Regulatory
Report: California’s Regulated Water Utilities Invested More than $645 Million on Infrastructure in 2017
According to an analysis by the California Water Association (CWA), the state’s largest regulated water utilities invested more than $645 million in 2017 into improving and upgrading the infrastructure that delivers water to the communities they serve. CWA represents 100 water utilities regulated b..
US Government, Montana County Make Deal over Water System
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. government has asked a judge to approve an agreement with Beaverhead County to upgrade a small Montana community’s drinking water system after years of finding excessive contamination and numerous monitoring failures. The Department of Justice filed the proposed agreem..
Lake Erie Monitoring Study Shows High Phosphorous Levels
The Ohio EPA today released its Spring 2017 Western Lake Erie Tributary Water Monitoring Summary, which shows high levels of phosphorous are still headed to Lake Erie. Exacerbated by wet weather, the total phosphorus load in the Maumee River was elevated to more than twice the required reduction tar..
Teen Rescued After Fall into Drainage Pipe at Los Angeles Park
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 13-year-old boy who fell into a drainage pipe during an Easter outing at a Los Angeles park was rescued alive early Monday after an overnight search of the underground system, authorities said. The boy spent at least 12 hours in the system before he was found. “We located Jesse..
Court Denies Hawaiian County's Plea to Reverse Wastewater Ruling
WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — An appeals court denied Maui County’s request for a full-panel review of its Feb. 1 decision that the county pumped treated wastewater into injection wells at its Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility for more than three decades, thereby violating the Clean Water Act. “We’r..
New York Governor: Maintain or Increase Lake Ontario Outflows
New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo issued a letter to the U.S. Chair of the International Joint Commission (IJC) requesting that the entity maximize outflows from the Lake Ontario system to reduce the flooding risk for New Yorkers living and working along the shoreline. The letter was issued in advan..
FERC Denies Pipeline’s Request for More Time to Cut Trees
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal commission denied a request Wednesday from developers of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline to continue cutting down trees along the project’s route beyond an initial deadline designed to protect birds and bats. Dominion Energy, leading percentage owner of the natur..
Kentucky Auditor Examining Troubled Broadband Project
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s auditor is investigating the state’s troubled broadband project, but the report won’t be finished before lawmakers must decide whether to keep funding a venture that is years behind schedule and costing taxpayers millions of dollars in delays. Auditor Mike Har..
Vermont Gas Agrees to Independent Review of Pipeline
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont Gas Systems has agreed to an independent review of a pipeline project to address allegations of safety shortcuts. The company says it is confident in the integrity of the Addison Natural Gas Project pipeline, which was completed last year, but wants an outside expert ..
Minnesota Town Shuts Down Well, Water Tower
LAKE ELMO, Minn. (AP) — The Washington County community of Lake Elmo has shut down a municipal well and one of its water towers because of elevated levels of a chemical once discharged by the 3M Company. City officials say new information from state health officials about excess levels of perfluoro..
New York City Completes $71 Million Sewer and Water Infrastructure Upgrade Project
New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Vincent Sapienza and Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Acting Commissioner Ana Barrio today announced that construction has been completed on a $71 million infrastructure upgrade project in Flushing, Queens, that will ..
Atlanta to Receive Funding to Address Flooding, Improve Combined Sewer System
During Atlanta’s 17th annual Parks and Greenspace Conference, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms today announced that the city will be the first municipality in the country to be awarded a publicly-offered Environmental Impact Bond (EIB) for green infrastructure projects. Through a creative-financing op..
ETP Mariner East Liquids Pipe Spills More Fluid in Pennsylvania
(Reuters) – Pennsylvania environmental regulators on Monday issued another notice of violation to Energy Transfer Partners LP’s Sunoco Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids pipeline for releasing drilling fluids into a wetland. The company told the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (..
Virginia Regulators OK Key Mountain Valley Pipeline Step
OANOKE, Va. (AP) — Virginia environmental regulators have approved a key step forward for the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline. The state Department of Environmental Quality announced late Monday that it has approved erosion, sediment and storm water control plans for the natural gas pipeline..
FERC: Rover Pipeline Restoration Activities Not Completed by Deadline
Because of a failure to satisfactorily complete restoration activities at two compressor stations associated with the Rover Pipeline Project, FERC today ordered Energy Transfer Partners to file an account within the next two days detailing why such activities were not finished within the committed t..
Lawmakers Wary of Cost to Fund Kentucky Broadband Project
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Sending inmates to private prisons and building a high-speed internet network dominated the second day of budget talks Monday as lawmakers sought to resolve initial disagreements on how to spend more than $70 billion in public funds over the next two years. Lawmakers agreed to..
