The brave new world of construction recruiting

Times have changed. It once wasn’t unusual for a construction career to start and end with family. “You learned the skills, gained responsibility along the way and often ended up years later with ownership of the business,” said Kim Waseca-Love, education and apprenticeship director for the Spokane (WA) Home Builders Association.

But that scenario is becoming less and less common. And with the ongoing labor shortage, the need for solutions is taking on a greater importance. Waseca-Love says there will soon be a deficit of 200,000 to 250,000 construction workers annually nationwide. Part of that drop-off will come as the result of older workers retiring, making the need to transfer their knowledge and skills to those taking their place an urgent one.

The challenge, of course, is finding those new workers.

The role of apprenticeships

Passing along knowledge from an experienced worker to one who wants to learn is an age-old practice, and it remains one of the most effective ways to train someone in a skill.

Since 1980, the Spokane HBA has offered a four-year apprenticeship program, which is approved and monitored by the state’s Department of Labor and Industries. Through the program, apprentices undergo 8,000 hours of on-the-job training in residential carpentry, plus another 144 hours of related classroom instruction, and are paid wages by their employers. When finished, each student is issued a certificate of completion by the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council.

The Northeast Florida Builders Association has been running its training program for almost 45 years, offering a four-year course of study in four trades: carpentry, electric, HVAC and plumbing. Association members provide 2,000 hours of on-the-job training each year and the apprentice is paid hourly with a 5% wage bump every six months during the program. So far, the program has graduated 1,700 students.

According to Christina Thomas, training director for the Northeast Florida program, the benefits go both ways. “The employer has the opportunity to grow their own talent, and the students who go through the program often want to give back,” she said, adding that eight in 10 instructors are also program graduates.

On the commercial side, the Colorado Contractors Association (CCA) started its apprenticeship program in the late 1970s with a similar mission. Today, its training includes carpentry, cement masonry, heavy equipment operation, ironwork and truck driving. The program is approved by the Department of Labor’s apprenticeships office, said Terry Kish, CCA director of safety and workforce development.

The CCA’s is also a multi-year program, with the carpentry apprenticeship providing 8,000 hours of training over the course of four years. Those interested in the cement mason, heavy equipment operator or ironworker programs must undertake 6,000 hours of instruction over three years, and future truck drivers must take a one-year program comprising 2,000 hours of instruction.

The apprentice is an employee of the contractor, who pays their wages. In the CCA’s program, the student must first be working for one of its member contractors in order to get accepted.

Challenges in recruiting remain

The training programs are there, but inspiring students to go into construction is still one of the biggest battles the industry faces today. A four-year college degree isn’t right for everyone, so getting the word out that the skilled trades can offer a viable alternative career path is the first step. “These skills can be learned without taking on the debt that often comes with a traditional degree,” Waseca-Love said.

The housing market crash dealt a blow to perceptions of construction as a lucrative job. Thomas still sees some skepticism about a career in the industry. That’s in part because the path is not being promoted in high schools on par with other options like joining the military or going to college. “Unless the family is in construction, kids may not understand the opportunities,” Thomas says.

Those opportunities can include a financial boost. “My apprentices start on day one often making more money than someone who graduated from a traditional college,” Kish says. “And after three to four years they can be making $30 to $40 an hour. And have no debt.”

Expanding recruiting efforts is vital to reaching prospective students. “We use social media, print and online advertising, attend many career fairs each month and reach out to trades and tell them to send us those applicants they can’t hire due to lack of skills,” says Michael Smith, director of the Colorado Homebuilding Academy (CHA). The CHA, too, offers hands-on training to un- or under-employed workers, military veterans and high school students readying for graduation, among others. The academy also runs a website — DiscoverBuildingCareers.org —​ to highlight careers in construction.

 
Finding future workers starts today

In June, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to increase apprenticeship funding to $200 million and give the private sector more say in how they would set up their programs. But Smith says the Department of Labor has yet to release guidance on how the expedited process will work, or if it will apply to the construction industry.

Even if efforts to recruit the next generation are successful, Kish said construction payrolls will drop 20% in the next four to five years as workers age out of the industry. A lot of knowledge will leave with them. “They know what the problems can be and how to solve them. They also have the relationships with the owners and customers,” he said. “Companies need to have a transition plan to instill the knowledge from those leaving to those coming in.”

It’s a game of catch-up, and the industry has fallen behind. Kish said the economic hit that construction companies took as a result of the recession also didn’t help.

“It was eight years where companies were just trying to make payroll. They weren’t hiring. So now there are age gaps, especially in the trades,” he said. “But we all need to remember how important construction is. Without it, nothing else happens.”

http://www.constructiondive.com/news/the-brave-new-world-of-construction-recruiting/447848/

Texas Oil And Gas Regulator Pushes For Vote On FERC Nominees

A Texas oil and gas regulator says delays on Capitol Hill are hurting the industry.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian wants action on nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

One of the FERC’s main duties is approving or denying certain pipelines, but the commission needs at least three members to do that. It currently has one, because the U.S. Senate hasn’t voted on President Trump’s nominees.

“When there’s a pipeline held up, there’s jobs held up,” Christian says. “We are at a standstill.”

Christian says companies are planning billions of dollars’ worth of new infrastructure to tap growing oil production in West Texas.

“Texas is about to enter a boom in the oil and gas industry,” he says, “and so we do not want to be held back in the pipelines to distribute that product.”

Records show that nationwide, more than 40 pipeline plans still need FERC’s approval. Some of them have been waiting two years now.

Christian sent a letter to Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, telling them it’s “crucial” two of the nominees get confirmed before Congress’s August recess.

The slow movement is good news for environmental groups. A national coalition’s been pressuring lawmakers to block the president’s nominees, saying they fear lax environmental reviews for pipelines, and favoritism for energy companies.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2017/07/26/227467/texas-oil-and-gas-regulator-pushes-for-vote-on-ferc-nominees/

Indonesia Open To Rejoining OPEC If Not Forced To Curb Oil Production

Indonesia is open to rejoining OPEC as long as it is not forced to curb its own crude oil production, the nation's energy and mineral resources minister said July 25.

"We would have to have a concession for not following cuts from time to time," the minister, Ignasius Jonan, said in an interview in Houston, where he is meeting with major oil producers.

Indonesia said two months ago that it was considering rejoining OPEC after it had left and rejoined several times over the years. The country, which pumps about 800,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude, would become the group's 15th member.

The membership talks come as OPEC members grapple with an oversupply of crude around the globe, brought on in part by rising production from U.S. shale regions.

Indonesia imports roughly double the amount of crude that it produces, so it is happy with the current oil price, near $50/bbl, Jonan said. When asked if that point of view would cause tension in an OPEC meeting, Jonan said it would "lead to more dialogue."

Jonan, who was appointed energy minister last year, is meeting with Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), ConocoPhillips Co. (NYSE: COP) and others in Houston this week, a stop on a multi-nation tour to bolster interest in investing in Indonesia.

"This is all part of an effort to have a more open dialogue with our business partners," Jonan said.

The minister said he had a long discussion with Chevron about the company's operations in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. oil field.

"The production capacity keeps growing. That's significant," he said. "If shale oil production keeps going up, that means U.S. imports of crude oil is going down."

http://www.oilandgasinvestor.com/indonesia-open-rejoining-opec-if-not-forced-curb-oil-production-1645716#p=full

New Sanctions On Russia Anger EU, Oil & Gas Industry

With a vote of 419 to 3, the House of Representatives passed legislation envisaging firmer economic sanctions against Russia as well as a stipulation that would make it harder for the White House to weaken any future sanctions against Moscow.

The overwhelming vote, media noted, was a blow to President Trump, who had asked for flexibility in the adjustment of the sanction policy. Instead, the House passed the new sanction bill with veto-proof majority, The Hill reports, taking away Trump’s chance to block it.

