Mining

American Environmental Group Ltd. (AEGL), an expert installer of geosynthetic materials, has been re-certified with the Approved Installation Contractor (AIC) status from the International Association of Geosynthetic Installers (IAGI). AEGL is one of eight US-based Approved Installation Contractors and has held AIC status since 2007. Read more about the AIC program's importance.

Geosynthetica's Elizabeth Peggs is in Brazil, attending the 9th International Conference on Geosynthetics (9ICG) in Guaruja, São Paulo, Brazil. Time-permitting, she's sending us updates from the event. On Sunday night--Day 1 of 9ICG--she posted her first notes. She writes, "[Day 1] was a huge success...A handful of great pre-conference short courses were offered during the day, including 'Geosynthetics in Mining and Dams.'" Read more.

ASTM International Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has honored Samuel R. Allen, vice president of TRI/Environmental Inc. in Austin, Texas, with the ASTM Award of Merit and honorary title of fellow. The Award of Merit is the highest ASTM honor for distinguished service and outstanding participation in committee activities. Read more about this well-deserved award.

SIBUR summarized the results of the working visit of the Company's representatives to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to the Islamic Republic of Iran made for acquaintance with existing petrochemical operations and those under construction. In Saudi Arabia, SIBUR's managers visited the world's largest individual ethylene, polyethylene, ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol capacities.

The Tennessee Valley Authority will securely and permanently store onsite all ash removed in the next phase of recovery work to begin soon at Kingston Fossil Plant in Harriman, Tenn. The decision was announced today in an Action Memorandum issued by TVA and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

TIE Technologies, Inc., an information technology, security and telecommunications company, today announced the submission of its OilDam® Emergency Containment Proposal to the EPA's Homeland Security Research Center and the U.S. Coast Guard for immediate consideration. The system includes expertise from Gunderboom, Inc., TenCate Geosynthetics, and GeoComp.

The International Erosion Control Association (IECA) is calling for submittals for Environmental Connection 2011 (EC11), annual conference and expo of IECA. Combining quality education with a world-class expo, EC11 is the premier gathering place for the erosion and sediment control community, drawing attendees from over 20 countries and 150 exhibitors to Orlando, Florida, 20-23 February 2011. The deadline to submit an abstract for the conference's consideration is 20 May 2010.

The deadline to submit presentation abstracts to Sally Humphreys (sh@amiplastics.com) for Waterproof Membranes 2010 is: 28 May 2010. The conference is Applied Market Information's (AMI) 4th international conference on Waterproof Membranes and will be held 30 November - 2 December 2010 at the Maritim Hotel in Cologne, Germany. A welcome reception and registration will be held on the first evening, and the two-day technical program follows. Learn more.

Qatar Petroleum (QP) on behalf of the Government of the State of Qatar has signed today a new Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) with Shell and PetroChina Company Limited (PetroChina) for Qatar Block D. The agreement was signed in Doha by His Excellency Abdulla bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry, Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell plc, and Mr. Zhao Dong, Chief Financial Officer of PetroChina International Investment Company Limited.

TenCate Geosynthetics has published a glossary of common geosynthetics terms and definitions on its website. Learn more here.;

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing action plans developed by 16 electric utility facilities with coal ash impoundments, describing the measures the facilities are taking to make their impoundments safer. The action plans are a response to EPA's final assessment reports on the structural integrity of these impoundments that the agency made public this February. Coal ash was brought prominently to national attention in 2008 when an impoundment holding disposed ash waste generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority broke open, creating a massive spill in Kingston, Tennessee, that covered millions of cubic yards of land and river and is regarded as one of the worst environmental disasters of its kind in history. Shortly afterwards, EPA began overseeing the cleanup, as well as investigating the structural integrity of impoundments where ash waste is stored.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 today has approved the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) selected cleanup plan for the next phase of coal ash removal at the TVA Kingston site in Roane County, Tenn. The cleanup plan requires TVA to permanently store on site all of the ash being removed from the Swan Pond Embayment. The embayment area will then be restored to conditions that protect human health and the environment. After careful review of all comments received between January and April, TVA, EPA and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), agreed that the selected cleanup plan provides the best option to protect public health and the environment. According to the release, for the new perimeter dike TVA "will place dry ash atop an engineered base layer of sand, gravel and geo-fabric."

