Pit & Quarry, March 2010

An Inside Look Dont hold your breath T he idea that too many cooks spoil the broth is a great way to describe the trouble with Washington Given the complexity of any federal bill that manages to pass through Congress its amazing anything gets done at all Research highway funding and youll see exactly what I mean The variety of ideas for funding transportation infrastructure is dizzying and the complexity of the ideas is painful to those of us naive on the workings of Capitol Hill As an equipment magazine we dont often delve into politics but that is where much of our industry is focused as we hope for reauthorization of a multi year highway funding bill A multi year bill is important because it gives aggregate producers the confidence to make capital equipment purchases They like to know the projects will be there five years down the road before they drop hundreds of thousands of dollars on a piece of equipment Since 1978 Congress has passed highway legislation as part of large comprehensive multi year surface transportation acts The most recent one expired last September and short term extensions have been passed until something more long term can be agreed to But it might be awhile What were hearing from the people who know both on and off the record is that things arent looking good for a multi year bill to get passed this year And given the political climate in Washington it might be a long time before Congress has the stomach to pass a halftrillion dollar bill the likes of TEA 21 or SAFETEA LU Financially conservative politicians will have the upper hand in the approaching mid term elections which could make it even more difficult Joy Wilson president and CEO of the National Stone Sand Gravel Association told a group at the Cincinnati convention that the industry faces difficult challenges in its struggle to get a funding bill passed At press time NSSGA was asking members to encourage their representatives to pass a highway program extension already passed by the Senate which would extend the existing highway program through the remainder of this year This NSSGA said would give Congress time to complete work on a multi year reauthorization I guess the big question is if another enormous multi year highway bill has a chance of passing anytime soon Darren Constantino EDITOR IN CHIEF dconstantino@ questex com GIVEN THE POLITICAL CLIMATE IN WASHINGTON IT MIGHT BE A LONG TIME BEFORE CONGRESS HAS THE STOMACH TO PASS A HALFTRILLION DOLLAR HIGHWAY BILL www pitandquarry com 600 Superior Ave East Suite 1100 Cleveland OH 44114 216 706 3700 Fax 216 706 3710 E Mail info@ pitandquarry com EDITOR IN CHIEF Darren Constantino 216 706 3747 dconstantino@ questex com SENIOR EDITOR Brian Richesson 216 706 3748 brichesson@ questex com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Mark S Kuhar mkuhar@ questex com SAFETY EDITOR Carl R Metzgar cmetz46840@ aol com LAW EDITOR Michael T Heenan michael heenan@ odnss com WESTERN U S CORRESPONDENT Bill Elverman elvermanwrites@ yahoo com PRINT ELECTRONIC ADVERTISING PUBLISHER Rob Fulop 216 706 3741 rfulop@ questex com SALES MANAGER Dino Vitanza 216 706 3744 dvitanza@ questex com CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Dino Vitanza 216 706 3744 dvitanza@ questex com ART DIRECTOR Kim Traum PRODUCTION MANAGER Krystal Lund 218 279 8841 klund@ questex com DIRECTORY PRODUCTION MANAGER Angela Dumonson 218 279 8845 adumonson@ questex com PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Rhonda Sande MANAGER AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Debbie Gullian LISTS Ilene Schwartz Kroll Direct 216 371 1667 Fax 216 371 1669 ilene@ krolldirect com REPRINTS 800 290 5460 ext 100 pitandquarry@ theygsgroup com SUBSCRIPTIONS BACK ISSUES CUSTOMER SERVICE Phone 866 344 1315 or 847 763 9594 if outside the U S Fax 847 763 9694 Web www pitandquarry com subscriptions President Chief Executive Officer Kerry C Gumas Executive Vice President Chief Financial Officer Tom Caridi Executive Vice President Tony DAvino Executive Vice President Gideon Dean For Technology Research Aggregates Foundation SAND STONE GRAVEL And Education FOUNDER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 2 PIT QUARRY March 2010 www pitandquarry com