Now, the bill must pass through the Senate, but it’s still unclear when the upper house will vote on it. If it approves the bill, sanctions imposed on Russia two years ago will become a law. Also, fresh sanctions against Iran and North Korea are included in the package.

In short, the future law stipulates that American oil and gas companies cannot do business in Russia or elsewhere if they partner with Russian companies that have a minimum of 33 percent in the venture. Given that Russian oil and gas companies usually hold much more than 33 percent in any joint projects in Russia, the ban is more or less complete.

However, the ban covers all deepwater, shale, and Arctic exploration—worldwide—and that sparked concern in the U.S. oil and gas industry, with insiders warning that it could hurt projects not just in Russia but around the world as well.

Two senior officials, from the US Petroleum Equipment & Services Association and the American Petroleum Institute, wrote to legislators warning that the new, broader sanctions could lead to loss of American jobs, economic contraction, and other unintended consequences.

Europe is also unhappy with the formulation of the sanction package because it also covers Russian export pipelines, which means that U.S. energy companies will be banned from participating in such projects as the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. However, despite industry expectations that the bill will be tweaked to reflect these concerns, Congress has so far not relented

http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/New-Sanctions-On-Russia-Anger-EU-Oil-Gas-Industry.html

Overnight Energy: House passes Russia sanctions deal with oil, gas fix

The House easily passed bipartisan legislation on Tuesday to expand sanctions on Russia and limit the Trump administration's ability to lift them.

The legislation comes after lawmakers addressed a series of concerns oil and gas companies raised about the package, which they said would limit the extent to which American and Russian energy firms could interact.

The latest version of the bill clarifies that only Russian energy export pipelines can be sanctioned. It also establishes that the ban on U.S. investments in deepwater, shale or Arctic offshore projects applies only if there are Russian entities with an ownership interest of at least 33 percent.

Tuesday's vote amounted to a rebuke of President Trump, whose administration had pushed to water down the bill's provisions giving Congress the power to veto the lifting of sanctions.

Only three Republicans voted against the bill, in the 419-3 vote.

Under the bill, existing sanctions on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine and interference in the 2016 election would be codified into law. New sanctions would go into effect against Iran for its ballistic missile development, while North Korea's shipping industry and people who use slave labor would be targeted.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/overnights/343726-overnight-energy-house-passes-russia-sanctions-package

Satellite photos reveal underground construction at Chinese military base

Hong Kong (CNN)New satellite imagery of China's first overseas military base reveal it to be bigger and more secure than previously thought.

Two images provided by Stratfor Worldview and Allsource Analysis show the base in Djibouti, located at a strategic choke point on the Horn of Africa, to be heavily fortified with three layers of security and has about 23,000 square meters (about 250,000 square feet) of underground space, according to analysis provided by Stratfor. 

"This type of construction is in line with known Chinese practices in hardening their military bases. The underground structures allow for unobserved activity, as well as offer protection to vehicles or facilities critical to the Chinese mission in Djibouti," Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence firm, said in an analysis accompanying the images.

China dispatched troops to the base earlier this month. The United States, France and Japan also have permanent military bases there, but Tack said those are not as heavily fortified. 

It's not clear how big the Chinese base is, but for comparison, the US base was expanded to 500 acres in 2007.

"Even though this is just one of those bases in Djibouti as several other countries have, China has taken it's own methods into Djibouti," Stratfor Senior Analyst Sim Tack told CNN.

China's Defense Ministry has touted the base as a way for the People's Liberation Army to help bring peace and security to the region by providing a means of carrying out anti-piracy operations and humanitarian assistance. 

However an image from July 4 showed the Chinese had not yet begun building docks, which Stratfor called notable due to the bases aforementioned purpose.

"I wouldn't say it's irregular, but I would've expected to see a dock," Tack said. 

A dock will likely be constructed eventually, and China could use Djibouti's commercial port until that time, according to Stratfor.

Analysts say the base is part of China's efforts to establish a truly global naval force that's capable of conducting operations around the world -- a so-called "blue water navy" -- though Chinese state media has pushed back on suggestions that Beijing will flex its muscles globally.

"One of the big hall marks of a superpower is having blue-water capacity, and China is in the awkward position where it sees itself as a superpower, other countries perceive it as a superpower, but it doesn't actually have the full capacity of a superpower as yet," Yvonne Chiu, an assistant professor at the Department of Politics at the University of Hong Kong, recently told CNN.

But the base's construction also indicates that it will be used for more than naval purposes, according to the analysis. 

It has tarmac and hangars appear large enough to house various types of helicopters, but not fixed-winged aircraft like drones or fighter jets. Those additions will allow the base to have aerial capabilities as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/26/asia/china-military-base-djibouti-photos/index.html 

  

Brexit: A Year After The Referendum

June 23 marked a year since the United Kingdom voted for its withdrawal from the European Union, now commonly known as Brexit.

As a quick recap, many British believed they were being held back by the EU, which according to them set too many rules on businesses and charged billions of pounds sterling a year in membership fees with minimal return. For reference, each EU member state must contribute to the EU budget, which typically consists of a percentage of the member states national income as well as a percentage of the value-added tax (VAT) it collects. According to the most recent figures available, in 2014, Germany contributed the most to the EU Budget, followed by France and the UK.

Among other things, many British also wanted full control of their borders in order to reduce the population migrating to the UK.

What progress has been made in the year since the vote?

Let’s start with the new Prime Minister Theresa May, who replaced David Cameron when he announced he was resigning on the day he lost the Brexit referendum.

May, like Cameron before her, was initially against Brexit but has since expressed her commitment to executing the decision of the Brexit vote. That point was clearly captured on March 29 with the triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, beginning the two-year process of negotiating terms for the UK’s departure from the EU.

What this means is that the UK will leave the EU on March 29, 2019, a date that can only be extended if all EU member states unanimously agree.

Since its creation in 2009, Article 50 has not been used by any of the participating members. Article 50 adds complexity to the 43 years of treaties and agreements between the UK and EU, as there is not a process in place, and it appears the Brexit move will have all parties making up the process as the separation progresses. If a deal cannot be reached within the two-year timeframe, it is speculated that the UK would be governed under the World Trade Organization Rules which could potentially mean the introduction of customs checks and tariffs.

To date, the UK is still under EU law and will remain under EU law until full termination of its membership. The end result appears to indicate that the UK will continue to honor EU treaties and laws but will no longer take part in any decision-making.

May said she would like the UK to reach a new customs union deal with the EU with the agreement not to impose tariffs on each other’s goods.

After Brexit is complete, Britain will have both the challenge and opportunity to negotiate new trade deals with the remaining EU countries.

What happens next?

Brexit negotiations began in Brussels on June 19, 2017. In preparation, May set up a government department that is headed by David Davis, a Conservative MP and Brexit Secretary. The government body also includes a Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox, and a Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson. The Prime Minister has the final say in these negotiations.

On the EU side, negotiations will be led by the European Chief Negotiator, Michael Barnier.

As of the June 19 negotiations, no major progress was accomplished other than the UK agreeing to discuss ‘divorce proceedings’ prior to starting any discussions around future trading relations. The next round of negotiations is expected to happen sometime in mid-July.

It will be interesting to see how much can be accomplished as the clock begins to tick for a new and independent UK.

http://www.oilandgasinvestor.com/brexit-year-after-referendum-1645281#p=full

Subway construction project unearths prehistoric fossils in Los Angeles

A subway construction project in Los Angeles is unearthing the prehistoric side of Southern California.

Workers excavating the tunnels discovered fossils of ancient mammals that roamed the area about 11,000 years ago. The historic trove includes bones from extinct beasts, like mammoths and mastodons.

CBS News correspondent Carter Evans went underneath Los Angeles to see how building the city's future is shedding new light on the past.

Underneath one of the busiest parts of the city, one of the largest subway projects in the country is underway. It was here that workers digging the new line literally made a mammoth discovery.

