A week ago, the 2018-2019 Developing Industry Leaders Government (DIL) Affairs Group traveled to Washington to meet with Members of Congress and staff about the importance of resilient utilities and critical infrastructure. The group's project involved the threat to utilities from natural disasters and homeland security concerns and developed recommendations on how to best protect against these threats – a problem that has concrete-intensive solutions. The group shared these findings with three Members of Congress, Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Scott Tipton (R-CO) and Derek Kilmer (D-WA). In addition, the group met with staff from two Members of Congress who serve on the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee: Reps. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) and John Joyce (R-PA) as well as staff from the office Rep. Jimmy Gomez. You can find the group’s two-page report here and the one-pager they provided to Congressional offices here.
In addition to presenting information both on the threat and recommendations to secure utilities, the group prepared district-specific maps detailing critical infrastructure points of interest, connecting the general problem to the members’ home districts. The response from both Members of Congress and staff was positive, with both members and staff indicating an understanding of the need to enhance the security of utilities and critical infrastructure and expressing interest in working with NRCMA in future reauthorizations or appropriations legislation.
The DIL group included David Brenner (Sika US), Holly Martin (United Companies/CRH), Mandie Perez (Central Concrete/US Concrete) and Ryan Ransavage (Miles Stone and Gravel). Also part of the group but unable to attend the Hill day was Dan Beskar (GCP Applied Technologies).
For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association