On April 5th, the American Excelsior opened a new distribution location in Raritan, New Jersey. The location warehouses and distributes the full-line of American Excelsior Company manufactured products, including Curlex(r) Excelsior Erosion Control Blankets, which are well known for their ability to reduce erosion and sediment run-off on residential and commercial construction projects. "We are very pleased to be opening up a new location to support a market that we have served for many years," states American Excelsior Company's ESD Director Jerry Bohannon. "This new location will bring a much better level of local support to the many customers we have in this area." The facility's local management team includes Justin Wilk, the Distribution Manager, supported by Jim Giumarra and Don Sheaffer, two area sales managers.

With new grades for the first time since 2001, our nation's infrastructure has shown little to no improvement since receiving a collective D+ in 2001, with some areas sliding toward failing grades. How do geosynthetics factor into these grades? Geo features in all but two categories. It would seem that geosynthetics has a busy future ahead. For a picture detailing the grades for each category, please go to the "continued" link below.

SI Geosolutions hosted a Customer Appreciation Breakfast during GeoFrontiers 2005 to pay tribute to several outstanding distributors of its geotextiles and erosion control products from 2004. Each company was presented with a glass-carved trophy for their contributions to SI’s success. Contech Construction Products’ South Central Region was given the Project of the Year award for the second year in a row after promoting and selling numerous PYRAMAT® projects in San Antonio, Texas that were used to produce a documentary that was broadcast to a television audience of over 120 million people. Contech was also presented with the Turf Reinforcement Mat Partner of the Year award for growing their purchases with SI of these products by over 25 percent. Universal ECS from Alabama was recognized as the Erosion Control Blanket Partner of the Year for increasing their purchases of ECBs by over 50 percent. Geo-Synthetics, Inc. was awarded Storm Water Partner of the Year for its continued commitment to the promotion and growth of both the ECB and TRM market. The Business Partner of the Year award was presented to Carthage Mills. Carthage Mills and SI have been doing business together for over 25 years. Carthage grew their business in 2004 at record levels and is working hard to make geotextiles and erosion control product more readily available at the local level through a new distribution network.

Mike Jeziorski has joined the company as National Sales Manager and Lee Pierce has been appointed Director of Market Development within its SI Geosolutions business unit. Mike was formerly the Sales Manager for Civil Engineering Fabrics, Furniture, Bedding, and Automotive Fabrics with Propex Fabrics (formerly BP Corporation, Amoco Fabrics and Fibers Company). He graduated from Appalachian State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. In this role, Mike will be responsible for the management, promotion and selling of geotextiles and erosion control products to customers in North America. Mike will direct SI’s team of Regional Managers in their efforts to improve forecast accuracy, territory and account management, and training of distribution channels. Mike will report to Hugh McClain, VP/GM for the Construction Materials Group. Lee Pierce has been named Director of Market Development to allow SI Geosolutions to bring even more focus on the promotion of the company’s LANDLOK® and PYRAMAT® erosion control products. Lee’s intimate knowledge of market development through promotion and education will result in further growth of the market. Lee has been with SI for 10 years, most recently as National Sales Manager. “This exciting organizational change will allow Lee to align his core skills and competencies to optimize our growth opportunities around the strategic initiatives within this business, both domestically and internationally”, according to Mr. McClain. Reporting to Lee will be a team of Market Development Managers around the US. In this new role, Lee will continue to report to Hugh McClain.

Peter Carey of P.J. Carey & Associates would like to know if any work has been done on the effect of temperature on direct shear performance between textured geomembranes and nonwoven geotextiles. Please respond to lara@eosynthetica.net if you can share information on this subject.

On behalf of two clients I-CORP INTERNATIONAL is reactivating research into the use of infrared thermography for the nondestructive assessment of seam bond strength of 100% of geomembrane seams.

A regional board has imposed the largest water-quality fine on a construction site in its history, levying a $1.26 million penalty against the developer of the city's new 186-acre business park. Article by Craig Gustafson, Union-Tribune staff writer. Learn more here.;

The PVC Geomembrane Institute (PGI) and CETCO teamed up to offer a new short course titled “Constructing with GCLs and PVC Geomembranes” in Denver, Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyoming last week. The courses were “well attended with inquisitive audiences,” according to Tim Stark, lead instructor and Technical Director for PGI. With a combined attendance of more than 100 people, these short courses were a tremendous success. The attendees of this course had many positive comments. Some of the attendees stated that: “Presenters were very knowledgeable; comparisons between PVC liners and other liners were helpful”, and, “I found this extremely helpful to hear about the use of PVC geomembranes and GCLs”. Attendees also demonstrated why they are interested in such an informative course with comments like: “Great enthusiasm for the subject matter by all participants” and “Good overview of materials and their effectiveness.” The first course took place on March 7, 2005 in Denver, Colorado at the Denver Merchandise Mart. The second took place on March 8, 2005 in Cheyenne, Wyoming at the Little America Hotel. This course focused on how GCLs and PVC geomembranes can be used together as a composite liner. Attendees left this course with a broad knowledge of what is required to properly design, specify and construct liner and/or cover systems with GCLs and PVC geomembranes. The next course schedule is being planned at this time. If you are interested in offering this course in conjunction with your educational event, please contact PGI. For more information on future courses visit www.pvcgeomembrane.com. Founded in 1988 by a group of industry leaders, the PVC Geomembrane Institute (PGI) is dedicated to advancing the use of PVC Geomembranes through education and research as well as serving as an industry resource for PVC Geomembrane users. In 1998, PGI partnered with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) which led to the formation of the PGI Technology Program. PGI’s main office is located at UIUC.

TRI's CQC/CQA for Compacted Clay and GCL Liner Systems (Thurs., April 21st), CQC/CQA for Geosynthetic Liner Systems (Wed., April 20th) and TRI-CORP Liner Integrity Center's (T-CLIC) Liner Integrity Survey Accreditation (Fri. and Sat., April 22-23). Reserve your spots soon to take advantage of early registration discounts. Registration information for the CQC/CQAA courses can be found at the "continued" link below, and the Liner Integrity Survey Accreditation can be found by cutting and pasting this link into your browser: https://tri-environmental.com//images/pdf/LIS-Invitation%20-%20April2005.PDF Learn more here.;

IAGI members receive a 62% on-bill discount on all inbound and outbound LTL freight shipments through Yellow Transportation along with other discounted features. IAGI has 191 Certified Installers to date, and the pilot-testing phase of the Reinforced Materials Certification group has begun. Learn more here.;