Paleontologist Dr. Ashley Leger oversees a team who works alongside construction crews that are searching for fossils. Their discoveries began with bones of Colombian mammoths who roamed the area in herds during the Ice Age.

A three-foot section of tusk that's at least 11,000 years old, and a nearly complete skull were found at the site.

"It's a dream come true for a paleontologist," Leger said. "This is the bucket list you always want to find at some point in your career. And then it's one of the first things we found here."

"This is probably the best gig in the town for a paleontologist," said Dave Sotero, who works for Los Angeles' Metro, which hired the experts who dig up the past. "It's not every day you have a subway project going through a rich fossil area. So it's tremendously exciting for everybody on the project."

Over the next few weeks, the tunnel will close in on an ancient area known as the La Brea Tar Pits, which is located about a mile away. Leger expects the fossil finds will increase dramatically in that area.

Just a couple inches of tar became a sticky death trap for the massive mammals that roamed the area tens of thousand of years ago.

"I think of what's under all of that," Leger said. "Under everyone's feet is this rich history that everybody misses. So we get to open up people's eyes, open up people's imagination and bring the past to life."

Prehistoric black ooze still seeps from the ground around the museum, which contains the world's largest collection of Ice Age fossils.

"Here at the museum, all of these things come to life," Leger said. "They stand up in front of you. They kind of speak to, you know, that curiosity that we're all born with."

Almost every bone ever found near the Tar Pits is kept at the museum. They're cataloged for further research, which helps Leger identify one of her newest finds.

Back in the tunnel, more clues about the ancient past keep turning up -- a leg bone from an extinct camel and a tooth from a mastodon.

"We've got mammoths and mastodons on one end," Leger said. "We're finding horses over here. It's been really fun."

Leger says the best is yet to come. In the next few weeks, she hopes to add more predators like the saber-toothed cat to her finds.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/prehistoric-fossils-subway-construction-project-los-angeles/

Algonquin trustees to consider extending construction hours for Longmeadow paving

ALGONQUIN – Algonquin trustees will consider at their meeting Tuesday extending hours for construction on Longmeadow Parkway.

The current section is the second of five in the $115 million road project, and is expected to cost about $13 million, stretching from Randall Road to Karen Drive.

The road is being installed as a concrete pavement, according to a village memo, and requires specialized processes and equipment because of the magnitude of the project.

“Under the current working hours of the contract, these processes are greatly impacted and will have a negative impact to the quality and durability of the roadway,” Shawn Hurtig, project manager with the village, wrote in a memo. “These impacts range from excessive jointing and higher potential for cracking, to long-term issues, such as road noise and increased maintenance.”

Although the village’s code normally allows for construction work from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and between 8:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday, Plote Construction Inc., the general contractor of the Longmeadow Parkway project in Algonquin, is asking to extend hours for a maximum of two weeks from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., according to village documents.

In addition to the improvement in quality, the extension also is being requested to help make up for project delays.

“Due to a project suspension, above average rainfall, and the recent state budget impasse, the Longmeadow Parkway project is currently running behind schedule,” senior project manager with Plote Construction Joseph Weishaar wrote in a letter to the village. “The extended shifts would [save] time and assist in expediting the overall project completion.”

Weishaar could not be reached Monday for more information.

Construction on the section of the road in Algonquin previously had been stopped because of the possible presence of an endangered bumblebee and the state budget impasse.

Despite this, Kane County Department of Transportation Assistant Director Steve Coffinbargar has maintained the project will be completed by Nov. 15.

The Algonquin Committee of the Whole meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Ganek Municipal Center, 2200 Harnish Drive, Algonquin. To view the complete agenda, visit www.algonquin.org/

http://www.nwherald.com/2017/07/24/algonquin-trustees-to-consider-extending-construction-hours-for-longmeadow-paving/a3odoa1/.

Ocean Power Technologies Establishes a Houston Presence To Support Oil & Gas Business Development

PENNINGTON, N.J., July 25, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTT) ("OPT" or the "Company") announced today that it has established a presence in Houston, Texas to more effectively support the Company's oil & gas business development activities. David Marchetti, OPT's new Director of Global Applications, will manage the Company's daily business development activities in Houston. Mr. Marchetti brings an impressive set of technical and business skills he developed over his 28-year career in the oil and gas industry. He had held various positions with increasing levels of responsibility spanning from business development, engineering and product development, manufacturing and operations, to aftermarket. David has a proven track record and demonstrated expertise in oil and gas subsea production systems, remotely operated vehicle systems, and general machine design. In his global applications role for OPT, David's focus will be to work closely with customers to understand their challenges, and to develop unique solutions which integrate the OPT PowerBuoy in order to support customer subsea remote offshore operations from concept through deployment and beyond.

"Our expansion to Houston is a direct reflection of the interest level we're seeing in the oil and gas industry, as well as in other industries targeted for our products and services," stated George H. Kirby, President and Chief Executive Officer of OPT. "Having a presence in Houston's vibrant oil & gas hub is a critical part of serving prospective U.S. and international customers. David's presence in Houston will support business development activities by directly interacting with customers to identify opportunities, build business cases, and to liaise with our New Jersey-based engineering team to develop and implement robust solutions. We continue to evaluate new geographies where additional presence might position us for accelerated growth."

OPT's Houston presence is intended to foster new opportunities such as commercial contracts and strategic partnerships by establishing strong relationships throughout the sales cycle with solution evaluators, implementers and end users.

http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/ocean-power-technologies-establishes-a-houston-presenceto-support-oil--gas-business-development-20170725-00880

The South China Sea’s untapped oil and natural gas are back in focus

The contested South China Sea has large deposits of oil and natural gas. Perhaps luckily for the environment, drilling for these resources has been discouraged by political tension among nations in the region. In particular, energy companies worry about China’s ongoing insistence that everything within its infamous nine-dash line—which marks off nearly the entire sea—is its own territory, despite an international tribunal invalidating the sweeping claim last year.

The uncertainty has made it hard for energy companies to justify the hefty investments needed to extract carbon resources from below the sea floor. Recently, though the carbon resources have started to make headlines again, with Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines—and, of course, China—all involved. It’s a reminder that however quiet the issue gets at times, untapped energy riches are a key element to the South China Sea contest.


Reed Bank

Reed Bank (also called the Reed Tablemount) is one of the major prizes in the South China Sea. Located near the Philippines coast, it is believed to hold large reserves of oil and natural gas. The nation’s main source of natural gas, the Malampaya field, will run out in less than a decade.

Reed Bank clearly falls within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. As set forth by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, an EEZ extends 200 nautical miles (370 km or 230 miles) from the shore. (Reed Bank is 85 nautical miles off the coast.) While the zone can be treated as the high seas in most regards, all the resources within it belong to the coastal nation. The Philippines should be free to partner with any energy company it desires to extract those resources, and then use them as it sees fit.

According to the nine-dash line, Reed Bank belongs to China. When the Philippines has tried to explore there, China has stopped it. In 2011, Chinese patrol vessels nearly rammed a survey ship operating with permission from the Philippines. And in 2014, Manila criticized China for conducting regular “sovereignty patrols” in the area.

Now, Reed Bank is back in focus. On July 12, a Philippine energy official said drilling at Reed Bank could resume before year’s end, with Manila getting ready to offer new blocks to investors via bidding in December. Ismael Ocampo, an energy official, said he was hopeful that China would not complain or harass the crews of survey ships this time around.

That’s not a given. In May, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte said his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping had warned him there would be war if Manila tried to enforce last year’s tribunal ruling and drill for oil in disputed areas. Today (July 25), Duterte said that the Philippines and China will enter into joint oil exploration with China in those same parts, without saying when. That would conflict with Philippine law, however, as joint development within the country’s EEZ is prohibited by the constitution. It remains to be seen how that conundrum plays out.

