Containment

Abu Dhabi's National Marine Dredging Co or NMDC, said Monday it won a 1.5 billion U.A.E. dirham ($408.7 million) contract to build a 63.5-kilometer canal in the U.A.E.'s largest emirate. The Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, or UPC, awarded NMDC the contract to construct Mussafah canal, which will play an important role in the development of Mussafah Industrial City. Learn more here.;

Campbell County Environmental Manager Brian Stokes and Bedford County’s erosion control chief Pete Dalton say it can be a tough duty. While many contractors are familiar with how to properly install and maintain erosion-control measures such as silt fencing, others are not. And then there are a handful who “don’t do anything until you make them,” Stokes said. Learn more here.;

Reliance Industries Ltd.'s bid for bankrupt chemicals and fuels maker LyondellBasell Industries AF will be "positive" if India’s largest company pays less than $12 billion, brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets said. Learn more here.;

The cost of protecting Reliance Industries Ltd.’s debt from default rose after the refiner and energy explorer controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani bid for bankrupt chemicals and fuels maker LyondellBasell Industries AF. Learn more here.;

The International Network for Acid Prevention (INAP)--an organization of international mining companies--is dedicated to reducing liabilities associated with sulphide mine materials such as acid draiange. INAP is now promoting its Global Acid Rock Drainage (GARD) Guide, which was launched at the Eighth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage held in Skelleftea, Sweden. The guide describes proven techniques for characterization, prediction, monitoring, treatment, prevention, and management of drainage produced by sulphide mineral oxidation, called "acid rock drainage" (ARD). Learn more. Learn more here.;

Water and sand seeping beneath the Wood River Levee could cause the land barrier to fail, but only if Mississippi River levels surpass those of the 1993 flood, officials said Thursday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is monitoring the underseepage in the area near the Melvin Price Locks and Dam while also planning short- and long-term remedies. Learn more here.;

The US Government's General Accounting Office (GAO) has released its report on the 22 December 2008 surface impoundment failure at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston, Tennessee facility. That failure released 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash across 300 acres. TVA nows estimates cleanup costs north of $1 billion, with final cleanup to be completed in the next two to three years. The GAO's October/November 2009 report identifies the number and locations of coal ash surface impoundments in the United States; problems, if any, with the storage of coal ash, and how those problems are being addressed; and the type of federal oversight that exists for this segment and what, if any, issues need to be resolved. Read the full briefing here. Learn more here.;

Raven Engineered Films' Quality Assurance Laboratory has been granted accreditation from the Geosynthetic Institute for designated geosynthetic test methods in accordance with the Geosynthetic Accreditation Institute – Laboratory Accreditation Program (GAI-LAP). Raven is one of only 49 laboratories currently granted with the "GAI-LAP" accreditation worldwide. Please visit geosynthetic-institute.org/gai.htm for complete details regarding the Laboratory Accreditation Program (GAI-LAP). Learn more here.;

After years of research and field observations, Agru America Inc. has developed and released ClosureTurf, an innovative capping system that combines the outstanding barrier characteristics of structured geomembranes and the natural look and long-term exposure performance of today's artificial turf. ClosureTurf is ideal for the immediate closure operations and potential beneficial reuse of mining, industrial and municipal solid waste (MSW) burial sites.

On November 21, LyondellBasell released the following statement: "LyondellBasell has received a preliminary non-binding offer from Reliance Industries Limited to acquire for cash a controlling interest in the company contemporaneously with the company's emergence from Chapter 11 reorganization. This offer is in addition to the previous non-binding equity financing proposals received by the company and represents a potential alternative to the initial plan of reorganization previously filed by the company. Consistent with its fiduciary duties, management will continue to work with all parties to design an approach that maximizes value for the company's creditors through the pursuit of a confirmable plan of reorganization and enhances the financial strength of the reorganized company."

A plan is in place now to clean up the San Mateo Uranium Mine in San Mateo, New Mexico. The US Forestry Service is heading up the remediation work. After an environmental and cost analysis, a decision has been made to consolidate on-site waste rock and cover it with a geomembrane cap system. Learn more here.;

feedstock costs and a tighter rein on production have allowed prices for several commodity resins to post modest increases since November 1. Learn more here.;

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says it will continue to release water from a southwest Nebraska reservoir to relieve stress on a damaged dam. The bureau says it found cracks in the Red Willow Dam's embankment. Engineers have been examining the structure since a sinkhole was discovered in October. Red Willow Dam is 126 feet tall and it forms a reservoir of 85,070 acre-feet. It's located about 11 miles north of McCook. Learn more here.;

