Pit & Quarry, September 2012

EditEd by darrEn Constantino and kEvin yanik West Virginia senator introducing mine safety bill Increased consumption distributed evenly throughout United States The maps pictured show the DCG Inc estimates for the percent change in aggregates consumption for 2009 and 2013 by county What a difference four years make In 2009 only a few counties increased aggregates consumption mainly due to energy activity By 2013 the vast majority of counties will experience higher aggregates demand green versus red The widespread improvement comes mainly from the private segments residential and nonresidential The early signs of a housing rebound are now apparent after five years of falling demand There is enough pent up demand due to low building levels along with low mortgage rates and low home prices to provide a sustained upward trend in aggregates consumption for housing Additionally nonresidential activity is doing better as vacancy rates decline and slow job growth adds slightly to higher space demands DCG Inc U S Aggregates Forecast billion metric tons Date 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 TOT 286 240 194 199 198 193 197 RES 073 025 028 031 034 035 034 NRES 085 058 050 048 054 052 053 NBLD 128 157 116 120 110 106 110 The recent political agreement on the federal highway bill will put a floor under nonbuilding demand but it will not be enough to boost consumption in the near term Our outlook shows nonbuilding demand as flat until 2014 as state and local governments continue to dig out of their fiscal problems Overall it means modestly higher aggregates demand in 2013 before accelerating in 2014 as the economy finally picks up speed All of this is predicated on Congress implementing reasonable pro growth policies sometime in the next 12 months David Chereb David Chereb has many years of forecasting construction materials He received his Ph D in economics from the University of Southern California He can be reached at dc@ davidcherebgroup com N SSGA reports Sen Jay Rockefeller D W Va has introduced new mine safety legislation that includes a number of items seen in previous mine safety bills According to NSSGA the Rockefeller bill would increase civil and criminal penalties for operators while subjecting officers directors and agents to liability for knowing violations of the Mine Act or its regulations The bill would also redefine a significant and substantial S S violation to mean a violation that could contribute to the cause and effect of a safety or health hazard if there is reasonable possibility that such violation could result in injury or death A new maximum penalty of 150000 would also be imposed for an S S violation The new bill would also adopt a strong new pattern of violations system that codifies several aspects of the proposed rule put forward by MSHA last year expand MSHA subpoena power to include documents related to investigations and inspections and provide for a new layer of government accident investigation power by requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to appoint a panel to investigate any accident causing three or more deaths AggregAtes ForeCAst 2009 Aggregates Consumption By County Ch Yr Yr 2013 Aggregates Consumption By County Ch Yr Yr 6 PIT QUARRY September 2012 www pitandquarry com