Vietnam

Vietnam recently stopped a gas drilling operation located about 400 km (250 miles) off its southeast coast after receiving threats from China, according to a BBC report this week. While Vietnam had leased the area to one company, China had leased it to another. China threatened to attack Vietnamese bases in the Spratly islands unless the drilling stopped, according to the report.

“China urges the relevant party to stop its unilateral actions that infringe upon China’s rights and safeguard with concrete actions the sound situation in the South China Sea that does not come easily,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said today at a regular briefing.

It wasn’t the first tussle between the two countries over energy resources in the sea, though it was the first in a while. In 2012, Vietnam protested the China National Offshore Oil Corporation inviting foreign companies to bid for oil exploration blocks falling well within Vietnam’s EEZ. And in 2014 China moved a massive mobile oil rig into another bit of contested water, sparking deadly anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam. (China eventually removed the rig.)
The North Natuna Sea

On July 14, Indonesia announced a new name—the North Natuna Sea—for the northern reaches of its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. Again, the nine-dash line overlapping with an EEZ was a big reason why. Within the overlapping area is the East Natuna Gas Field, one of the larger such fields in the world.

Indonesia isn’t the first nation to counter China’s nine-dash line with a name change: In 2012 the Philippines renamed the part of the South China Sea off its western side the West Philippine Sea.

In response to Indonesia’s name change, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that “South China Sea” has widespread international recognition. He added, “Certain countries’ so-called renaming is totally meaningless. We hope the relevant country can meet China halfway and properly maintain the present good situation in the South China Sea region, which has not come easily.”

Indonesia has also apprehended or chased off Chinese fishing vessels in the area in recent years, as another way of asserting its sovereignty.

There’s ongoing debate as to how much oil and gas the South China Sea actually holds, with some contending the potential riches are overblown and others arguing they’re underestimated. With surveying made difficult by politics, it’s hard to determine either way

https://qz.com/1037896/south-china-seas-untapped-oil-and-natural-gas-back-in-focus/

South Alabama Football Facility Construction Collapses During Thunderstorm

The University of South Alabama's football practice facility collapsed Saturday in Mobile, Alabama, during construction.

South Alabama athletic director Joel Erdmann tweeted a photo of the scene:

The school also released the following statement regarding the matter, per Dennis Pillion of AL.com:

"At approximately 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, the structure of the Jaguar Training Center, a covered athletics practice facility that is under construction on the University of South Alabama campus, fell within the construction limits of the site. No workers were present in that area at the time.

"University Police secured the scene of the event, which is under investigation. No determination has been made at this time about the cause."


While thunderstorms have ravaged the area recently, associate athletic director Brian Fremund said it hadn't yet been determined if they played a role in the collapse of the facility, per Pillion.

Alyssa Newton of WPMI tweeted a video of the wreckage:

Nicole Fierro of Local 15 News provided several photos of the aftermath as well:

According to Pillion, the original plan for the facility was for it to be completed in late 2017.

There is no current timetable for completion, but Erdmann said the school is considering several options, including retrying the original plan or creating a new one, per WKRG.

South Alabama has been an FBS school since entering the Sun Belt Conference in 2012.

Last season, the Jaguars went 6-7 and reached a bowl game for just the second time in the brief history of the program.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2723485-south-alabama-football-facility-construction-collapses-during-thunderstorm

Oil and gas efforts to recruit women aren't working

But the oil and gas industry also has a serious - and perhaps worse - gender gap. Women make up only 14.5 percent of the workforce in the industry, according to the Labor Department, compared with 25.5 percent of computer and mathematical occupations and 47 percent of the workforce overall.

The reasons those gender divides exist are different across the two industries. But the remedies, according to a comprehensive study by the consulting firm BCG, are similar: Upper management needs to be dead serious about the problem and convey it's a priority to people doing the hiring.

"It's not going to work its way out," said Andrea Ostby, the head of BCG's Houston office. "Just talking about it is not going to fix the problem. What I think we haven't seen across the board is that rigor and focus."

The study, which was conducted in conjunction with the World Petroleum Congress and included all of the major national and international oil companies, found that the already-small proportion of women in oil and gas worldwide are concentrated in non-technical, non-supervisory positions. That's important, because being promoted through the ranks usually requires field experience, ideally in engineering or operations, and many companies still consider separate facilities for women on well sites a "discretionary expense."

BCG's surveys and interviews also indicate that women and men see obstacles to advancement differently. For example, when asked why women didn't reach upper levels of management, women identified a lack of support and female candidates being overlooked. The top reasons for men: There aren't enough women to choose from, and women tend to be less flexible than men.

"It indicates that the workforce doesn't even really see that there's an issue," Ostby said.

But it's likely to become a bigger problem, as much of the industry's workforce approaches retirement. Even today, companies are scrambling to find workers for active drilling areas like the Permian Basin in West Texas and are still drawing on mostly men.

The Texas Oil and Gas Association, which represents many oil production and services companies in Texas, declined to comment.

Katie Mehnert, who runs Pink Petro, an organization for women in oil and gas, said the way to move the needle is to convey that female representation is a priority, setting baselines for recruiting and evaluating them based on whether they meet their goals.

But, studies show, Americans tend to react negatively to anything seen as a quota. While Europeans respond well to gender ratios, according to forthcoming research from BCG, Americans see them undermining merit-based hiring.

Ostby said that can be dealt with by setting goals that are enforced on a case-by-case basis.

"You don't have to use them in a quota-esque way," she said. "But what you can say is, 'Hey, Mr. Male Manager, you haven't promoted any females in the last five years, why is that, and what are you going to do to address that?"

http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Oil-and-gas-efforts-to-recruit-women-not-working-11306581.php

Man pleads guilty to illegally dumping construction and demolition debris in Hurleyville

MAMAKATING – A Poughkeepsie man pleaded guilty in Town of Fallsburg Court Tuesday night to illegally dumping construction and demolition debris in Hurleyville.

Peter M. Fasce of Poughkeepsie admitted to illegally dumping more than 70 cubic yards of construction and demolition debris and to using that debris to fill in protected wetlands.

Fasce was granted a conditional discharge on the first charge and fined $1,003 on the second.

Court records say that sometime in 2015 and continuing to March and April 2016, Fasce arranged for several trucking firms to deliver what was supposed to be clean fill. Instead, it contained construction and demolition debris - tiles, metal, drywall, styrofoam and lumber, among other things. The material was dumped on property at the intersection of Hill and Main streets in Hurleyville, which was not a legal dump site.

According to court records, Fasce arranged for the deliveries by several trucking firms. Neither the firms nor the property owner was charged, according to the court.

Fasce and two of the dump truck drivers were charged by DEC officers on May 15, 2016. The drivers, Alberto Santiago and Michael Whitley, are scheduled to appear Sept. 4 in Fallsburg Town Court.

Fasce declined to comment Tuesday night. Tim Havas, executive director of the Legal Aid Society of Sullivan County, said his agency was assigned to represent Fasce and declined further comment. The Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, could not be reached Wednesday.

http://www.recordonline.com/news/20170719/man-pleads-guilty-to-illegally-dumping-construction-and-demolition-debris-in-hurleyville

Construction crews stay busy at schools during summer break

RAYTOWN, Mo. - School may be out for the summer, but work continues inside many schools in Raytown.

Summer break is when renovations take place, and construction crews are down to the wire with a July 31 deadline.

One general contractor for the district said this is their busiest, most stressful time of the year as summer break continues to shorten.

http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/construction-crews-stay-busy-at-schools-during-summer-break

Minnie Mouse-themed transportation service begins next week at Disney World

A Minnie Mouse-themed transportation service will roll out at Disney next week, complete with polka-dot passenger vans.

Guests at Disney's Boardwalk Resort and Disney's Yacht & Beach Club will be the first able to summon vehicles, driven by Disney employees, from their smart phones, according to the official Disney official blog.

