Jefferson City, MO, Part of Greening America’s Capitals Program

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected Jefferson City, MO, (home of Infrastructure Watch) for green design assistance that includes cleaning up and recycling vacant lands, providing greater housing and transportation choices, reducing energy costs and improving waterways. Through its new Greening America’s Capitals program, EPA will fund private sector experts to provide sustainable design assistance to Jefferson City, Boston, MA; Hartford, CT; Charleston, WV.; and Little Rock, AR.

Greening Americas Capitals is a new project of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an agreement between EPA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to coordinate federal housing, transportation, and environmental investments; protect public health and the environment; promote equitable development; and help address the challenges of climate change. HUD and DOT were involved in the review and selection process and will provide technical expertise on relevant portions of each project.

Jefferson City and the four other state capitals were selected from a total of 38 cities that responded to a solicitation of interest. EPA will now organize teams of urban planners and landscape architects to provide direct, customized technical assistance as requested by Jefferson City officials. Greening America’s Capitals provides direct technical assistance to communities by working with private sector experts and leveraging partnerships, such as with HUD and DOT, to consider implementation options.

Jefferson City’s primary area of focus is bounded on the west by U.S. Highways 63/54, on the north by the Missouri River, on the south by U.S. Highways 50/63, and by the Capitol Building on the east. Wears Creek and vacant properties within the area provide the greatest opportunity for reconnecting nearby residents in the Southside neighborhood to the riverfront. Wears Creek can serve as an important connection to planned bike and pedestrian greenways.

EPA‘s support of the Jefferson City project is also undertaken to advance EPA’s Urban Waters focus, which seeks to support communities in their efforts to access, improve, and benefit from their urban waters and surrounding lands. EPA’s Urban Waters efforts place particular emphasis on engaging underserved neighborhoods and on providing equitable access to urban waters through well-planned community revitalization leading to improved urban water quality. EPA’s assistance to Jefferson City will integrate the goals of both the agency’s urban waters and livability efforts.

Partners on this project include: Governor Jay “Boondoggle Bridge” Nixon, State Senator Carl Vogel, Jefferson City Mayor John Landwehr, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Missouri Department of Transportation, Missouri State Office of Administration Jefferson City Council, Jefferson City Housing Authority & Land Clearance Authority, Jefferson City Environmental Quality Commission, Jefferson City Planning & Zoning Commission, Jefferson City Parks & Recreation Department (tangentially, they have an adult kickball league), Historic Jefferson City, Old Town Revitalization Company, Downtown Association, Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce.

Literature Review: Cost Overruns & Delays in Municipal Construction Projects

I occasionally find an old piece of school work that seems suitable for this blog. Previously, I posted a book review I wrote for a class. This piece is a literature review related to cost overruns in municipal construction projects. It was written in 1999, so the references are a bit dated. I made no attempt to update the paper.

Literature Review

Problem Statement

Construction projects commonly suffer delays and cost overruns (Arditi & Patel, 1989; Baldwin, Manthei, Rothbart & Harris, 1971; Kraiem & Diekmann, 1987; Mahid & McCaffer, 1998; Mulholland & Christian, 1999). In projects that often cost millions of dollars, even a relatively small overrun can be very expensive. Likewise, construction delays may cause late delivery of services and loss of revenues related to that service.

Municipal governments construct and maintain a significant public infrastructure. Engineering construction accounts for 20 to 25 percent of the market for new construction, most of which is publicly financed (Clough, 1989). Even small cities will often be responsible for roads, wastewater collection and treatment, drinking water distribution, parks, and public buildings.

Municipal governments often use federal and state grants and loans to finance all or part of construction projects. For instance, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources operates eight grant and loan programs available to local governments for the construction of wastewater facilities, drinking water facilities, parks, and energy efficiency improvements to public buildings (Financial).

The reduction of cost overruns and delays could cause a reduction in the cost of public services, especially at the local level where many services utilize some constructed infrastructure. These savings could result in improved economy of state and federal programs that provide financial assistance to municipalities.

The actors involve in public construction are all levels of government, contractors, architects and engineers, and the public. Local governments directly experience the cost of construction projects. Federal and state agencies are interested in the economy and efficiency of their programs and accountability. Contractors are interested in the availability and profitability of public projects. Architects and engineers are similarly concerned about the amount of public work available and requirements for the management and cost estimation of projects. The public is concerned with the level of taxes and user fees necessary to pay for public services.

