This Week's Magazine | ENR: Engineering News Record

ENR January 26, 2009

01/21/2009

Proposal in House Fires Up Debate
The Jan. 20 inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president coincides with an $825-billion stimulus proposal now before Congress that includes billions in construction investment and business tax relief. How quickly it is enacted and in what final form is a key industry focus.

Cover Photo: AP/Wideworld
(The cover image of President Barack Obama walking with Alan Braun, CEO of Industrial Contractors Inc., Evansville, Ind., (center) was taken in May 2008 at a company jobsite. Braun says Obama “did a really good job onsite. He asked us about our concerns.”)

The Federal Stimulus Package

Does Massive Spending Help or Hurt in Long Run?
Modest Program Favors Jump-Start Fix-up Effort
Highway Aid Has Some Strings Attached
Advocates Hope To Fly, Sail or Roll To Reform
Funds Will Energize Long-Delayed Projects
Green Systems on the List for GSA and DOD
A Big Drop, But It’s A Really Huge Bucket
Funding Proposal Is Good Starting Point
Proposed Tax Breaks Offer Some Respite, Firms Say
Industry Suppliers Are Ready To Write Off 2009
$650-Million Infusion Small Help in California

Feature

International Program Aims To Develop Energy Supply Without Limit
Wood, coal, gas and oil have long-fueled societies since prehistoric times but they all emit carbon dioxide and all are finite. Today, rapid economic growth is straining the Earth’s ability to meet demand for these fuels, and rising greenhouse-gas concentrations are threatening the climate’s stability.

Headlines

Quick, Careful Operation Lifts ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ Plane
A Third Runway and New Terminal Are Approved for Heathrow
Con Ed Construction Officials Arrested in Contractor Scheme
Oregon Permanently Bars Ross Bros. From Work in State
Perini Corp. Buys Keating Building
Safety Regulators Cite Crane Supplier in Deadly Houston Crash