The service will take guests "anywhere you wish at the resort in a magical way that only Disney can do," according to the blog.

The cost of the service has yet to be announced.

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2017/07/19/minnie-mouse-themed-transportation-service-begins-next-week-at-disney-world

Worker Injured After Fall at Facebook Construction Site in Menlo Park

For the second time in a matter of months, a construction worker was injured after falling at the site of an under-construction Facebook building in Menlo Park, according to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

The latest incident occurred Tuesday morning when a worker, who was wearing his safety harness and rigging, fell 10 to 15 feet from the steel framing on the building's fourth floor, according to fire officials.

"Fortunately, the steel worker was wearing his safety harnesses and rigging, which probably helped to prevent significant injury or even death," Menlo Park Fire Protection District Chief Harold Schapelhouman said in a statement.

The worker experienced significant pain and suffered both bruises and cuts, fire officials said. He was transported to a nearby hospital.

The worker was walking along a piece of decking or steel when it was dislodged, sending the worker plummeting toward the third flood, according to fire officials. The worker's safety gear managed to catch him just before slamming into the floor.

Using a 107-foot-long aerial ladder, firefighters managed to lower the worker to the ground where an ambulance was waiting, according to fire officials.

Back in April, two other workers were injured at the same building after falling about 20 feet. Those workers were also wearing safety equipment that stopped them before they could actually hit the ground.

"This is the second time we’ve been out here in the last three months for injured steel workers falling from the building," Schapelhouman said in a statement. "That’s not only very unusual, but it deeply concerns me."

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Worker-Injured-Fall-Facebook-Construction-Site-Menlo-Park-435378953.html

Russia and Iran Help Syria’s Military Take Oil and Gas Fields From ISIS

The Syrian army and its allies have made major gains against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) southwest of its de facto capital of Raqqa, allowing the government to retake a number of lucrative oil wells that once helped fund the jihadists’ self-proclaimed caliphate.

With support from Russian airstrikes and Iran-backed militias, Syrian troops have pierced ISIS defenses in Raqqa’s western countryside in recent months, most recently retaking al Daylaa oil field and Zamla gas field Monday, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency and Reuters. The advances follow a series of reported victories in Wahab, al Fahd, Dbaysan, al-Qseer, Abu al Qatat and Abu Qatash oil fields over the weekend and other recent wins over oil facilities formerly held by ISIS in Syria’s vast southeastern desert, signaling major progress for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s efforts to regain control of the war-torn nation.

“Units of our armed forces regained the al Daylaa oil field in rural southwestern Raqqa, defeating a number of ISIS terrorists and destroying three vehicle bombs,” the Syrian Ministry of Defense said Monday in a statement.

After staging a direct military intervention at Assad’s request in September 2015, Russia joined Iran as a primary partner of Syria’s armed forces in a war that has lasted more than six years, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions. This international support has helped the military regain large swathes of territory lost to jihadists and insurgents who have attempted to overthrow the government since 2011. As forces supportive of Assad close in on what’s left of ISIS’ territory, however, they have been countered on both fronts by the presence of another foreign power: the U.S.

U.S. Special Forces, whose presence the Syrian government has deemed illegal, have trained and assisted both the majority-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Army and certain elements of the majority-Arab Free Syrian Army in their battle against ISIS, as well. The latter is a primary opponent of pro-government forces, though, compelling the U.S. to unilaterally declare a “deconfliction zone” near al-Tanf, located by the trilateral border crossing of Syria, Iraq and Jordan.

U.S. forces have attacked fighters supportive of Assad at least three times in the southern Badia region, but the Syrian military and its allies have managed to secure large swathes of territory outside the U.S.-proclaimed restricted area. Other recent gains in the central province of Homs include the Hail and Arak oil fields northeast of the ancient city of Palmyra, from which ISIS was dislodged earlier this year. The region has seen heavy fighting in the past few days, Reuters reported, as ISIS attempts to hold on to crucial oil revenues. U.K.-based security group IHS Jane Conflict Monitor said last month ISIS’s average monthly oil production in Iraq and Syria was down some 88 percent from 2015, when the ultraconservative Sunni Muslim group’s prospects were much brighter.

Northeast of the Syrian army’s advances in Raqqa Monday, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces continued to close in on remaining ISIS-held neighborhoods in Raqqa city. Despite widely spread rumors that the Syrian Democratic Forces had suspended their campaign Monday due to heavy casualties, U.S. Central Command’s Combined Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve confirmed Tuesday that its local allies continued their advance against ISIS and had made major gains in recent weeks.

“These reports are not true. The SDF have NOT suspended military operations. In fact, over the course of the last week, the SDF have cleared more than 35 km2 [21.75 miles squared] of ISIS-held territory in and around Raqqa,” the Kuwait-based, anti-ISIS command told Newsweek in an email.

The Syrian Democratic Forces and Syrian military are both heavily involved in the fight against ISIS, but differ over the country’s political future. Kurdish militant groups, such as the People’s Protection Units (YPG), demand greater Kurdish autonomy for northern Syria, something the Syrian government fears could lead to independence and, ultimately, the division of Syria. Most of Syria’s oil fields are currently under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

http://www.newsweek.com/russia-iran-help-syria-military-take-oil-gas-fields-isis-638420

Engineers Begin Preparatory Work for Border Wall Construction

WASHINGTON — The United States Army Corps of Engineers has begun preliminary preparations for the construction of segments of a wall in several places along the border with Mexico, the Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday.

Engineers are drilling and taking soil samples to determine what type of barriers would be most effective in the different types of geography along the border, said David Lapan, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.

The drilling and soil testing are taking place in El Paso; Santa Teresa, N.M.; Calexico, Calif.; San Diego; and the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. Mr. Lapan said the testing has been completed in El Paso and Calexico. The agency has identified the San Diego area and the Rio Grande Valley as priority regions for new border walls.

The drilling and testing come as Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol, continues to evaluate dozens of proposals that have been submitted by vendors for designs for a border wall.

President Trump mandated construction of the wall in an executive order in January. In March, the Department of Homeland Security put out a call for prototypes of a “physically imposing” and “aesthetically pleasing” border wall. The structure would also be designed to prevent climbing and tunneling.

The president’s plan to build a border wall was part of a contentious budget fight in Congress this year. The administration was seeking $3.6 billion in the 2017 and 2018 budgets for just over 100 miles of wall. But members of Congress — Democrats and Republicans — have so far declined to provide funding for the project and instead expanded funding to increase the use of technology such as sensors at the border.

On Tuesday, though, the House Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill that included $1.6 billion for a wall. The bill would fund 74 miles of fencing along the southwest border.

The Department of Homeland Security has moved $20 million from other programs to pay for the construction of several border wall prototypes. Construction of the prototypes for a border wall is set to begin this summer in the San Diego area.

Homeland Security officials said the prototypes would be added to the existing border walls in San Diego and would allow the agency to evaluate which barriers are most effective in giving Border Patrol agents time to respond to illegal drugs and human smuggling. Officials said they planned to build four to eight prototypes.

Mr. Trump initially spoke of building a “big, beautiful” wall along the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico. But last week, he scaled back that plan, saying the length of the wall could be as little as 700 miles.

“You don’t need 2,000 miles of wall because you have a lot of natural barriers,” Mr. Trump said in a conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One last week. “You have mountains. You have some rivers that are violent and vicious. You have some areas that are so far away that you don’t really have people crossing. So you don’t need that. But you’ll need anywhere from 700 to 900 miles.”

Mr. Trump also said the wall would be partially transparent and could have solar panels to help offset the cost. Mr. Trump has pledged that he would make Mexico pay for the wall, a notion flatly rejected by the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto.

