Oil and Gas Lawyer Steven Saunders in Scranton tipped me off to a new OSHA Bulletin entitled “Worker Exposure to Silica during Hydraulic Fracturing.” A copy of the Bulletin is available HERE. With this Bulletin, contractors working in the oil and gas industry can be assured that OSHA is going to be paying close attention to… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: June 2012
A Look at Drilling Contracts Under Pennsylvania Law
Posted in ContractsYou may have heard that there is a bit of natural gas drilling going on in Pennsylvania. Thus far, the legal issues have dealt with environmental regulations, zoning, leasing, and rights of way. The players involved in those matters have generally been landowners, government agencies, and the natural gas companies (the well operators). The Courts… Continue Reading
DOL to Hold Prevailing Wage Seminar
Posted in Contracts, Davis Bacon, Public Bidding, Public ContractsThe Department of Labor is holding a seminar on the Davis Bacon Act and related federal prevailing wage laws in Philadelphia on July 10-12, 2012. To sign up for a training session, email name, title, organization, email address and training location to whdpwc@dol.com. For more information, visit http://www.dol.gov/whd/govcontracts.
The Problem With Low Bid
Posted in Contracts, Public BiddingTime and time again I see the old adage “if it is too good to be true it probably is” applying to a project gone array. This was apparently the case with the Palo Alto, CA Library project where the low bidder came in $8 million below the next low bid. Whatever dreams the local authority… Continue Reading
How Natural Gas Could Benefit Southeastern Pennsylvania The Most
Posted in InfrastructureForbes Energy Blog has a guest post from Navigant on why exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a good idea for America. Exporting LNG is also a must for Pennsylvania in maximizing the economic benefits of the Marcellus beyond just the drilling regions. Southeastern Pennsylvania already has the rough infrastructure to make it a LNG export hub… Continue Reading
Should Arbitration Be Avoided At All Costs?
Posted in ContractsENR has an interesting blog post about a panel discussion on claims held at the Structural Congress of the American Society of Civil Engineers in March where the topic of arbitration was discussed. I know there remains a small but vocal anti-arbitration bias among attorneys but I found the advice of the attorney on the panel particularly surprising… Continue Reading
Liquid Assets
Posted in Infrastructure, Public ContractsCheck out this trailer for the PBS documentary “Liquid Assets.” Sums up nicely the need to repair our crumbling infrastructure. It also indirectly makes the case for PPP’s especially in the area of water and sewer systems where private companies (like Philly’s own Aqua American) can upgrade, repair, and manage these systems far more effectively… Continue Reading
Florida’s Anti-Cuba Law
Posted in Public BiddingENR has an interesting article about a legal challenge to Florida’s (the State not the rapper pictured right) new law that bars the awarding of public contracts to firms that have business interests in Cuba or Syria. In the case mega-construction firm Oderbrecht seeks to invalidate the Florida law on several constitutional grounds. First, Oderbrecht… Continue Reading
Interesting Study on State of Our Water Sytems
Posted in Public Bidding, UncategorizedUnderground Construction has an article on the results of a study concerning the current state our water systems. The results are bad news for those that live in areas that are prone to water main breaks (like Philadelphia) and potential good news to the contractors that will be required to perform the work to fix,… Continue Reading
Anti-Union v. Anti-Union Tactics
Posted in Picketing, UnionsIs the controversial Goldtex project the beginning of the end for the last union-town in America? Ryan Briggs over at HiddenPhilly.org has an interesting piece that explores this question. I have been an outspoken proponent of what the developers of the Goldtex project are doing. I applaud them not because they are trying to bust up… Continue Reading
OSHA Crane and Derrick Rules
Posted in UncategorizedFollowing several high profile crane accidents OSHA has issued a final rule revising its rules on crane and derricks rules. http://www.osha.gov/cranes-derricks/
The Statutue of Repose Has Its Moment and Why You Should Care
Posted in Contracts, Public Bidding, UncategorizedMost of the attention given to our country’s aging infrastructure has concerned what we should do to fix it. Most of the attention contractors have given it has concerned how they can fix it. However, contractors should also be giving attention to their current liabilities on aging – and long ago completed – infrastructure projects. … Continue Reading
Philadelphia Based Gas Group Forms
Posted in News, UncategorizedA new trade organization called the Delaware Valley Marcellus Association has formed. According to the Association’s web page The Delaware Valley Marcellus Association acts as a new business conduit between gas development companies operating in the Marcellus Shale and the Philadelphia region’s rich trove of potential business partners. Founding members of the association include KPMG… Continue Reading
Why all the flack for frack?
Posted in UncategorizedWhoever invented fracking should win an award. Watching this video made me realize that fracking is a triumph of human ingenuity rather than an environmental nightmare. On a less philosophical note, contractors should take notice on the construction techniques used to drill for natural gas. We have only begun to develop the infrastructure necessary to… Continue Reading
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