Key questions research might address include:

-How common and severe are cost overruns and delays in public works projects?

-What characteristics of local government relate to cost overruns and delays?

-What project characteristics relate to cost overruns and delays?

-Might some sort of intervention reduce the occurrence or severity of cost overruns and delays?

Literature Review

Cost growth and schedule growth are common measures of construction project success (Pocock, Hyun, Liu & Kim, 1996; Pocock, Liu & Kim, 1997; Sanvido, Grobler, Pafitt, Guvenis & Coyle, 1992; Songer & Molenaar, 1997). The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has a great deal of information available on cost and schedule for projects that received loans for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. This includes contracts that describe the project cost and schedule and change orders that incorporate any cost and schedule changes into the contract. This information may also allow a review to identify owner-initiated changes that increased the cost or lengthened the time to project completion. However, municipalities do not appear to pursue claims as vigorously as other levels of government or private organizations. Therefore, these records may not clearly identify changes with the owner, contractor, engineer, or unforeseen circumstances. A pool of project-level information like this may be useful to this research because of the difficulty of finding measures of comparison at the municipal level (Coe, 1999; Kopczynski & Lombardo, 1999).

Projects funded through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund include the construction of wastewater collection and treatment systems. These are mostly government-owned systems. These projects involve many of the same products and processes as other construction projects. They are comparable to other projects that a municipality may construct.

Many of these questions relate to the owner’s role in the success of a construction project. The owner controls a number of factors that have a significant impact on the success of a construction project. These include a well-defined scope, and understanding of the scope shared with other participants, the owner’s construction sophistication, adequate owner staffing, and an established budget (Sanvido et al., 1992; Songer & Molenaar, 1997).

Because these are mostly skills and practices related to the development and management of projects, it seems reasonable to assume that municipal authorities could be taught these skills. It would be difficult to measure the availability of these skills in a number of cities over a short period, but some indicators may be available. Specifically, form of government and population may indicate the presence of these skills and practices.

Researchers still debate the efficiency of city manager governments relative to mayor-council governments. Stumm & Corrigan 91998) found that city manager cities have, on average, lower property taxes and general fund expenditures than mayor-council cities. Others have found that city manager and mayor-council cities do not differ in expenditures and efficiency (Deno & Mehay, 1997; Hayes & Chang, 1990; Morgan & Pelissero, 1980).

If cities do not differ on the bottom line, city manager and mayor-council governments appear to differ in their approach to capital budgeting and management. In their approaches to budgeting, city managers more often use a program budget while mayor-council governments more often use a zero-base or target-base budget (Poister & McGowan, 1984). City managers tend to spend more on infrastructure, use more sophisticate budgets and more often use separate capital budgets than mayor-council cities (Doss, 1987; Nunn, 1996).

Likewise, city managers often use formal approaches to managing capital. Doss (1987) found that city managers are more likely than mayor-council governments to use formal capital improvement plans and routine inspection programs.

Similarly, large municipalities tend to be more sophisticated. As populations increase, municipalities more often adopt separate capital budgets and make formal use of budget decision models (Doss, 1987; Sekwat, 1996).

In light of this, city manager governments and larger cities would seem to have natural advantages. Because of the use of capital improvement plans and separate capital budgets, city manager governments and larger cities seem more likely to have a well-established budget and well-defined scope for any given construction project.

Professional management is a fundamental of city manager governments. This would seem to give city managers an advantage in construction sophistication and experience, staffing and the ability to work with contractors to develop a common understanding of project scope.

Large cities have a practical need for professional staff, so they may have many of the same advantages as city manager cities. Because of the number of projects large cities can be involved in, they are likely to have staff with previous experience in many types of construction projects.

Previous research links form of government and population to a number of factors that are likely to lead to successful construction projects. Much of this research uses surveys of municipalities, contractors and engineers. While surveys are difficult and expensive, population and form of government information is readily available (Missouri Municipal, 1997; Official Manual, 1996).

Construction projects vary widely in size and complexity. Research that tries to attribute cost and schedule growth to specific factors must account for differences that occur as project increase in size or complexity. This is difficult to judge. However, because estimators attempt to consider these complexities (Clough, 1989), the contractor’s bid may be taken as a reasonable judgment of the size and complexity of a construction project.

