Hard Facts

Latest Episodes:

Resilient Policy Ideas Oct 02, 2019

Show notes

While work on the next surface reauthorization bill is still in its early stages, many see it as an opportunity to push for policies that would encourage resiliency, changing the way we plan, design, fund, and maintain facilities.

The goal is to make transportation, communications, water, and energy investments more durable in the face of increasingly strong weather events and rising sea levels.

The bi-partisan Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, based in the Washington, D.C. metro area, shares that view, stumping for action since offering its policy options to achieve climate resilient infrastructure in January 2018.

Kristiane Huber is the Center’s Resilience Fellow. She helped write the paper and visited the Hard Facts studio this week to talk about it.

Links:

Center for Climate and Energy Solutions

Policy Options for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure

Congress Weighs Concrete Bills Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

Climate and resiliency are hot topics in Washington and New York this week, with a second hearing on the subject in D.C. tomorrow and world leaders discussing the issue, among others, at United Nations meetings through Friday.

Last week’s House congressional panel addressed steps needed to reduce indutrial emissions.

The topic is similar at tomorrow’s hearing of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. In this episode, we examine resiliency and the legislative agenda impacting the cement and concrete industries with the Select Committee’s ranking member, Congressman Garret Graves, Republican from Louisiana.

BREAKING: Congress Hears Testimony on Industry Emissions Sep 18, 2019

Show notes

A House panel in Washington, D.C. today heard from the cement and concrete industry about steps needed to improve industrial emissions. Dr. Jeremy Gregory, Executive Director of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, testified before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

On this episode, we hear Gregory’s testimony, a few of the questions he fielded from lawmakers, and also the view shared by another hearing panelist, Ross Eisenberg, Vice President of Energy and Resources Policy for the National Association of Manufacturers.

Inside the Infrastructure Report Card Sep 11, 2019

Show notes

Not a day goes by without someone reminding us that our roads, bridges, and other transportation facilities get a failing grade from America’s civil engineers. You probably know the grade, because it’s quoted in almost every story on the topic.

We’ve heard people on this podcast talk about it. So we thought we’d talk to the people who issued it. This week, we explore the Infrastructure Report Card issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers, with Anna Denecke, ASCE’s Director of Infrastructure Initiatives.

Concrete Keeps Its Cool! Sep 04, 2019

Show notes

A recent guest column published in Time Magazine missed the mark in its criticisms of concrete as a building material. While concrete is known for its ability to reflect heat, the author, who also happened to be promoting a book, claimed otherwise. The journalist also expressed surprise that concrete eventually has to be replaced, apparently confused when citing a study giving America’s infrastructure a D+, the report a commentary on the lack of investment in public facilities, not the materials used to build them.

This week, Dr. Jeremy Gregory, the Executive Director of the Concrete Sustainability Hub at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, joins us to explain the science of concrete, telling us why it’s cooler, and how it’s able to last so long.

Ready to Mix it Up! Aug 28, 2019

Show notes

With Congress still away on summer vacation, we’re taking stock of the people who make up the cement and concrete industry. A few months ago we profiled several members of the North American Concrete Alliance. But we didn’t get to all of them before the legislative stove got hot.

So we’re playing catch up now, with Mike Philipps, the new President of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association. Here’s the conversation about policy, traffic congestion, and mixing trucks.

It’s all about the Benjamins! Aug 21, 2019

Show notes

The excitement over Senate EPW committee passage of a bill addressing surface transportation needs remains, but the reality is the unanimous vote to move the plan before the August break is only one step in a very long process, with the Finance Committee now tasked with the tough job of finding the money to fund the proposal.

Jon Deuser counsels the Portland Cement Association and others on transportation legislation and policy, drawing from almost two decades of experience in the Senate and House.

He tells Hard Facts the first vote was quick, and exciting, but that future action on a surface bill will take longer, predicting at least one extension to the current legislation will be needed before it expires at the end of next year.

States: Senators Pass 1st Test Aug 14, 2019

Show notes

States plan, design, build, and help fund the nation’s infrastructure. So how are they feeling about the Senate’s first attempt at a six-year reauthorization plan?

We posed that question to this week’s guest, Carlos Braceras, President of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and Executive Director of the Utah Department of Transportation.

We Have a Surface Bill! Aug 07, 2019

Show notes

It’s been a little more than a week since the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee delivered on a promise to unveil and pass America’s first look at the next national surface transportation reauthorization bill.

The bill, America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019, puts down a marker for spending and stakes out positions on several policy issues, including resiliency.

Rachel Derby, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Portland Cement Association (PCA), and James O’Keefe, a former EPW committee staffer who now advises PCA and others on federal policy and legislative issues, visit the Hard Facts studio to give their view of the new legislation.

Weather: There’s an Impact! Jul 31, 2019

Show notes

Weather is always a consideration when engineers design, and contractors build, our nation’s roads and bridges. But it’s becoming a bigger issue as the climate we’ve known forever has begun to change and grow stronger with each storm event.

Our guest is no stranger to the impacts of weather on the things we build. Pam Russell is a veteran journalist who covered Hurricane Katrina for the New Orleans Times Picayune. Today she writes for Engineering News Record.

We’ve gone through her most recent reporting on these issues and decided to ask her about some of those stories.