A levee in Wood River, Illinois near St. Louis, Missouri is causing some concern for the US Army Corp of Engineers after a leak was discovered. Sand boils have been found in the structure, indicating the seepage has caused hydrostatic pressure to build up and is threatening the levee's stability from the inside outward. Various repair plans are being discussed. Learn more here.;

Drake & Scull International PJSC (DSI) today announced the acquisition of Passavant-Roediger, a global developer of wastewater, water and sludge treatment technologies with over 5,000 installations and a presence in 13 countries across Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Asia. The enterprise value of this acquisition is AED 145 million. Under the acquisition agreement, DSI will own 82% of Passavant-Roediger. The remaining 18% will remain with Bilfinger Berger, a publically listed German company internationally active in construction services.

Two companies have been charged over the collapse of an inflatable dam wall in Central Queensland, which killed a four-year-old girl a year ago. Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has accused the owners of the dam, Sunwater Limited, and manufacturers of the device, Trellebord Engineered Systems Australia, of failing to meet their health and safety obligations. Nelani Koefer drowned when the inflatable barrier collapsed and water gushed over a wall at the Bedford Weir outside Blackwater last November. Learn more here.;

Department of the Army U.S. Army Corps of Engineers USACE District, New Orleans This solicitation will be issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP) resulting in the award of a single firm fixed price (FFP) contract. The work consists of clearing and grubbing; placing compacted embankment; fertilizing, seeding, and mulching; placing surfacing material and geotextile fabric; maintaining access/haul road and ramps; and other incidental work. A Request for Proposal will be issued on or about 3 December 2009, and the Proposal Due Date will be on or about 4 January 2010. The estimated value of this work is $25 million to $100 million.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting nominations for the 15th annual Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. The awards recognize innovative chemical technologies that incorporate green chemistry into the design, manufacture, and use of chemicals, and that have broad applications in industry. For the challenge, nominated technologies should reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances from a chemical product or process. Any individual, group or nongovernmental organization, both nonprofit and for-profit, including academia and industry, may nominate a green chemistry technology for the awards. Self-nominations are welcome. Awards are made each year in five categories, including "Greener Synthetic Pathways."

Though Steve Putrich, a landfill engineer with the consulting firm of CEC, outlined the basics of the landfill construction at Wednesday’s meeting about ArcelorMittal's proposed steel production waste landfill, public opposition was not abated. While the liner and cap system will well exceed state regulations, the company has been evasive about the nature of the waste intended for the landfill. Learn more here.;

Steel producer ArcelorMittal has planned a landfill in Burns Harbor, Indiana; but the company is facing a number of questions from the public and environmental advocacy groups who would like specifics on what the company plans to bury. What's most interesting about this case is that public questions seem to have arisen primarily in the wake of ArcelorMittal revealing the degree of containment technologies they plan to use. That is, presenting a modern system that exceeds the state's minimum design seems to have raised some concerns. Learn more here.;

The value of construction in emerging countries will more than double in the next 11 years according to Global Construction 2020, a new report from Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics. Global construction output is expected to increase +70% overall, with mature countries' output rising +35%, compared to the +110% rise forecast in the developing world. Learn more here.;

The Nor'easter storm that punished the east coast of the United States last week has exposed the old geotextile tubes that helped establish and secure the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey. But after surviving years of storms, this most recent event overwhelmed the tubes. The tubes remain, intact, but new sand will need to be brought in to rebuild the dune network. Learn more here.;

The 9th International Conference on Geosynthetics (9ICG) Brazil - 2010 will provide an opportunity to learn about and discuss highly technical and scientific geosynthetics issues and their solutions. A primary objective of the conference is to present the most recent developments, improvements and new technologies from the international geosynthetics community. The IGS Brasil (Brazilian Association of Geosynthetics) and ABMS (Brazilian Association of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering) will organize the conference under the auspices of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) in association with the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) and with the support of the ABINT (Brazilian Association of Nonwoven and Technical Textiles). Read more.

Keeping cattle healthy in times of drought and bad weather requires shrewd stock and feed management. Also, as the University of Kentucky's Aimee Nielson writes on the Cattle Network, these balancing measures should also be supported by such practices such as building cattle feed lots with geotextile separation to reduce detrimental waste. Learn more here.;

Neighbors of the contentious New Ventures-owned landfill in Newburyport, Massachusetts have filed suit against the site, which has had a stalled cap construction for most of the last decade. City and state fines for the Crow Lane Landfill have totaled more than $250,000, but only a portion of those fines have been paid and the lionshare have been suspended. Learn more here.;