A review of the literature leads to the following conclusions. Form of government and population can indicate the likely presence of skills and practices that lead to successful projects. Successful projects are those that have no cost or schedule growth. It is possible to account for project complexity in a comparison across projects and municipalities.

An assumption of this review is that municipal officials can learn the skills and practices that contribute to construction project success. Therefore, if it is found that form of government and population are related to cost and schedule growth, an intervention that increases these skills may decrease cost and schedule growth.

References

Arditi, D., & Patel, B. K. (1989). Impact analysis of owner-directed acceleration. Journal of Construction Engineering Management. 115(1), 144-157.

Baldwin, J. R., Manthei, J. M., Rothbart, H., & Harris, R. B. (1971). Causes of delays in the construction industry. Journal of the Construction Division. 97(CO2), 177-187.

Clough, R. H. (1986). Construction Contracting. 5^th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Coe, C. (1999). Local government benchmarking: Lessons from two major multigovernment efforts. Public Administration Review. 59(2), 110-123.

Deno, K. T., & Mehay, S. L. (1987). Municipal management structures and municipal services in America’s largest cities. Southern Economic Journal. 53(3), 21-26.

Doss, C. B. (1987). The use of public budgeting procedures in U.S. cities. Public Administration Review. 7(3), 57-59.

Financial Assistance Opportunities. Jefferson City, MO: Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Hayes, K., & Chang, S. (1990). The relative efficiency of city manager and mayor-council forms of government. Southern Economic Journal. 57(1), 167-177.

Kopczynski, M., & Lombardo, M. (1999). Comparative performance measures: Insights and lessons learned from a consortium effort. Public Administration Review. 59(2), 124-134.

Kraiem, Z. M., & Diekmann, J. E. (1987). Concurrent delays in construction projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 113(4), 591-602.

Mahid, M. Z. A., & McCaffer, R. (1998). Factors of non-excusable delays that influence contractor’s performance. Journal of Management in Engineering. 14(3), 42-49.

Missouri Municipal Officials 1997-98 Directory. (1997). Jefferson City, MO: Missouri Municipal League.

Morgan, D. R., & Pelissero, J. P. (1980). Urban policy: Does political structure matter? American Political Science Review. 26(1), 8-15.

Mulholland, B., & Christian, J. (1999). Risk management in construction schedules. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 125(1), 8-15.

Nunn, S. (1996). Urban infrastructure and capital spending in city manager and strong mayor cities. American Review of Public Administration. 26(1), 93-112.

Official Manual 1995-1996. (1996). Jefferson City, MO: Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.

Pocock, J. B., Hyun, C. T., Liu, L. Y., & Kim, M. K. (1996). Relationships between project interaction and performance indicators. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 122(2), 165-176.

Pocock, J. B., Liu, L. Y., & Kim, M. K. (1997). Impact of management approach on project interaction and performance. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 123(4), 411-418.

Poister, T. H., & McGowan, R. P. (1984). The use of management tools in municipal government: A national survey. Public Administration Review. 123(4), 411-418.

Sanvido, V., Grobler, F., Parfitt, K., Guvenis, M., & Coyle, M. (1992). Critical success factors for construction projects. Journal of Construction and Engineering Management. 123(4), 411-418.

Sekwat, A. (1996). Use of capital budgeting decision models by county governments: A survey. State and Local Government Review. 28(3), 180-192.

Songer, A. D., & Molenaar, K. R. (1997). Project characteristics for successful public-sector design-build. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 123(1), 34-40.

Stumm, T. J., & Corrigan, M. T. (1998). City managers: Do they promote fiscal efficiency? Journal of Urban Affairs. 20(3), 343-351.

Missouri to Hold Public Meeting on Economic Stimulus for Weatherization Program

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources' (MoDNR) Energy Center will hold a public hearing on the statewide Low-Income Weatherization Assistance Program application for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The public hearing will be held April 24 in Jefferson City. MoDNR will hold the public hearing from 10:00 until 11:30 a.m., or until all comments are noted for public record, on Friday, April 24, 2009, at the Lewis and Clark State Office Building in the Nightingale Creek Conference Room, 1101 Riverside Drive, Jefferson City, MO.