Significant opposition to a wall has also developed in some communities along the border. In Texas, much of the land needed for a wall is private, and there is bipartisan opposition from most of the state’s congressional delegation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/us/politics/border-wall-construction.html

Virginia’s transportation board is expected to vote Wednesday to clear the way for testing of self-driving cars on interstates 95 and 495 express lanes.

Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne said the tests, a cooperative endeavor that involves the state, the Federal Highway Administration and Transurban, the company that manages the express lanes, fits with the type of technological innovation the Commonwealth Transportation Board seeks to foster in Virginia.

The testing program, which will begin before the end of the year, Layne said, will examine speed harmonization to improve congestion, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, how the vehicles function alongside traditional cars, and whether they can be operated as “platoons” to increase road capacity, among other facets of the emerging technology.

The express lanes, also called High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes, are an ideal proving ground because of the technology they employ to track traffic flow.

“These are some of the smartest roads in the country,” Layne said. “The technology exists in the road to help communicate with the car.”

Charlie Kilpatrick, VDOT’s commissioner of highways, told the board at its Tuesday workshop meeting that the testing program is a “great opportunity” for Virginia to be the venue for applying “real-world scenarios” for autonomous cars, which the Federal Highway Administration says offer the promise of better safety, less congestion, lower emissions and less wasted fuel and time.

Layne said the tests will start with the roughly hour and a half window twice a day when the lanes are closed to switch the direction of traffic flow. Later, the self-driving cars will be merged onto the road with regular traffic.

Having the tests here gives the state the advantage of gathering first-hand information on how the vehicles function on managed and general purpose highway lanes as well as displaying that “Virginia is a welcoming place to do business” for the automakers and other companies that will be conducting the testing, he added.

“We just wanted to be seen as a place where they had the opportunity to be able to do that,” Layne said.

Virginia law requires that there be an operator in the vehicle while the testing is taking place.

http://www.richmond.com/news/state-transportation-board-to-approve-testing-of-self-driving-cars/article_89971e9f-7cd6-53b0-8c42-9d5e2d77c0c7.html

Clean Energy Is Trouncing Oil, Gas and Coal in Trump Era

President Donald Trump took office vowing to revive the coal industry’s fortunes. So far, the smart money has been on clean energy.

An index of 40 publicly-traded solar companies, wind-turbine component makers and others that benefit from reduced fossil fuel consumption is up 20 percent this year. That’s more than double the S&P 500’s 9.8 percent gain. And better than the 8.3 percent rise by an index of leading coal companies.

The eco-friendly stock rally -- which comes as oil and natural gas-focused shares have dipped -- stems from a constellation of factors, including a Nevada law to boost rooftop solar, China’s mass-transit policy and optimism that Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. might deliver its Model 3 sedan on time. In short, Trump’s pro-fossil fuel agenda hasn’t damaged investor support for clean energy.

“Nothing dreadful has happened, and these companies continue to execute,” said Jenny Chase, Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s lead solar analyst.

As clean-energy stocks climb, investors have pumped more money into wind and solar. U.S. investments totaled $14.7 billion during April, May and June, up 51 percent from the previous quarter to mark the highest level since 2015, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. European investments rose 10 percent, to $8.8 billion.

“We are seeing catalysts for these markets driven by the fact that people increasingly realize clean energy is more profitable than conventional energy,” said David Richardson, an executive director at Impax Asset Management, which focuses on sustainability and has about $8.7 billion under management, up 32 percent this year.

Solar stocks are performing especially well under Trump. Sunrun Inc., the largest independent U.S. rooftop panel installer, is up 32 percent, closing Monday at $7.01. That rally has been fueled in part by a Nevada law passed in June to make solar more affordable for the state’s homeowners. Nevada gets more sunshine than almost anywhere in the nation, but it’s been a dead-zone for solar since regulators slashed rooftop panel subsidies in 2015. The new legislation largely restored those credits.

Solar manufacturers are rallying, too. First Solar Inc., the largest American panel maker, has gained 33 percent, to $42.72. Average panel prices, which plunged 35 percent last year, have begun to stabilize, falling just 8 percent since December, to 33 cents per watt. The market shift stems from solar developers aggressively stocking up on panels, fearing that a pending federal trade case could lead to tariffs on imported equipment.

“It created some tailwind for the manufacturers,” said Sophie Karp, an analyst at Guggenheim Securities.

Some of the biggest clean-energy gainers include fuel cell manufacturers, which use liquid hydrogen to generate electricity through a chemical process that emits only water. While hydrogen-powered engines have been slow to catch on in cars -- largely because of a lack of fueling stations -- China has been pushing to use the technology in buses.

As Beijing has beefed up investments this year, fuel cell maker Hydrogenics Corp. has nearly doubled, to $8.70. Ballard Power Systems Inc. is up 73 percent, to $2.86.

Electric car maker Tesla is up 50 percent this year as the company has begun limited production of its Model 3 sedan, its cheapest vehicle yet. Musk says he expects production to reach 20,000 cars a month by December.

In the end, some of the clean-energy gains may be fleeting. The trade case that’s driving up solar panel prices may ultimately lead to tariffs that analysts warn could slow overall demand. Fuel cell companies have a long history of ephemeral rallies. And Tesla’s stock has been slipping since its June 23 peak after a troubling quarterly sales report and ongoing concern about its ability to mass produce. It closed down 2.5 percent Monday, at $319.57.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-18/clean-energy-is-trouncing-oil-gas-and-coal-in-trump-era

Report: $5.4 billion in construction set in, around downtown Detroit

At least $5.4 billion in real estate development and redevelopment projects are underway or proposed in and around downtown Detroit the next three years, according to report recently released by an international real estate firm.

The report, prepared by CBRE Inc., says that figure includes 6,091 multifamily residential units, 1,196 new hotel units and 2.1 million square feet of office space.

Of the $5.4 billion, $4.23 billion is in mixed-use building construction and conversion. Multifamily construction makes up $892.9 million, while office ($202.6 million), hotel ($100 million) and retail ($4 million) round out the pack of more than 70 projects under construction or proposed.

The development rush is being sparked by a tight multifamily market, where the vacancy rate is around 5 percent, and limited availability of large blocks of office space that don't require substantial upgrades or renovations. Much of the multifamily demand is being driven by downtown workers who want to live near their offices.

John Latessa, president of CBRE's Midwest Division, said that while the numbers in some sectors "jump off the page," it's important to remain cautious.

"There has been so much interest in the Detroit markets in a broad range, from retail to residential and office," he said. "The story is still unfolding, and this is to capture where we have been to date, at least through 2020."

He continued: "The other big question that everybody asks is whether it's sustainable." Experts will have to revisit "these project numbers and counts and these various buckets (residential, office, retail and hotel) to be sure they are carrying on."

Samuel Beck, the CBRE research coordinator who authored the report, said data was gathered from news stories and other sources and entered into a spreadsheet to come up with the figures used. The report lists more than 70 projects in varying stages of the development process.

A substantial portion of the investment is being led by Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. and Rock Ventures LLC, and the Ilitch family, which is working on the multibillion dollar District Detroit project spread over more than 45 blocks with a variety of office, residential, hotel, retail and other uses. Other prominent developers including The Platform LLC and The Roxbury Group have made headway with projects in Midtown and the New Center area, among others.
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20170717/news/634076/report-54-billion-in-construction-set-in-around-downtown-detroit

Road worker struck, killed by car in Butler County

State police and OSHA officials are investigating after a member of a road paving crew was killed Tuesday morning when a work-site vehicle struck him in Butler County.

Police said Donald R. Moyer II, 51, of Franklin was part of a crew working on a paving project when he was hit around 7:30 a.m. along Great Belt Road at Becker Road in Jefferson Township, officials said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy had been scheduled.

The men worked for Wiest Asphalt Products & Paving.

State police said Mr. Moyer was standing behind a truck when a co-worker accidentally backed over him.