New Administrator Chosen for Louisiana Utility Commission
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s state utility regulatory agency has a new top administrator, chosen from within the agency’s ranks. The Louisiana Public Service Commission chose Brandon Frey to be its executive secretary, a position that oversees the day-to-day operations of the agency. Frey h..
Equipment Failure Causes Oregon Sewer Spill
MONMOUTH, Ore. (AP) – Officials say about 1.3 million gallons of partially treated sewage went into the Willamette River after an equipment failure at the city of Monmouth’s waste water treatment facility. The Statesman Journal reports that the city of about 10,000 people located near Salem waited ..
NTSB: Dallas Natural Gas Leaks Reported Some 2 Months Before Fatal Blast
DALLAS (AP) — A preliminary federal report indicates natural gas leaks were first detected in a Dallas neighborhood nearly two months before another leak led to a house explosion that killed a 12-year-old girl. The report released Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board says leaks in the..
Records: Virginia State Police Spent Nearly $50K on Pipeline Hearings
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Documents show Virginia State Police spent nearly $50,000 on personnel and equipment during public meetings on state permits for two controversial natural gas pipelines. The documents, obtained through a public records request and provided to The Associated Press, outline the a..
President Trump Signs Bill Preserving WaterSense Funding
In a victory for consumers, water utilities and water conservation advocates, the EPA’s WaterSense program will be funded at fiscal year 2017 levels until Sept. 30, 2018, as part of a $1.3 trillion government spending bill passed by Congress and signed today by President Donald Trump. Reflecting a ..
New York Awards $500,000 in Funding to Study Ice Jams and Flooding on Mohawk River
New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today directed the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to undertake a $500,000 flooding and ice jam study of the main-stem Mohawk River corridor. The study will analyze storm and ice-jam flood mitigation needs in high-risk areas and include recomm..
Draft EIS Released for Northeast Supply Enhancement Project
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today released the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project proposed by Williams, which would deliver approximately 400,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas to end-use residential and commercial customers..
North Dakota State Broadband Network to Be Upgraded
As part of a contract extension with the North Dakota Information Technology Department, the Dakota Carrier Network (DCN) and its 15 owner companies will upgrade the internet service of all North Dakota K-12 schools, higher education institutions and government to one gigabit by August 2019. The upg..
Ohio EPA Issues Latest Water Quality Report
The Ohio EPA today released its draft 2018 water quality report that outlines the general condition of Ohio’s waters and includes a list that identifies impaired waters that are not meeting their federal or state water quality goals, as well as waters that have improved to meet federal standards. T..
New York City Residents Encouraged to Repair Water Leaks as Part of Fix a Leak Week
In support of Fix a Leak Week, March 19-25, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is encouraging New Yorkers to identify and fix residential water leaks. DEP offers a full range of information on how to detect leaky pipes and toilets including leak detection tablets and a Ho..
Spending Bill Rejects Trump Effort to Gut Water Cleanups
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — President Donald Trump has gotten nowhere in his push to kill federal support for cleaning up some of the nation’s most prized waterways, as the U.S. House decided Thursday to keep funding at current levels — and in some cases, boost it. A $1.3 trillion spending package ..
UN Chief: Global Water Crisis has Widespread Impact
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on World Water Day that over 2 billion people lack access to safe water. The U.N. chief told diplomats and activists at Thursday’s launch of the International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development that “water is a ..
Algae Leads to 'Impaired' Designation for Western Lake Erie
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Ohio for the first time is designating the entire western end of Lake Erie as an impaired waterway because of the toxic algae that has fouled drinking water and closed beaches in recent years, officials said Thursday. The shallowest of the Great Lakes has seen its largest ..
IEEE Publishes 25 Gb/s Ethernet Standard for Enhanced Enterprise and Metro Network Applications Over Fiber
IEEE today announced it has published IEEE 802.3cc-2017—Standard for Ethernet Amendment: Physical Layer and Management Parameters for Serial 25 Gb/s Ethernet Operation Over Single-Mode Fiber. The new amendment to IEEE 802.3™ represents the first available industry standard developed specifically to ..
- PHMSA warns of heat risks in aging plastic gas distribution pipelines following deadly Pennsylvania explosion
- OSHA seeks $1.2 million fine after fatal trench collapse in Connecticut
- Phase 1 Alaska LNG pipeline advances with construction awards, pipe supply agreements
- OSHA issues 16 citations following fatal sewer confined space incident
- Gateway Tunnel construction faces shutdown next week as Trump withholds federal funding
- T-Mobile to expand fiber broadband infrastructure footprint with $4.9 billion Metronet acquisition
- First tunnel boring machines complete testing for Hudson Tunnel Project
- NWPX grows water infrastructure portfolio with Colorado precast facility
- Cityside launches $100 million fiber build in Corona, Calif.
- FiberLight to build 1,400-mile West Texas dark fiber network in $350 million expansion