regulations

Workforce: Immigrants Play Key Role In Utility Construction
Jeff Griffin, Senior Editor
March 2009 Vol. 64 No. 3

Over the past several years, foreign-born workers have played an increasingly important role on most types of construction projects, including utility construction.

Trends Of The Illegal Alien Workforce
Jeff Griffin, Senior Editor
March 2009 Vol. 64 No. 3

Immigration attorney Elise Healy cites a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report that as of January 2007, there were estimated to be 7 million illegal Mexican aliens in the United States, up from 4.7 million from 2000.

Last Minute Bush Rule On Endangered Species Could Speed Gas Projects
Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor
February 2009 Vol. 64 No.2

A last-minute rule from the Bush administration limits the ability of federal wildlife officials and environmentalists to throw a monkey wrench into an application for construction of new gas transmission lines and LNG facilities.

U.S. Supreme Court wades into water war
February 2009 Vol. 64 No.2

The water war between North Carolina and South Carolina may soon go before the nation’s highest court.

NASSCO Obtains Favorable OSHA Ruling For Confined Space
Jeff Griffin, Senior Editor
November 2008 Vol. 63 No. 11

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has given verbal assurance to NASSCO that it will continue to consider the sewer rehabilitation work typically performed by its members as "maintenance" rather than "construction" as had been proposed in a rule change to OSHA's confined space standard, reports Irv Gemora, executive director of NASSCO.

Gas Infrastructure Commission Legislation Prompts Worries
Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor
October 2008 Vol. 63 No. 10

With Congress almost certain to pass a bill revising or eliminating its longstanding ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, interstate natural gas pipelines are trying to insure that any bill does not include an amendment setting up a national commission which would examine the adequacy of current federal policies governing the siting of natural gas infrastructure.

Some Dissatisfaction With DIMP
Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor
October 2008 Vol. 63 No. 10

While distribution companies and state regulators seem to be satisfied with the general outlines of the proposed distribution integrity management program (DIMP) announced on June 25 by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a number of questions are being raised by both groups about some of the proposal's murky details.

OSHA Proposes Change In Penalty Authority
Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor
October 2008 Vol. 63 No. 10

Pushed by a decision by a federal appeals court, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wants to make changes in its respirator and training standards which will allow it to assess a penalty on a company on a per employee violation basis. A decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 2005 said OSHA went beyond the language of those two standards in fining a Houston construction company for 11 violations of the asbestos standard, based on the fact that the company did not provide 11 employees with respirators or training for removing asbestos.

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