Officials with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating, along with state police.
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/north/2017/07/18/Construction-worker-struck-car-Butler-County/stories/201707180098

What If Big Oil’s Bet on Gas Is Wrong?

Talk to a Big Oil executive these days, and the chances are they’ll steer the conversation toward gas.

“In 20 years, we will not be known as oil and gas companies, but as gas and oil companies,” Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive officer of French giant Total SA, told a conference in St. Petersburg last month.

Pouyanne and his peers have pitched the fuel as a bridge between a fossil-fuel past and a carbon-free future. Gas emits less pollution than oil and can be burned to produce the power that grids will need for electric cars.

But with the cost of renewable technologies falling sharply, some are warning that the outlook may not be so rosy. Forecasters are beginning to talk about peak gas demand, spurred by the growth of alternative power supplies, in the same breath as peak oil consumption, caused by the gradual demise of the internal combustion engine.

In a long-term outlook published last month, Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicted that gas’s market share in global power generation will drop from 23 percent last year to 16 percent by 2040, and that gas-fired power generation capacity will start to decline after 2031. BP Plc has highlighted “risks to gas demand” as a key uncertainty, including the possibility that consumption plateaus by 2035, “squeezed out by non-fossil fuels.”

If those forecasts play out, it has huge implications for Total, BP and other oil majors already grappling with a possible surge in electric car use. Gas-exporting nations most notably Russia, Qatar and Australia will also be exposed. The global gas industry, based on multi-billion dollar pipelines and export plants, has decades long investment cycles and decisions being made today rely on rising demand until the middle of the century.

The energy transition is “fundamentally a force that cannot be stopped,” Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said last month. “It is both policy and public sentiment, but also technology that is driving it.” Oil demand will probably peak in the 2030s or 2040s, he said, while “gas will not peak before the 40s if not in the 50s.”

Shell is still betting heavily on the future of gas after last year’s $50 billion purchase of BG Group Plc, but it’s also planning to spend $1 billion a year on new energy technologies such as renewables.

“There’s no question that gas usage declines over time,” Geisha Williams, CEO of PG&E Corp, the largest investor-owned utility in the U.S., said at a conference in San Francisco. “But I don’t think it’s overnight. I think it’s something that we have to manage.”

Until recently, the energy industry had been hoping that natural gas would play the role of a bridge fuel between polluting coal and emissions-free renewables. That’s because producing electricity from gas generates around half the carbon dioxide emissions that burning coal does. The International Energy Agency predicted a “golden age of gas.”

But rapid changes in the economics of renewables, combined with low coal prices, have put that outlook in doubt. The IEA last week predicted global gas demand for power generation would rise just 1 percent a year in the next six years, down from 4 percent a year in 2004-2010.

Driving the shift has been a sharp decline in the cost of building new renewable power –- which, unlike generating electricity from coal or gas, is almost free to run after the initial capital investment has been made.

“Wind and solar are just getting too cheap, too fast" for gas to play a transitional role, said Seb Henbest, lead author of the BNEF report.

The consultant estimates that onshore wind and solar power are already competitive with coal and gas in Germany, and that within five years they will be cheaper to build than new coal and gas plants in China, the U.S. and India. By the late 2020s, it will start to even be cheaper to build new onshore wind and solar power than run existing coal and gas plants.

The trends that are undercutting optimism about the global gas outlook are already playing out in Europe. Natural gas demand remains well below a 2010 peak, as greater energy efficiency, rapid adoption of renewables and resilient coal consumption cut into its market share.

The IEA does not see European gas demand returning to its 2010 high. In its base case scenario, European gas demand would be at the same level in 2040 as in 2020.

Still, most forecasts anticipate strong growth globally for natural gas demand for two decades or more. In the U.S., plentiful cheap supplies thanks to the shale boom helped gas displace coal as the primary fuel for power generation for the first time last year.

The IEA sees global natural gas demand growing almost 50 percent by 2040. Exxon Mobil Corp. sees a 44 percent increase. BP’s base case forecast is for a 38 percent increase in demand by 2035.

Several things could upend those predictions.

Much of the forecast growth in gas demand is dependent on China and India adopting policies that favor gas rather than coal in an attempt to improve air quality. The Chinese government, for example, has set a goal of getting as much as 10 percent of its energy from gas by 2020 and 15 percent by 2030, up from 6 percent in 2015. The country also plans to more than double import capacity by 2025. If that doesn’t happen, gas demand could peak sooner.

And the power sector, while the largest single source of natural gas demand, only accounts for 40 percent of the market. By contrast, nearly 60 percent of global oil use is as a transport fuel and vulnerable to the rise of electric vehicles.

“The future of oil is down to whether electric vehicles take off or not; the future of gas is quite nuanced,” said James Henderson, director of natural gas at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. “Gas producers are talking about how to adapt to a different type of gas market.”

While the outlook for wind and solar for power generation appears limitless, renewables will have a harder time replacing fossil fuels in other sectors. The IEA last week said industry will drive gas demand’s 1.6 percent a year growth through 2022 as it replaces crude oil as a raw material for petrochemical manufacturing, especially in the U.S.

“Gas will play a significant role in the decades to come,” Johannes Teyssen, chief executive officer of EON SE, told Bloomberg on May 24. “Coal will decline much, much faster, but gas probably needs also to accept that its own role will not grow to eternity."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-17/big-oil-sees-salvation-in-gas-but-what-if-it-s-the-wrong-bet

House panel backs bill to slash Transportation funding

A House panel approved legislation late Monday evening that would slash funding for the Department of Transportation (DOT) after rejecting a Democratic effort to add a $200 billion infrastructure package to the bill.

In a 31-20 vote, the House Appropriations Committee backed a spending measure to provide $17.8 billion in discretionary funding for the DOT in fiscal 2018. That figure is $646 million less than current levels — a 3.7 percent decrease — but is $1.5 billion more than what President Trump requested for the agency.

Rep. David Price (D-N.C.), ranking member on the subcommittee on transportation, housing and urban development, offered an amendment that would provide $200 billion to upgrade the country’s roads, rails, airports, ports and other public works.

The move was designed to highlight the lack of progress on Trump’s yet-to-be-unveiled infrastructure package, which officials have said will inject $200 billion in federal dollars to the country’s transportation system. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to make the issue a 100-day priority.

“We were assured by the president that infrastructure would be a priority, yet a plan for infrastructure keeps getting pushed back, back, back,” Price said. “Believe me, this country ... might even conclude we’re putting our money where our mouth is” if the panel adopted the amendment.

But Republicans rebuffed Price’s proposal on the basis that it would cause the spending legislation to go over its funding allocation — a common rebuttal to Democratic amendments that were offered on Monday.

“If this were adopted, it would prevent this bill from going to the floor,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), chairman of the Transportation subcommittee.

Democrats have criticized Trump for promising massive investments in infrastructure while also proposing cuts for the DOT in his budget request.

The House DOT spending measure doesn’t exactly mirror the White House’s budget proposal, but it does fulfill some components. The bill would entirely eliminate the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program, which Trump proposed killing in his budget request.

The $500 million a year program, which was created by the Obama administration but was never actually authorized by Congress, is a popular funding tool among cities and states because of its wide range of eligibility.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who called out a number of lawmakers whose districts benefited from a TIGER grant, unsuccessfully tried to attach an amendment to the spending bill to restore funding for the program.

“We cannot eliminate one of the most important tools we have to improve our roads, our rails and other transportation modes,” she said.

Diaz-Balart emphasized that the program has never been authorized and was not requested by the administration.

“Frankly, it’s unclear how DOT would choose to prioritize funding for such programs,” he said. “And we had to make choices. So instead, this bill provides significant increases for authorized infrastructure programs.”

The DOT spending bill also reduces funding for the Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program, known as New Starts, by $660 million, bringing its total funding to $1.75 billion. The panel rejected another amendment from Price that would have restored funding for the transit program.

