Pit & Quarry, September 2009

PITIIQUARRYS RRoadto ecovery SAFElEA LU expires Sept 30 RAMPING UP TO REBUILD AMERICA OPTIONS Full six year surface transportation authOrization bill as proposed by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee 450 billion total 337 billion for highways lS month extension of current law funded at current baseline as proposed by Obama administration and Senate Congress approves 7 billion for highway fund T he u s House of Representatives approved 7 billion on July 29 to temporarily boost the nearly empty HighwayTrusl Fund HTF before Congress August recess The vote was 363 68 to help the fund that provides states lIIilh about 40 billion per year in transportation const nlclion funding The Senate followoo on July 30 with a 79 17 vote of approval The aid will be financed through a transfer from the General Fund of the Treasury similar to the S8 billion transfer that occurred in Septemhcr 2008 Vith Congress approvj ng t he temporary trust fund measure lawmakers plan 10 address a longer term remedy after their August recess House Transport ation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Obersta r D Minn initially requested 53 bi llion for the HTF and the administration sought 5 billion to 7 billion Oberstar attempted to keep the fundi ng infusion to a minimum so he Survey QUESTION HAS YOUR REGION EXPERIENCED AN INCREASE IN AGGREGATE DEMAND OWING TO THE STIMULUS Bill Yes a lot 3 Yes a littie 25 No but e e to 500n 25 No 46 8 PIT QUARRY September 2009 can continue his push for a multi year reauthorization bill Three Senate committees with jurisdiction over parts of the surface trans portation bill have passed their respec tive sect ions of an IS month extension ofSA FETEA LU being advanced in the chamber and supported by the Obama admin istration William R Buechner vice presidcnt of eco nomics and research for the American Road Transportation Bu ilders Association said the Obama admi nist rations proposal 10 delay congressional enactment of a new six year federal surface transportation program ilwestment bi ll until March 201 I could submarine the ent ire stimulus effort to use infrastruct ure investment to create new jobs From the Field WHAT TYPE OF LONG TERM TRENDS 00 rou THINK THIS RECESSION WILL HAVE ON THE INDUSTRY I think that it will be a very slow climb out 01 the bottom of the recession to gel back to where we were This means that production will probably take a sharp dip in 2009 and then have an extended period of slower growth WHAT STRATEGIES OR CHANGES HAVE YOU IMPLEMENTED TO SURVIVE THE RECESSION In late 2008 we began to see that the recession was going to have a large impact on our region in 2009 so we began to adjust our business model for lower expected yolumes and a shifting product mix We place a high value on our workforce and continuity 01 jobs so we have avoided knee jerk reac tions making most of our adjustments in a planned and tapered way We are operating today on significantly reduced hours while maintaining our overall headcount and working to ensure high production rates when we are in production mOde As would be expected in these difficult market conditions we have also looked systematically at all categories of our budgets to ensure our spending has a high justification This includes our capital investment spending 00 YOU PLAN TO CONTINUE ANY OF THESE STRATEGIES POST RECESSION The recession forces every operator to look at how they do business and make adjustments We are in a constant tearning mode even in good times I m certain many of the things we are learn ing will persist in our bUSiness model beyond the recession but our core values remain the same We seek to be an industry leader in all aspects of our bUSiness and to provide our customers with high value products and services CHRIS UPP VICE PR SIDENT AND G NERAL MANAGER CONCO QUARRIES INC SPRINGFIHO MO WWW p lam1quany com