During the hearing, the public is invited to comment concerning Missouri's state plan for the new three-year grant application under ARRA. The program funds are provided by DOE and are administered by the Energy Center.

Oral and written comments may be presented at the public hearing. After the hearing, MoDNR will finalize the application and submit it to DOE for approval. The ARRA plan for weatherization is separate from the regular annual program plan, which will be discussed in an April 15 hearing.

The Low-Income Weatherization Program application for the ARRA funding is available online for review at: http://www.dnr.mo.gov/energy/weatherization/wx.htm. Please address written comments on the plan to Marcy Oerly, Department of Natural Resources, Energy Center, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176. Written comments must be postmarked no later than April 24, 2009.

People with disabilities requiring special services or accommodations to attend the meeting can make arrangements by calling the Department's Energy Center at 800-361-4827 or 573-751-2254.

You can read the full MoDNR news release here.

Missouri Water Finance Plan Available for Comment

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources announced that its Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Intended Use Plan (IUP) is available. The IUP describes how the department intends to use state and federal funds in the CWSRF to make loans for wastewater system improvements and other purposes. You can find a copy of the IUP and information on commenting here.

In addition, the Missouri Clean Water Commission will hold a public meeting on the plan on March 2, 2011, at 9 AM a the Lewis and Clark State Office Building, 1101 Riverside Drive, Jefferson City. In order to present comments at the meeting, inform the commission secretary in writing at Missouri Clean Water Commission, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176, before 5 PM, February 18, 2011. Other written comments may be submitted to the same address before 5 PM, March 9, 2011.

New Missouri Transportation Commissioner Sworn In

Stephen R. Miller of Kansas City was sworn in this week as Missouri's newest Highways and Transportation Commissioner by Supreme Court Chief Justice William Ray Price, Jr. He was appointed earlier this month by Governor Jay “Boondoggle Bridge” Nixon.

Miller is an attorney with the law firm of Miller Schirger and has more than 25 years experience in construction law. He fills the vacancy left by the resignation of Mike Kehoe of Jefferson City and will complete his term, which runs through March 1, 2011.

You can see the original post from Missouri Department of Transportation blog here.

Transportation & Water Update

TRANSPORTATION

New Transportation Director for Missouri

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission has selected Patrick McKenna to serve as director of the state Department of Transportation (MoDOT). Presently, McKenna is deputy commissioner of the New Hampshire DOT. He will start his new job on December 7.

He will start his new job at an agency facing many challenges, particularly low revenues.  MoDOT has not significant improvement or expansion projects slated for the next five years because of lack of funding. The agency anticipates it will not even have enough money to fully maintain roads and bridges in the state within a couple of years.

McKenna will be coming from a different environment. New Hampshire raised its fuel tax in 2014. It also has toll roads; Missouri has none, though McKenna has suggested it should be on the table as a way to pay for roads.

You can find out more about McKenna and his appointment in the Kansas City Star, Jefferson City News-Tribune, or St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

WATER

California Communities Consider Direct Potable Reuse

The drought in California has led to a discussion of direct potable reuse of wastewater. This “toilet-to-tap” practice involves sending treated wastewater directly to treatment for drinking water. Some Texas communities have already adopted this practice as a response to drought. You can find out more here.

Energy, Transportation & Water News

ENERGY

Bill Would Change Electric Ratemaking in Missouri

State Rep. Rocky Miller, who represents parts of Camden and Miller Counties near Osage Beach, introduced the 21^st Century Grid Modernization and Security Act (HB2816). The bill would substantially change the state’s method of regulating electric utility rates. The method is modeled on processes in Illinois and would allow annual adjustments to electric rates.

Another portion of the bill substantially changes provision related to special electric rates for aluminum smelters. This is largely driven by Noranda, which operates smelter in New Madrid. It seems unlikely that lower or more flexible electric rates will save the company from plummeting aluminum prices.

With the exception of Noranda, large electricity users in Missouri have generally come out against the proposal. Some companies that have expressed opposition to the bill are Purina, Bayer, Ford, General Motors and Procter & Gamble. You can read more about this topic here.

