Special Series

Ameren Corp. has settled on a civil lawsuit brought against it by the state of Missouri after the failure of the Taum Sauk Reservoir. The settlement is for $180 million with $56 million of it in cash. A new hydroelectric plant is being planned. Learn more here.;

As the old BASF commercials note, they don't make the ball, they make it bouncier. In Enka, North Carolina, at the Colbond-owned site in which BASF leases space, BASF is finally going to take down the old 200-foot-tall smokestacks as part of the agreement in Colbond's 2001 full acquisition of the site. It's an interesting story of a town's manufacturing history. Learn more here.;

ASTM International Committee D35 on Geosynthetics invites all interested parties to participate in the development of a proposed new standard, WK15082, Specification for Measuring the Asperity Height of Textured Geomembrane. The proposed standard is being developed by Subcommittee D35.10 on Geomembranes. Although asperity height is specified throughout the geosynthetic industry, a procedure to measure it is not currently covered by an ASTM standard. WK15082 would fill this gap, according to D35.10 member Richard Lacey. “We need everybody to embrace this procedure,” says Lacey, a senior engineer with TRI Environmental. Lacey says that asperity height has broad implications regarding the interface friction potential of geomembranes. On specific projects, friction resistance can be correlated successfully to asperity height measurements, making this test critical where stability is a concern. “The subcommittee would like to see participation from regulators, quality assurance engineers and all others whom have recent experience with asperity height measurement and a product conformance crisis,” says Lacey. For further technical information, contact Richard Lacey, TRI Environmental, Buena Vista, Pa. (phone: 412/412-6541; rlacey@tri-env.com). Committee D35 meets Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2008, at the January committee week in Tampa, Fla. For membership or meeting information, contact Christine Sierk, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9728; csierk@astm.org). Learn more here.;

Progressive Farmer has published an article on road design. The piece details crown design, how materials - including geotextile separators - may be used, ditches, and more. Learn more here.;

Minnesota's Chapter 7020 rule is compelling more feedlots to control pollution and runoff. This means more lined ponds by 2010, when the rule goes into full effect. Counties such as Fillmore still have up to 300 farms in need of compliance. Agri News has the story and an example of one farm with a clay and geomembrane double-liner system. Learn more here.;

For the very first time, International Newsletters is holding an end of year sale of its reports. Until 31 December 2007 any order for the publications listed below will qualify for a 20% discount. If, at the same time, you buy one or more other reports you will receive an exceptional 30% discount on these titles. To order click here to open a special order form. Learn more here.;

Connecting geomembranes to structures troubles many engineers, contractors and facility operators. Great care must be taken, else an entire installation may be threatened. geosynthetica.net interviewed Du Toit Viljoen of Engineeered Linings about how they've succeeded in this application over the past few decades.

A breakdown of the EPA's $400 million of work in California during 2007. Learn more here.;

After 10 years on the Superfund list, it seems Tyndall Air Force base in Panama City, Florida is going to be cleaned up. The EPA issued an order to the US Air Force last week. A description of the site and its needs is available via the EPA website. Learn more here.;

The theft of scrap aluminum is, yes, a crime, but it's just plain stupid when it's from a Superfund site! Police and three suspects in Almedia, Pennsylvania have been given the okay after potential contamination since their confrontation at the severely polluted site. Learn more here.;

L. David Suits (NAGS) and Ian D. Peggs (I-CORP INTERNATIONAL) are presenting a paper “Evaluating Geosynthetic Installations Using Ground Penetrating Radar” at the GPRInstitute Annual Workshop in Orlando, Florida on Thursday. Learn more here.;

Hendersonville, North Carolina, like many counties and municipalities, has been adjusting to taking on more of its erosion control monitoring, and that includes citizen education too. A letter to the editor of the Times-News Online shows that the state's DOT and the county's new erosion control director are working well together. Learn more here.;

Dave Harmanos of Geosystems Consultants, Inc. has a blog titled Nu Geo: Providing News & Promoting Technology for the Geo Industries. He also has this to say about geosynthetica's new site: "Geosindex looks great! It’s one stop shopping for geosynthetics designers. We were using it today and found it very useful for geosynthetics comparison and selection. The convenience of having real data on products from many manufactures in one place makes product selection a dream. The direct links to manufactures cut sheets will save us a lot of time." Learn more here.;

Early bird registration ends 1 December 2007! GeoAmericas 2008, the First Pan-American Geosynthetics Conference, is just around the corner: 2-5 March 2008. Register by December 1 to receive a discount on your time in Cancun. Learn more here.;

The multi-billion dollar PCB cleanup of the Hudson River by multi-billion dollar corporation GE will involve dredged and dried material shipped by rail to Texas. There, the material will be disposed of in newly created cells and capped with geosynthetics, clay, soil and vegetation. Dredging operations are to begin in 2009. Learn more here.;

The hilly terrain of Taiwan and annual rainy seasons can provide significant challenges to engineers and road builders. When an important road was disrupted by a partial slope failure, engineers decided to rebuild with geogrid-reinforced tiers. The case study comes from Ace Geosynthetics, a Taiwan-headquartered manufactured now with offices in Atlanta and Houston.

Congressman Heath Shuler received the first Friend of GMA award during the GMA Education Day on Capitol Hill, October 23, 2007. Please visit GMA's site to read the news story. Learn more here.;

The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service offers a number of free-access publications on operations, sustainability, and much more. The St Paul Field Office, which is now filed under the Service's Northeastern zone, offers an access roads guide with a section on geotextiles: functions and uses. Learn more here.;

The Resource Professionals Alliance (RPA) will hold their 6th Annual Storm Water Management and Erosion Control Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota 12 - 13 December 2007. The conference theme is "Managing Risk in Smart Construction for Storm Water Compliance." For complete event details and registration information, please see the RPA's conference page. Learn more here.;

Superfund sites rarely see good press even after they emerge from years of successful remediation work. Silver Mountain, Idaho is a different story, though. The Associated Press's Nicholas K. Geranios has written an article about how this northern Idaho town has become a ski resort after more than 25 years of severe decline. It's clean and it's in demand. Learn more here.;

TenCate Geosynthetics North America is pleased to announce the company has won a 2007 Telly award for the Mirafi® Road Show video presentation. This communication tool provides valuable information on how geosynthetic materials solve engineering problems worldwide.

The Muscatine County Landfill, Iowa, is finishing installation of a new single-liner system at Phase II of its operations. This is a much-needed change. Phase I had swelled beyond capacity. The cell is expected to provide three more years of space at the landfill, though 2007 has seen more waste taken in than the site plans to accept annually. Another three phases are being planned. Learn more here.;

For those near the University of Washington, tonight, November 15, Dr. Robert Holtz will deliver the Stanley D. Wilson Memorial Lecture. The title of the lecture is "Geosynthetics at the UW: Some Practical Applications and Recent Research." Event details: free, starts at 5 pm, and takes place at the UW's Kane Hall. Event phone: 206-695-6842. Learn more here.;

GSE manufactures, among its many products, triaxial geocomposites. And they also have made a drainage design manual available. The second edition of this series can be acquired via email. See also the TRx geocomposite page. Learn more here.;

A number of companies offer geosynthetic information in multiple languages. Coletanche, for example, publishes its bituminous geomembrane information in English, French and Spanish. See these options in the lefthand banner bar on the company website. Learn more here.;