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Association & Industry News
NRMCA encourages today’s rising stars to apply for a unique opportunity that supports their growth in the ready mixed concrete industry. NRMCA’s Developing Industry’s Leaders (DIL) program is a distinctive, career-long plan of action where tomorrow’s leaders interact, both professionally and socially, with established executives, thereby gaining a national perspective about the industry. Candidates must be employed by an NRMCA Producer or Associate member, Bureau member or state affiliate association. The application period closes Friday, April 30. Please note that the DIL program is NOT a short-term perk. After the two-year formal program ends, DIL alumni are expected to make long-term commitments to move their team’s initiative(s) forward by joining, and attending, the appropriate NRMCA committee meetings twice each year as well as participate in annual DIL alumni events. They are also asked to mentor newer young leaders. Finally, they may attend NRMCA’s semi-annual Board meetings to observe senior-level executives deliberate and make both short- and long-term strategic decisions that impact the industry. Click here to download this year’s application. For more information, contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. On Thursday, April 22, at 11 a.m. Eastern time, the Concrete Sustainability Hub will host a free public webinar, CO2 Inhalation of Concrete Structures: The Case of Carbon Uptake in the U.S. Pavement Network. The webinar will be presented by CSHub postdoc Hessam AzariJafari. Though participation is free, registration is required. In this webinar, the CO2 inhalation of concrete, so-called carbonation or carbon uptake, will be discussed. The concrete carbon uptake depends mostly on three factors, including mix design constituents, concrete structure temperature and environmental conditions. For the concrete used in the U.S. pavements (including concrete and composite segments), these factors can be quite different from one region to another. Each road segment undergoes several maintenance and repair actions, and the exposure conditions of the pavements are quite different. Therefore, a network-level model was jointly used with a carbon uptake model to estimate the total amount of carbon uptake during the end of life and use phase of pavements over the next 30 years. The developed carbon uptake model can be used for roughly estimating the CO2 absorbed by any concrete elements and the results of this can provide insights toward the inclusion of carbon uptake in the calculation of the environmental impact of concrete structures. Registration is required. For more information, contact Andrew Logan at alogan@mit.edu. 
Buildings
As a key partner and supplier in the escalating war on embodied carbon, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) recently released a revised industry-wide Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). The EPD, verified by ASTM International, includes portland cement, portland-limestone cement (PLC), blended cement and masonry cement (click here to download a copy of the EPD). The results demonstrate a reduction in carbon impact associated with producing cement in the United States. Compared to the 2016 EPD, the carbon impact of portland cement decreased by 11.3%; blended cement decreased by 16.8% and masonry cement decreased 14.9%. Additionally, the EPD included portland-limestone cement which showed a carbon footprint 8.2% lower than portland cement. Cement’s carbon reduction is a value to ready mixed concrete production. Where concrete EPDs reference the PCA’s EPD, this would also decrease the carbon impact of concrete. To date, the North American ready mixed concrete industry, including material suppliers, have invested into more than 80 verified EPDs with more than 35,000 products/mixes and is the leading material industry that reports environmental impacts. NRMCA -verified EPDs can be found here. Integral to the Build With Strength campaign, NRMCA promotes Strength Through Transparency for member and industry competitiveness in the green building marketplace and the trends toward product and company transparency. For support, training, sustainability strategy planning or program development, please contact James Bogdan at jbogdan@nrmca.org or 412-420-4138. The United Stated Green Building Council (USGBC) recently launched a LEED pilot credit called the Social Equity within the Supply Chain that is intended to create more equitable, healthier environments for those affected by and involved in the production of materials and products. Specifically, the credit wants to drive material suppliers to demonstrate compliance with the Fundamental Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and basic human rights at work, including Freedom of Association, Abolition of Forced Labor, Elimination of Child Labor and Equality. The Concrete Sustainable Council (CSC) is referenced as an approved program to meet the pilot credit based on the Human Rights and Labor Practices criteria within the CSC certification. The CSC has already been acknowledged in the world’s largest green building rating system, BREEAM, as well as in North America’s Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s ENVISON rating system. NRMCA, in collaboration with the CSC and Sustainable Solutions Corporation, developed a fact sheet for architects and engineers to understand and pursue the pilot credit. The trend in reporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices is growing and, with similar criteria being discovered in green building construction documents and specifications, procurement decisions are evolving beyond price and performance. Where material suppliers demonstrate disclosing ESG practices, they can realize increased business opportunities. CSC is integral with Strength Through Transparency, the Build With Strength campaign and for member and industry competitiveness in the green building marketplace. For more information, contact James Bogdan at jbogdan@nrmca.org or 412-420-4138.