Poop to Power Project Coming to North Carolina

Duke Energy has contracted with Carbon Cycle Energy for the construction and operation of a facility to process animal waste to produce methane gas for fuel. Waste will come from area pig and chicken farms. The gas will be piped to Duke plants as fuel in electric power generation.

North Carolina is the second largest pork producing state in the U.S. Duke is a major electric power producer, particularly in the Carolinas. Carbon Cycle is based in Colorado.

TRANSPORTATION

Barrel Bob Found

Barrel Bob, a character that serves as spokesman for worksite safety for the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), was found in Columbia on April 1 (no fooling) after he was stolen from his roadside station at highway construction site in Jefferson City on March 19.   The statue, constructed from used orange and reflective white barrels and cones, was previously set on fire by vandals at this location.

This statue was one of seven Barrel Bobs. Each of MoDOT’s districts has one. Bob was scheduled to make appearances at events to promote highway worksite safety beginning April 11, so the agency had resorted to building a new statue before Bob was found. You can find out more here, here and here.

Missourians Could Vote on Fuel Tax Increase

A bill (SB623) is making its way through the Missouri Senate that could increase the state fuel tax from 17 cents per gallon to 22.9 cents per gallon. The tax, if implemented, is expected to bring in $240 million annually. The bill would place a referendum on the November ballot, meaning it would have to be approved directly by voters. Before getting that far, it must complete its path through the General Assembly. The Senate is expected to pass the bill in its final vote in the first full week of April. Afterward it will be considered by the state House of Representatives, where it is not expected to be warmly received. You can read more about this here, here and here.

Significant funding for Missouri roads comes from the federal government (which has its own funding issues). MoDOT is preparing to use cash reserves to match federal grants for transportation projects (more here).

Name a Missouri Highway

An alternative to increased fuel taxes could be the auctioning of naming rights for highways. There is no estimate of how much revenue it could raise, but I’ll go out on a limb to say not enough to persuade the General Assembly to this bill. You can read the bill here. I have the impression the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who covered this story must have chuckled as he typed.

WATER

Antibiotic Resistance Found in Bacteria Downstream of Wastewater Discharge

Researchers studying the biofilm in a Spanish river found antibiotic resistance genes. These genes occurred as far as 1 km (0.6 mile) downstream from the of a wastewater treatment plant. The genes provide resistance to some antibiotics commonly used in hospitals. You can find more here. In response to the issue of pharmaceutical pollution, some chemists are considering biodegradable drugs.

Missouri Announces Plans for Disaster Relief Supplement to CDBG

The Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) today announced that the state’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Action Plan is now available for supplemental CDBG funding for disaster recovery due to weather-related events that occurred in May and June 2008.

This funding, authorized under the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, can assist local governments with disaster recovery efforts in federally declared disaster areas. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated $11,032,438 to Missouri. The CDBG program will administer these funds. By statute, the funds are only available for eligible projects in those federally declared counties.

The plan is available for public review on the Division of Business and Community Services website (http://www.missouridevelopment.org/). Public comments will be accepted until December 24.

DED will sponsor a public meeting to discuss this supplemental appropriation from 9 am to noon on December 18 in Room 492 of the Harry S. Truman Building, Jefferson City.

For more information, contact Andy Papen, compliance manager in the Division of Business and Community Services, at 573-751-3600.

Recovery & Stimulus News

Colo. No. 25 for ARRA Jobs (Hicks, L. W., Denver Business Journal, March 25, 2011)
DOT’s Stimulus Payout Reaches $26.7 Billion (Boyd, J., Journal of Commerce, March 23, 2011)
GDOT: Stimulus Program a “Tremendous” Success (Dacula Patch, March 23, 2011)
Mo. Auditor: Oversight Lacking on Stimulus Funds (Jefferson City News Tribune [Associated Press], March 24, 2011)
Rebuilding Green: The American Reinvestment and Recover Act and the Green Economy (Infrastructure USA, March 14, 2011)

$590 million in federal passenger rail funding (Snohomish Times, Feb. 28, 2011)
House Passes Appropriations Bill (Infrastructure Watch, Feb. 21, 2011)
New report reveals smart transportation spending creates jobs, grows the economy (Smart Growth America, Feb. 4, 2011)
Recent Lessons from the Stimulus: Transportation Funding and Job Creation (InfrastructureUSA, Feb. 7, 2011)
Rejected Florida money now could be used for Washington State Railways (NCWTV, Feb. 16, 2011)

