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Main addresses concerns of aggregate associations
MSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor Joe Main outlined a number of initiatives and reforms his agency has undertaken over the last two years in remarks Monday to several Midwest state aggregate associations. He also reflected on the disaster that killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch in April 2010 and described how the accident forced MSHA to reexamine safety and health. “It unquestionably shook the very foundation of mine safety and health, and caused all of us to take a deeper look at the weaknesses in the safety net expected to protect the nation’s miners,” Main says. “There has been an intense examination of that tragedy, and MSHA and the industry have undergone significant change as we have sought to find and fix deficiencies in mine safety and health.” Main points to an 8-percent decline in citations and orders issued from 2010 to 2011, as well as a 12-percent decline in the number of significant and substantial (S&S) citations and orders, as a sign of improvement throughout the industry.… Keep Reading
Operation fined $80K for emissions violations
New Hampshire-based Plourde Sand and Gravel Inc. has been fined $80,000 for not obtaining proper air emission permits for diesel generators it operated in two different cities. The Concord (N.H.) Monitor reports that Plourde Sand and Gravel has a history of environmental violations, including failing to keep proper records, installing generators without permission and being unresponsive to government requests, according to Allen Brooks, senior assistant attorney general for New Hampshire. As Brooks tells The Concord Monitor, the company operated more than an allowed number of diesel generators at its offices and that several generators were not registered. Brooks also says some generators were not operated properly, with exhaust stacks pointed downward or blocked with a "rain cap." Under a settlement signed last month, Plourde Sand and Gravel was fined $80,000, with $20,000 of that amount to be suspended if the company does not commit a violation over a three-year period. Plourde Sand and Gravel also must pay overdue fees for fines, which Brooks says amounts to about $18,000. Keep Reading
Ohio promoting aggregates awareness this week
The Ohio General Assembly has designated this week as Ohio Aggregates and Industrial Minerals Awareness Week. The goal is to educate the public, increase awareness and recognize the important contributions of the state's aggregates and industrial minerals industry to construction and transportation, as well as to the state's economic viability. The general assembly also plans to recognize the aggregates industry's environmentally responsible stewardship of the state's resources. Keep Reading
DOL sues mining companies for unpaid penalties
The U.S. Department of Labor, on behalf of MSHA, has filed complaints in U.S. district courts against mining companies in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire to collect $267,724 in unpaid civil penalties resulting from federal mine safety violations. The complaints also seek injunctions and cash performance bonds from each mine operator to guarantee future penalties are paid. “Over a period of several years, these employers either reneged on promises to pay these penalties, or they failed to contest them and then chose to ignore them,” says Michael Felsen, the Labor Department’s regional solicitor of labor for New England. “Mine operators cannot be permitted to violate mine safety laws and simply refuse to pay the penalties assessed for those violations. The Department of Labor will use all the tools available, including litigation in federal court, to pursue these scofflaws.” The first complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut against American Industries Inc. in Jewett City, Conn., seeks to collect unpaid civil penalties of $24,628 assessed against… Keep Reading
House passes bill defining aggregates as strategic, critical
NSSGA reports a bill to speed development on federal lands of strategic and critical minerals, including aggregates, passed the House on Thursday. Development would be sped up by limiting the review duration of drilling permits and requiring concurrent rather than sequential consideration. The bill in this case, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act, would require the secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to more effectively develop domestic sources of minerals of "strategic and critical importance." As NSSGA reports, the text of the bill indicates this would include "minerals that are necessary...to support domestic manufacturing, agriculture...and transportation infrastructure.” Keep Reading
Talbert Manufacturing names business development director
Talbert Manufacturing has appointed Jerry Rothwell as its director of business development and tasked him with creating and expanding markets for the company’s trailer lines. Rothwell most recently served Fontaine Trailer Co. in a variety of roles, including regional vice president and director of heavy haul business development, for the past 13 years. Keep Reading
Knife River names safety director
Sean Haggerty has been promoted to safety director at Knife River Corp. He will be based out of the company’s offices in Stockton, Calif. Haggerty joined Knife River in 2007 as safety manager for Hawaiian Cement and West Hawaii Concrete. According to the company, he led those operations to record-low injury and incident rates by focusing on safety awareness, defining accountabilities and building a positive safety culture. “We want to make sure that every employee on a job site – and every member of the public who passes through a job site – goes home safely at the end of the day,” says Dave Barney, Knife River president. “Our role in management is to provide training and safety programs that make a positive impact and really make sense in the field.” Keep Reading
Caterpillar makes wear coatings services available to outsiders
Caterpillar has been developing and applying wear coatings to extend the service life and performance of Cat machine components, both new and remanufacturered, for decades. Now, the same Cat custom services are being made available to other equipment manufacturers, as well as users of large industrial equipment. Shermco Industries will market the services, which include research and development, product development, turnkey coating and finish machining. “The marketing agreement with Shermco leverages their understanding of industrial customers to identify the best opportunities for Caterpillar technical capabilities to solve problems, and in the end to reduce costs for the end user,” says Tony Zampogna Jr., commercial manager of Industrial Solutions Advanced Wear Coatings for Caterpillar. The metal deposition wear coating processes performed by Caterpillar include laser cladding, twin-wire arc spray, high-velocity oxy-fuel thermal spray coatings, plasma transfer arc weld, cold spray and bore spray. Finish machining completes the process for each component. Keep Reading
Equipment suppliers weigh in on Hillhead
The producers of Hillhead 2012 released attendance numbers three weeks ago for their June 19-21 show, which included 17,083 visitors – a 9-percent increase over their 2010 show – and a record 459 exhibitors. Now, equipment suppliers who exhibited at Hillhead are weighing in with their impressions of the show. According to Hillhead producers, Sandvik Construction enjoyed its best Hillhead ever with nearly 3,000 people visiting its stand during the three-day show. “Hillhead has always been the perfect opportunity for us to showcase our product lines and meet our customers, but this year we were truly staggered by [the] vast number of potential new customers and general visitors who came to the Sandvik stand,” says Hugh Glandfield, Sandvik vice president for the United Kingdom and Ireland. “We launched three new products this year, as well as the latest upgrades from our tracked jaw crusher range, but the real star of the show was the stand itself. It seemed to act like a magnet to visitors to the exhibition.” Val Ledden,… Keep Reading