Approximately 40 people attended the Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) short course "Constructing with Fabricated Geomembranes" held in Orlando, Florida on 14 May 2010. Attendees included Rodrigo Arevalo of Geomembranas Ltda in Bogota, Colombia and Marcel Niederhauser, Leister's (Switzerland) new Business Development Manager for North America. Richard Tedder of Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) welcomed attendees to the state. Read more in Ian Peggs' write up.

Alabama has nine ash ponds covering more than 2,300 acres. Those ponds contain more than 24 million cubic yards of coal ash. (A 10th pond is located in Alabama, but figures were not available for that Wilsonville, in Shelby County facility.) The state's capacity may grow to 81 million cubic yards. Liner retrofits may be necessitated. Learn more here.;

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) held its second short course in Orlando, Florida at the Royal Plaza Hotel on the Walt Disney World Resort. The short course was organized by the University of Florida TREEO Center (www.treeo.ufl.edu) and attended by 41 people. The excellent presentations and discussions made the course a great success. The course covered the design, specification, testing, manufacturing, fabrication, installation, inspection, welding, and field testing of fabricated geomembranes in a variety of applications. Read more.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell testified in favor of a national infrastructure bank before a House committee Thursday. "It is obvious that existing revenue sources and methods are inadequate to address our vast infrastructure needs," said Rendell. The national infrastructure bank would help finance transportation and public-works projects across the U.S. Learn more here.;

Textile materials are being used in some interesting ways in the efforts to soak up oil approaching the shores of the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the explosion and sinking of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the coast of Louisiana late last month. Textile World received reports of two such efforts just this week -- one more high-tech and one less so, but also having potential to help minimize the effects of the spill on the coastal ecosystems. Learn more here.;

The US Energy Information Administration's (EIA) annual projections of U.S. energy supply, demand, and prices through 2035 has been released. The projections are based on results from the National Energy Modeling System and includes the Reference case with additional cases examining alternative energy markets. Learn more here.;

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) today released the complete version of the Annual Energy Outlook 2010 (AEO2010), which includes 38 sensitivity cases that show how different assumptions regarding market and policy drivers affect the Reference case projections that EIA previously released in December, 2009. In addition to considering alternative scenarios for oil prices, economic growth, and the uptake of more energy-efficient technologies, the AEO2010 includes cases that examine the impact of changes in selected policies, such as the extension of existing policies that are currently scheduled to sunset as well as the sensitivity of natural gas shale production to variations in drilling activity and the size of the resource base.

Vedanta Resources Plc, the mining company controlled by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, agreed to pay Anglo American Plc $1.34 billion for zinc mines in Africa and Ireland. Learn more here.;

Vermont's Agency of Natural Resources on Friday issued a solid waste permit to Omya Inc. that allows the company to dispose of its calcium carbonate waste. The full certification allows Omya to dispose of its marble tailings in a lined "tailings management area" on its Florence property. Omya will build a disposal facility that includes an engineered plastic geomembrane liner and leachate collection system placed over the existing tailings material. The system will collect any water and recycle it back into the plant through a dewatering process. Learn more here.;

International engineering firm Ausenco has just released an updated specification/guide for integrity (leak detection) surveys on earth-covered geomembranes. This is a sample specification for a leak location survey on a soil-covered geomembrane over a conductive material. It should be used as a guide and not verbatim. Learn more here.;

The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the IGS Secretariat role. The Secretariat will perform duties and provide deliverables as specified by the IGS Secretary and IGS Officers as required. Proposals should be prepared by interested parties and submitted to the undersigned by 20 June 2010. A decision is expected to be made by 30 June 2010. For information regarding the details, please see the RFP here (in PDF). Learn more here.;

The 4th international conference on Waterproof Membranes will be held at the Maritim Hotel in Cologne, Germany 30 November - 2 December 2010. A welcome reception will be held on the first evening and will be followed by the two-day technical program. Applied Market Information (AMI), the event organizers, welcome your presentation proposals. Read more about some of the topics sought.

Royal Ten Cate has released an update regarding its first quarter 2010 performance. Of particular interest is the notes on the American geosynthetics market's "substantial recovery"; an upturn in the infrastructure market; and "strong developments in TenCate Geotube® applications." Read more in the release.