The committee also rejected a proposal from Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), ranking member on the full panel, to provide $199 million for a train safety technology known as positive train control, which all railroads will eventually be required to install.

Diaz-Balart pointed out that the last highway bill already included $199 million for the automated technology.

“We approved the full $199 million,” he said. “So at this stage, I cannot support this amendment.”

Appropriators ensured that $900 million from New Starts and the money leftover from cutting TIGER grants would go toward a critical rail-and-tunnel project in the Northeast.

Supporters of the so-called Gateway Program — which was developed to rehab the passenger rail connection between New York and New Jersey — have questioned Trump’s commitment to the project, which the states, Amtrak and Obama administration agreed to help fund.

But the DOT recently withdrew from the program’s board of trustees, and Trump proposed limiting funding for New Starts in a way that would have excluded Gateway, alarming advocates of the project.

The rest of the DOT spending bill would allow $45 billion from the Highway Trust Fund to be spent on the Federal-Aid Highways Program, provide $1 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration’s modernization program and prohibit funding for high-speed rail in California.

It rejects Trump's proposal to eliminate Essential Air Service and fully maintains the program, which helps provide air service in small and rural communities.

The measure also includes $100 million in new funding for automated vehicle research and development, which Congress has been increasingly focused on.

And it would prevent states from implementing their own meal and rest breaks for truckers, a controversial provision that Democrats have been fighting to keep out of transportation and aviation bills.

Price offered an amendment, which was rejected, that would have removed the trucking language and other policy riders.

“The majority seems to regard this bill as some kind of a court of appeals for trucking issues,” he said. “That’s not our role.”

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/342454-house-panel-backs-bill-to-slash-transportation-funding

Build more affordable housing, but don't stiff construction workers in the process

To the editor: Your editorial is wrong to suggest that removing the requirement in SB 35 that workers be paid the prevailing wage — the common wage paid to construction workers in any given area — will somehow ease the affordable housing crisis in California. Instead, it would help drive more than 400,000 construction workers and their families out of the shrinking blue-collar middle class. Try supporting a family of four in California on a residential construction worker’s average pay of around $42,000 on prevailing wage projects. (“Affordable housing at an impasse,” editorial, July 22)

Removing the prevailing wage mandate would force the families of plumbers, carpenters and other construction workers to compete in the underground economy where developers hire workers from street corners and pay no state or federal tax, no Social Security, no Medicare and of course no benefits. We cannot obtain affordable housing by driving millions more Californians into poverty.

Labor makes up about 15% of the total cost of any given prevailing wage residential project. Construction workers are not driving the housing shortage. The real culprit is the greed of developers and speculators. We see no editorials to curtail their massive profits.

Does anyone really believe that the money saved from restricting construction workers’ pay will wind up anywhere other than in developers’ pockets?

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-affordable-housing-construction-20170717-story.html

Trapped construction worker rescued from collapsed ditch

KNOX COUNTY - A construction worker who became trapped in a collapsed ditch on a West Knox County work site Tuesday night has been rescued.

According to the Knox County Sheriff's Office, the ditch collapsed while a backhoe was excavating on the work site on Waterville Way near Lovell Road. The 31-year-old worker became trapped in the ditch, and was going in and out of consciousness while officials worked to reach him, the sheriff's office said.

Rural Metro and the Knox County Rescue Square were able to free the man.

He was taken by Lifestar to UT Medical Center, and has multiple leg fractures.

The construction site is for a future assisted living facility.

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/trapped-construction-worked-rescued-from-collapsed-ditch/455922906

Hyperloop One completed the first full-scale test of its hyperloop technology in a vacuum environment on May 12th, the company announced today. In the test, the company’s hyperloop vehicle — which uses magnetic levitation, or mag-lev, technology — pulled 2 Gs while reaching 70 miles per hour down the length of the company’s test track in Nevada.

Hyperloop One also shared images of its new pod with The Verge. The aerodynamic pod is 28 feet long and constructed of structural aluminum and carbon fiber. Using electromagnetic propulsion and mag-lev technology, it’s designed to carry both cargo and human passengers at near supersonic speeds, Hyperloop One says.

Hyperloop One posted this video of the low-speed test. The company’s co-founder Shervin Pishevar and chief engineer Josh Giegel were also on CBS This Morning to talk up their accomplishment.

Pishevar described the test as the company’s “Kitty Hawk moment,” drawing a direct analogy with the Wright Brothers and their “first in flight” milestone. (Of course, Pishevar isn’t the only Silicon Valley big wig to draw on inspiration from the Wright Brothers; Google co-founder Larry Page has named his “flying car” startup Kitty Hawk.)

The company is now entering the next phase of testing with the goal of reaching 250 mph. A concept first conceived by Elon Musk in 2013, the hyperloop theoretically can send aluminum pods filled with passengers or cargo through a nearly airless tube at speeds of up to 750 mph.

“Hyperloop One has accomplished what no one has done before by successfully testing the first full scale Hyperloop system,” Pishevar said in a statement. “By achieving full vacuum, we essentially invented our own sky in a tube, as if you’re flying at 200,000 feet in the air.”

By conducting the test in private, Hyperloop One appears to be toning down some of its public rhetoric since the company’s much-hyped first test lasted only about two seconds. Conducted in May 2016, the test featured a 1,500-pound metal sled shooting down a short track before crashing into a pile of sand.

In October, Hyperloop One began construction of its 500-meter-long “DevLoop” test track, which became operational last April. The company says it will continue to run tests at DevLoop in the coming months to “validate its next-generation components and software.” The next phase of testing will showcase the Pod gliding along a longer track at faster speeds.

The company’s executives have been traveling the world in recent months, selling its vision of near-supersonic travel to government officials and investors. Despite being based in LA and building its test track in Nevada, Hyperloop One has mostly focused its attention outside the US. The company has feasibility studies underway in the United Arab Emirates, Finland and Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Moscow, and the UK. The company is also eyeing less than a dozen regions in the US as possible future locations for its ultrafast, futuristic transportation system.

To be sure, the hyperloop has a host of challenges to overcome before it can claim to revolutionize transportation. It’s very difficult to build anything new in the US, especially something as huge and enormously expensive as the hyperloop. This is an entirely new technology, built from scratch without any of the right-of-way allowances, land acquisitions, or regulatory approvals that other modes of transportation, like the railway, currently enjoy. Suffice, it will be many years before you are able to sit back and let the hyperloop whisk you away to your destination at its promised speeds.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/12/15958224/hyperloop-one-first-full-system-test-devloop

Worker killed at Woburn Public Library construction site

A worker was killed late Tuesday morning after he was apparently struck by a piece of rock that had broken free at a construction site at the Woburn Public Library, officials said.

The victim, described by authorities as a man in his 30s, was working alongside the foundation of the building at the time of the incident, a statement from the Middlesex district attorney’s office said.

Authorities have not yet released the victim’s identity.

The victim worked for the Schnabel Foundation, a subcontractor on the library renovation and construction project, according to a statement from another company, W.L. French Excavating Corporation, which had hired Schnabel to perform foundation work for the project.

At the time of the incident, Schnabel employees were working on the underpinning of the library, according to a statement from W.L. French.

The incident occurred just before noon Tuesday.

All construction activities will be halted for the remainder of Tuesday and on Wednesday, and city officials and construction crew leaders will meet Wednesday to discuss safety for the ongoing project, Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin said.

Officials said their thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the worker who died.

The mayor said authorities will be “collecting facts on the incident and try to determine exactly what happened at the excavation site.”

Matthew Consigli, president of Consigli Construction Co., Inc., a contractor on the library project, said it was a very difficult time and there was “a lot of camaraderie among people who have to work close together in a dangerous situation.”

Local officials and inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating, along with Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office.

The library renovation project is expected to be completed in September 2018.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/07/11/worker-killed-woburn-public-library-construction-site/BR370BJIaofG9yWt0rbftO/story.html