Government Affairs
Please join the NRMCA Government Affairs team for a live discussion with Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL-13), presented by NRMCA's Political Action Committee, CONCRETEPAC, today, Wednesday, April 14, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time. Rep. Davis is a champion of the ready mixed concrete industry with a deep understanding and appreciation for the values embraced by our industry and the importance of supporting the business community and America’s ready mixed concrete producers. He is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, and also serves on the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Rep. Davis is the co-chair of the Congressional Ready Mixed Concrete Caucus. This Town Hall will be an informal conversation to get the inside scoop on legislative issues affecting your bottom line. NRMCA’s Industry Town Hall series is sponsored by our Boots on the Hill sponsors; NRMCA member companies Euclid Chemical, GCP Applied Technologies, Sika and Master Builders Solutions. Click here to register. For more information, contact Taylor Drzewicki at tdrzewicki@nrmca.org.
SEO
Last week, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan announced new efforts that will be taken by EPA to advance environmental justice. In his remarks on the new focus, Administrator Regan gave clear marching orders to all EPA offices to "integrate environmental justice considerations into their plans and actions." Regan continued, “Too many communities whose residents are predominantly of color, Indigenous, or low-income continue to suffer from disproportionately high pollution levels and the resulting adverse health and environmental impacts. We must do better. This will be one of my top priorities as Administrator, and I expect it to be one of yours as well.” Under this new concentration, EPA offices are required to: 1. Strengthen enforcement of violations of cornerstone environmental statutes and civil rights laws in communities overburdened by pollution. 2. Take immediate and affirmative steps to incorporate environmental justice considerations into their work, including assessing impacts to pollution-burdened, underserved and Tribal communities in regulatory development processes and to consider regulatory options to maximize benefits to these communities. 3. Take immediate and affirmative steps to improve early and more frequent engagement with pollution-burdened and underserved communities affected by agency rulemakings, permitting and enforcement decisions, and policies. Following President Biden’s memorandum on strengthening the Nation-to-Nation relationship with Tribal nations, EPA staff should engage in regular, meaningful and robust consultation with Tribal officials in the development of federal policies that have Tribal implications. 4. Consistent with the Administration’s Justice 40 initiative, consider and prioritize direct and indirect benefits to underserved communities in the development of requests for grant applications and in making grant award decisions, to the extent allowed by law. What currently is not known about EPA’s efforts is how they will specifically be administered. EPA has yet to announce if these actions will be taken through consistent practices among all offices related to new permits, approval processes, proposed rules requiring public notice and comment, EPA guidance, inspections or other activities. NRMCA will continue to monitor EPA’s actions on this front for their potential impacts to the ready mixed concrete industry. Click here to review the EPA press release and here to view the agency's environmental justice webpage. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org. 
Calendar
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. May 3 – 6, Online Course May 4 – 7 , Smyrna, TN May 5, Webinar Series May 10 – 17, Online Course May 14 – 24, Online Course June 2, Webinar Series June 3 - 17, Online Course June 15 – 17, Smyrna, TN November 9 – 11, Dallas 
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Business Advancement
NRMCA’s May 14-24 Plant Manager Certification online class is half full; do not dally registering. This virtual, self-paced class contains the same material, rigor and self-directed homework and requires the same post-lecture study time as the in person, demanding Plant Manager Certification class. With the requirement to view 24 hours of lectures in a nine-day period, participants can also reach out to instructors for further clarification. The two required, online exams have set times on Monday, May 24. The challenging content has become the standard base of knowledge for plant managers, batchmen and operators. Content ties knowledge to application in product knowledge management, plant safety, environmental regulations, plant operations and ready mixed concrete industry business principles. This is the certification class cited in Army Corps of Engineers and Navy contract specifications. While registration is not yet open for the next, and final, class in 2021, please note it will be held in December. It will be a face-to-face class with no online option. Click here to register for the May class. For more information, contact Mason Jean at mjean@nrmca.org or 703-706-4835. NRMCA Member News
Being an NRMCA Producer or Associate member has many benefits, including a Member to Member (M2M) Program designed to benefit both producers and associates at the same time. NRMCA Producer members are receiving rebate checks for mixer trucks, discounts on office supplies and financial consulting. One Associate member that's part of the program, BASYS Processing, wants Producer members to know that “just because you've always paid the same processing fees doesn't mean those are fees you should be paying." It is offering four ways to lower that rate. Visit NRMCA dedicated services through the updated M2M webpage where you can explore their offerings. For more information, contact Jacques Jenkins at jjenkins@nrmca.org. Engineering
NRMCA is offering its one-day course Improving Concrete Quality, intended for concrete producers, ingredient material suppliers, engineers and testing labs, online between June 3 and 17. Improved concrete quality can benefit all stakeholders in a concrete construction project. This course will address the following questions:
Course instructors are Kevin MacDonald, Ph.D., FACI, Beton Consulting Engineers LLC, and Karthik Obla, Ph.D., P.E. at NRMCA. Producers will learn readily-implementable steps to manage variability and attain a more consistent product; ingredient suppliers will learn how material variation affects concrete variation; engineers will learn how to improve quality through specifications and testing lab professionals will learn to measure and improve testing quality. Upon successful completion of the course, attendees will earn 8 professional development hours, a certificate of completion and credits toward NRMCA’s STEPS program. Click here for more information or contact Mason Jean at mjean@nrmca.org. 
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