Infrastructure Stimulus (Infrastructure Watch, Jan. 27, 2011)

On a personal note, a (hopefully very short) hold on an ARRA-funded project could mean IW may have more time for blogging next week. Bloggingd doesn't pay the bills, so keep your fingers crossed that the project gets moving again,

Missouri Transportation Commission to Get New Chair

Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission Chairman Mike Kehoe announced his immediate resignation from the commission. Kehoe's resignation means that Vice-Chairman David Gach of St. Joseph will be elected chairman and Rudy Farber of Neosho will be elected vice-chairman. Other members of the commission are Duane Michie of Caruthersville, Grace Nichols of St. Charles and Joe Carmichael of Springfield. Kehoe owns a car dealership in Jefferson City, MO.

Related posts and articles:
Kehoe resigns from transportation commission (KRCG-TV)
Mike Kehoe Resigns from Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission (Missouri Department of Transportation)

Smart Grid Program Announced

Vice President Joe Biden, on a visit to Jefferson City, Missouri, (home of Infrastructure Watch) with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, detailed plans by the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a smart electrical grid. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, DOE will distribute more than $3.3 billion in smart grid technology development grants and an additional $615 million for smart grid storage, monitoring and technology viability.

Secretary Locke also announced plans for a Smart Grid meeting in Washington, D.C. that he will chair with Energy Secretary Steven Chu. The event, which will take place in early May, will bring together key stakeholders, largely from private industry, to discuss developing industry-wide standards for a smart grid. Additional meetings of industry staff on May 19-20 are planned to make further progress on a standards agreement.

As part of Biden's announcement, the DOE released a notice of intent (NOI) for the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program, as well as a draft funding opportunity announcement for a smart grid regional demonstration initiative. The Smart Grid Investment Grant Program will provide grants ranging from $500,000 to $20 million for smart grid technology deployments. It will also provide grants of $100,000 to $5 million for the deployment of grid monitoring devices. This program provides matching grants of up to 50 percent for investments planned by electric utilities and other entities to deploy smart grid technologies. The program will use a competitive, merit-based process to select qualified projects to receive funding. There will be a 20-day public comment period on the NOI.

The draft funding opportunity announcement is for smart grid demonstrations in three areas:
-Smart Grid Regional Demonstrations will quantify smart grid costs and benefits, verify technology viability, and examine new business models.
-Utility-Scale Energy Storage Demonstrations can include technologies such as advanced battery systems, ultra-capacitors, flywheels, and compressed air energy systems, and applications such as wind and photovoltaic integration and grid congestion relief.
-Grid Monitoring Demonstrations will support the installation and networking of multiple high-resolution, time-synchronized grid monitoring devices, called phasor measurement units, that allow transmission system operators to see, and therefore influence, electric flows in real-time.

Each demonstration project must be carried out in collaboration with the electric utility that owns the grid facilities. The projects require a cost share of at least 50 percent of non-federal funds.

You can find the original DOE news release here.

New Commissioner Appointed to Missouri Highways & Transportation Commission

Joe Carmichael of Springfield was recently appointed to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. He is president and manager of the Springfield law firm Carmichael & Neal PC. He will serve a six-year term, which expires March 8, 2015.

Carmichael replaces Jim Anderson of Springfield, whose term on the commission ended March 1. Mike Kehoe, Jefferson City, and David Gach, St. Joseph, assumed the positions of commission chair and vice-chair, respectively, at the March 4 commission meeting. Hayti resident Duane Michie's term on the commission also was up March 1. He will continue to serve until a replacement is named. Other commission members are Rudy Farber, Neosho and Grace Nichols, St. Charles.

You can read the original Missouri Department of Transportation news release here.

Air Pollution News

Bill Preventing Air Pollution Regulations on Agricultural Production Moving through Senate

Senate Bill 3741, which would exempt emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and methane from agricultural production from regulation under the Clean Air Act, has been referred to the Environment and Public Works Committee. The bill is sponsored by Sen. John Thune (South Dakota).

St. Louis-Area Fails to Meet Air Quality Standards Says Environmental Protection Agency

Last moth, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 officially notified the state of Missouri that the St. Louis metropolitan area does not meet the daily standard for fine particle pollution, also known as fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5.

Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles and St. Louis counties, along with the city of St. Louis, are included in EPA's designation for Missouri. The determination also includes the Illinois areas of Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties, and part of Randolph County. EPA Region 5 officials will address the determination issues in Illinois.

The 24-hour fine particle standard is 35 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Fine particles can be emitted directly or form in the atmosphere from reactions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Exposure to fine particle pollution can cause serious health problems, including respiratory and cardiovascular difficulties, and premature death.

The four Missouri counties and the city of St. Louis were determined to be contributing to violations of the air quality standards in Madison County, Ill. The Clean Air Act requires the designation of all areas in violation, as well as nearby areas that contribute to the violation.
EPA closely reviewed recommendations from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) along with public comments before making its determination. The nonattainment areas include those where air monitors indicate violations of standards, and nearby areas that contribute to the violations. Missouri's DNR will be required to develop a plan and take steps to reduce the emissions that contribute to fine particle pollution.

Additional information:
EPA news release

Book Review: #STEM Books for #DeSTEMber

I’ve reviewed 39 STEM-related books (and counting).  STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  As you may have seen in the news, there is a push to improve STEM education, interest students in STEM fields, and grow the number of workers in these fields.  The idea is that these will be the skills needed by workers of the future.  If you’re a STEM educator or a student considering a career in STEM fields, you might like to take a look at some of these books.

I’ll confess that I’m not an educator, but I think most of these books will be accessible to high school and college students, and a few to middle school students.  The list is also a reflection of my career and interests in engineering, public health, policy, and history.  Even with these biases, I think it is a good list for someone looking for STEM-related books.

How to Build an Android: The True Story of Philip K. Dick’s Robotic Resurrection by David F. Dufty

I was fascinated by robots as a kid.  I enjoyed reading Isaac Asimov’s robot stories.  I longed for the Omnibot 2000 in the Sears Wishbook.

Robots have come a long way.  In How to Build an Android, David F. Dufty describes the short strange life of a very complex robot made to look and talk like science fiction author Philip K. Dick.  The robot had a very sophisticated and lifelike head and complex artificial intelligence.  As with most complex things, it was the work of many people who had to solve a lot of problems.

If you’re interested in robotics, this is an interesting nontechnical book.  In addition, you’ll get introduced to some freaky sci-fi.  You may even get as (somewhat) legitimate reason to use the word “Dickhead” (capitalized, it refers to a fan of PKD, so don’t go using it on anyone).

 

The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways by Earl Swift

The Interstate highway system in the United States is one of the most enormous structures built.  Some of the prospective STEM students who read this may actually be younger than the Intestate system, though in some sense it is never complete because it needs constant repair and maintenance.  The Interstates were completed in the 1990s, but the Federal-Aid Highways go back to 1916.

 

Earl Swift wrote an accessible history of the Interstates in The Big Roads.  If you interested in automobiles or transportation, it’s a good read.

 

Dreams of Iron and Steel by Deborah Cadbury

Deborah Cadbury describes seven wonders of engineering in Dreams of Iron and Steel.  It covers almost a century of history, but many of the events are concentrated in the Victorian Era.  That was a time of great technological innovation.

 

Though the book is history, many of the structures still stand.  Railways, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Suez and Panama Canals, and Hoover Dam stand testament to an age of big engineering.

 

The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios

Though the memory of Professor Wragg’s sneer prompts me to not make this confession, part of my interest in science and technology came from comic books.  Iron Man was cool.  Spider-Man’s web shooters were very cool.  Superhero comics are full of fantasy, admittedly, but the strange, unrealistic science and technology they depict have inspired many to study STEM in reality.

 

Physicist John Kakalios uses examples from comic books to explore real physics in The Physics of Supeheroes.  Sometimes comics get there science right.  Even when they get it wrong, it can be instructive.  If you know what people are talking about when they refer to the “New 52,” you may find this book to be a great introduction to physics.

 

1089 and All That: A Journey into Mathematics by David Acheson

Here is another confession: I’m not especially interested in math.  I endured a lot of math classes to study engineering.  Reading David Acheson’s 1089 and All That did not require such endurance.  For one reason, it is a short book.  For another, Acheson doesn’t expect his readers to be mathematicians; it is enough to follow the outline of the math he discusses.

