive NADB loans and grants. More than half of the new money, or a US$88.5 million loan, is set aside for a 20-megawatt solar energy park that will generate electricity for approximately 3,500 homes in the Tucson metropolitan area. The loan recipient will be the privately-owned SunEdison utility company.

Billions needed to upgrade America’s leaky water infrastructure
The Washington Post
At first glance, the pizza-size hole that popped open when a heavy truck passed over a freshly paved District street seemed fairly minor. Then city inspectors got on their bellies with a flashlight to peer into it. What they discovered has become far too common. A massive 19th-century brick sewer had silently eroded away, leaving a cavern beneath a street in Adams Morgan that could have swallowed most of a Metro bus. It took three weeks and about a million dollars to repair the sewer, which was built in 1889.

Franklin County's eco-conscious courthouse
American Infrastructure magazine
The concept for Franklin County's new Common Pleas Courthouse in Columbus, Ohio, materialized from the will and wants to construct a public works building that went beyond traditional government blocks and instead supplied a sustainable, serving facility. Partnered up with a league of experts, the county and project team created the 325,000-square-foot courthouse that incorporates innovative construction techniques and unconventional materials, according to Chris Watson, national director of marketing services for Gilbane Building Co., builder for the project.

TRANSPORTATION

New laws crack down on distracted drivers
The Los Angeles Times
If your New Year's resolutions didn't include hanging up that cellphone when behind the wheel, several states plan to do it for you. A slew of new laws taking effect this year aims to curb distracted driving. Beginning Tuesday, all commercial drivers — including truck and bus drivers — are banned from using hand-held and push-to-talk cellphones. The new law will affect an estimated 4 million commercial drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which instituted the ban. New automotive laws are taking effect in a variety of states too.

California high-speed rail funding could be in jeopardy

The Los Angeles
The Legislature should not authorize the issuance of $6 billion in bonds to start building California's $98.5-billion bullet train project, a state-appointed review panel says in a key report to be released later Tuesday. The conclusion by the California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group is a serious blow to the project as it is currently designed because state law specifically empowered the group to make recommendation before any serious money on the train could be spent. Gov. Jerry Brown has said he intends to ask the Legislature this month to appropriate and sell bonds to raise billions of dollars to start construction of the project.

WATER / WASTEWATER

Water, sewer systems in dire need of repair, engineers say
Newsmax
The nation’s water and sewer systems are old and in dire need of repair and replacement. At a recent Senate hearing it was estimated that 25 percent of drinking water leaks out from pipes on its way to homes and offices, The Washington Post reported. For example, in the nation’s capital, the average water pipe is 77 years old and some date to the 1800s, the Post reported. The needed repairs are estimated to run to $335 billion for the water systems and $300 billion for sewers. A study by the American Society of Civil Engineers found that $9.4 billion per year in additional funding is needed for water and sewer work between now and 2020.

Support grows for Kan. water policy reforms
The Washington Examiner
Legislators say support is building for Gov. Sam Brownback's proposals to change Kansas policies to conserve the state's water and extend the life of its aquifers. Brownback wants to change the laws governing water usage to encourage conservation and ensure there is enough water for agricultural, business and municipal uses. Legislators aren't certain about the details, but they are receptive to changing the laws during the 2012 session, which begins next week, the Topeka Capital Journal reported Brownback unveiled his plans in November after a series of meetings to discuss potential changes.