 

I recommend this book because so many people have a fear of math.  1089 can be followed by many high school students and older folks with math phobias.  Just take a deep breath, relax, and follow along as well as you can.  You’ll see that math can be interesting, useful, and even beautiful in a way.

 

The Brooklyn Bridge: They Said it Couldn’t be Built by Judith St. George

Judith St. George’s The Brooklyn Bridge is a short history of and iconic bridge.  Written for the bridge’s 100^th anniversary, it is also the story of the engineers who sacrificed life and health to see it completed: John Roebling and his son Washington.  John Roebling was a German immigrant who built many suspension bridges and owed a wire-making business.  He gave his son and extraordinary education in bridge engineering for the time, and before beginning work on the Brooklyn Bridge he served as an officer in the Union Army during the Civil War.

 

Why should a cutting-edge STEM student read about a bridge that is almost 130 years old?  It’s because we still use and rely on very successful, centuries old technologies.  Improving and rebuilding our infrastructure will be an important part of our economy.  As recently as 2010, New York City and the federal government committed $500 million to repair and repaint the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems by Henry Petroski

STEM lumps together science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  Is there a difference between science and engineering?  Is it important?

 

Henry Petroski, a professor of civil engineering and history and author of The Essential Engineer, believes there is an important difference.  At heart, science is about increasing knowledge.  Engineering is about invention.  Of course, new knowledge makes new invention possible.  Just as often, though, engineering runs ahead of science.  Sometimes science didn’t advance until someone invented the instruments to conduct new observations and experiments.  The invention of the microscope made possible the science of microbiology.  Steam engines were built and greatly improved before we had a modern scientific understanding of thermodynamics.  In fact, thermodynamics was to a large extent born out of desire to understand steam engines. In this sense, it is an engineering science (study of manmade things) as much as a natural science (study of natural things) or branch of physics.

 

Petroski’s focus in the book is the importance of engineering to policymaking, where it is often overshadowed by science.  Policy, science, and engineering play off of each other a lot.  Most of my career as an engineer has been related to government, policy, and regulatory compliance.

 

The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

The Ghost Map by science writer Steven Johnson is the story of the birth of epidemiology.  Epidemiology is a medical science that uses statistics to help us understand how diseases operate in a population.  Using various statistical and geographic tools, long before we had computers and GIS, physician John Snow demonstrated that cholera, once a recurring plague that wiped out hundreds of thousands of people in some outbreaks, was a waterborne disease.  This understanding, initially met with much skepticism, allowed officials to intervene to prevent the spread of the disease.  For those who say of their math classes, “I’ll never us this,” here is a case where math (and science and policy) were used to make a great difference.

 

Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose

It is not much publicized today that the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804 to 1806 had a partly scientific mission.  Captains Lewis and Clark were charges with bringing back samples of the flora, fauna, and culture of the western territories.  It was also hoped that they would find a water passage to the Pacific Ocean.  In Undaunted Courage, Stephen Ambrose writes about the scientific mission as well as the policy, diplomacy, and commercial hopes the expedition carried.

 

Of course, what attracts most people to the Lewis and Clark expedition is that it was a great adventure.  There is a place in STEM fields for thoughtful adventurers and explorers. 

 

Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear by Jan Bondeson

A list like this deserves something strange, creepy, and more fun than you care to admit.  Right now, thousands of very young future STEM workers are catching bugs and snakes, breaking their toys to see what is inside, or staring into space with a weird expression of vacancy and concentration.

 

Jan Bondeson’s Buried Alive is not a morbid book.  It is sometimes humorous, especially in consideration of topic.  From a STEM point of view, Bondeson shows how knowledge accumulates over time.  The fears and activities of our forefathers may seem strange to us, but they sometimes made sense in light of what they knew.  Buried Alive doesn’t simply play off our fascination with the grotesque and death, though the book might not have been written if we lacked that fascination, I think it reminds us to approach our ancestors with a touch of grace and humility.  Maybe our progeny will show us the same courtesy.

 

If you’re looking for something for a younger student, check out this post→ from Joanne Loves Science or these recommendations→ from STEM Friday.  By the way, I also write about engineering, infrastructure and the environment at Infrastructure Watch.

 

This review of STEM books appears courtesy of Keenan’s Book Reviews.