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PACA Conveyor – Week of October 29, 2020
Table of Contents
Easily jump to a section in this newsletter:

1. PACA News
2. Advocacy News
3. Special Thanks
4. Meetings and Events News
5. Environmental News
6. Safety & Health News
7. PACA Members in the News
8. PACA – Building and Connecting Communities

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PACA News
Advocacy News
As reported by Hank Butler, PACA's PACA Lobbyist.
Email Hank
Advocacy News
It is Less Than One Week Before the General Election - Make Sure Your Voice is Heard!
Everyone is tired of the campaign ads on social media, mailings, phone calls, and television. In one week, the general election campaigning ends and we are faced with another issue – who won the elections.

In very similar fashion as four years ago, the Democrat challenger for U.S. President is up in the polls, but the variance is closing in as we get closer to election day. Below, please see the most recent polls. Looking at the grouping of multiple polls, one can see the trend that the race for U.S. President is getting close.

Most Recent Polls:

FOX NEWS

Biden - 50, Trump - 45, Margin of Error - 3

RASMUSSEN REPORTS

Biden - 50, Trump - 47, Margin of Error - 3.5

CNBC / CHANGE RESEARCH

Biden - 49, Trump - 47, Margin of Error - X

QUINNIPIAC

Biden - 51, Trump - 43, Margin of Error - 2.5

CNN

Biden - 53, Trump - 43, Margin of Error - 4

USA TODAY / SUFFOLK

Biden - 49, Trump - 42, Margin of Error - 4.4

Read more via the link below.

Unfortunately, due to the number of mail-in ballots, Pennsylvania may not know the winner of the General Election until 5 days later – or even later.

This election is critical in many ways. Voters will not only decide the United States President, it will also elect:

  • All Members of the United States House of Representatives
  • Pennsylvania Treasurer
  • Pennsylvania Attorney General
  • Pennsylvania Auditor General
  • 1/2 of the Pennsylvania Senate
  • All members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Though most social media and television ads are focused at the top of the ticket (U.S. President and U.S. Representatives), the other seats are equally as important, if not more critical, as our fight for a better general construction climate in Pennsylvania occurs at the state level of government.

Vote for the candidates who best represent you, your family, your business, and your community. From recent polling data above, the gap is closing at the top of the ticket and clearly, EVERY VOTE COUNTS!!!!
READ MORE
Advocacy News
NSSGA Election Outlook
The National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association has prepared a national outlook on how the outcome of the 2020 election will impact policies that are critical to the aggregates industry. The deep dive into transportation, environmental, tax, labor and natural resources arenas compares expected priorities of a Biden administration and a second term of a Trump administration. The report was prepared by the NSSGA Government Affairs & Regulatory Affairs staff.
READ MORE
Kallie
Special Thanks
As reported by Kallie Kline, PACA's Director of Member Services.
Email Kallie
Special Thanks
Email Blasts
Thank you to Our 2020 Corporate Sponsors!
PACA wishes to thank our 2020 Corporate Sponsors for their continuing support this year!

  • ASGCO Complete Conveyor Solutions
  • Babst Calland
  • Burch Materials & Supplies
  • Cleveland Brothers Equipment Co., Inc.
  • Commonwealth Equipment Corporation
  • Conviber, Inc.
  • Hoyt Wire Cloth/Lumsden Corp.
  • Kemper Equipment, Inc.
  • Master Builders Solutions
  • Maurer & Scott Sales, Inc.
  • Mellott Company
  • Murrysville Machinery Co. LLC
Kallie
Meetings and Events News
As reported by Kallie Kline, PACA's Director of Member Services.
Email Kallie
Meetings and Events News
Rock Star CB
Announcing the PACA Virtual 2020 Annual Meeting - Registration NOW OPEN
Featuring guest speakers - Economist Anirban Basu and Governor Wolf's Chief of Staff, Mike Brunelle.

Join us on November 16th at 2:00 PM via webinar for a very special special presentation by our favorite economist, Mr. Anirban Basu. Mr Basu will present:

Back to the Future: A Tribute to 80s Movies & Hope that Life Returns to Normal Sooner Rather than Later

This presentation will focus on the state of the economy seven months into the COVID-19-induced economic crisis. Special attention will be given to real estate and construction dynamics, labor market performance, state and local government finances, financial market performance, and other aspects of economic life. The presentation will conclude with an outlook for the year to come.

Anirban is Chairman & CEO of Sage Policy Group, Inc., an economic and policy consulting firm in Baltimore. Anirban serves as the chief economist to Associated Builders and Contractors and as chief economic adviser to the Construction Financial Management Association. In 2007 and then again in 2016, Mr. Basu was selected by the Daily Record newspaper as one of Maryland’s 50 most influential people. The Baltimore Business Journal named him one of the region’s 20 most powerful business leaders in 2010.

November 17th, beginning at 11 AM, we will be hosting our 2020 Annual General Membership Meeting online. The meeting will feature guest speaker, Mike Brunelle, who serves as Governor Tom Wolf's Chief of Staff. If you wish to submit questions for Mr. Brunelle in advance, please email them to Kallie Kline.

The agenda for the membership meeting will also include PACA's Board elections, Associate Board elections, our State of the Association address and more!

These webinars are complimentary to all PACA members thanks to the generosity of our 2020 Annual Meeting Rock Star Sponsor - Cleveland Brothers Equipment Co., Inc.! We sincerely thank Cleveland Brothers for their continued support, engagement and generosity!

To register for 11/16, go here.

To register for 11/17, go here.
Meetings and Events News
PACA Emerging Leaders Applications Now Being Accepted
Did you see the announcement earlier today on PACA's newest program, the PACA Emerging Leaders Academy (PELA)?

If you did not see this special announcement, below is a link to a video that better explains the program.

A special thanks to our PELA Board of Trustees who will be reviewing the applications received to ultimately choose the inaugural class of 2021 PELA students.

  • Rod Martin, Martin Stone Quarries, Inc.
  • Chris Wright, Union Quarries, Inc.
  • Jason Blase, Conewago Ready Mix
  • Vince Pagano, Highway Equipment & Supply Co.
  • Marcia Lynch, Cleveland Brothers Equipment Co.
  • Lisa Stephen, Wayne Concrete/Wayne Gravel
We are also pleased to announce our 2021 PELA Sponsors! We thank them for their generosity and support of this brand new program!
  • Civil and Environmental Consultants, Inc.
  • Martin Stone Quarries, Inc.
  • New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., Inc.
  • Union Quarries, Inc.
If you need copies of the applications (due November 25th), please contact Kallie Kline.
View PELA Video
Josie
Environmental News
As reported by Josie Gaskey, PACA's Director of Environmental, Safety & Health.
Email Josie
Environmental News
DEP and Climate Change
We wanted to share with you the link to a presentation that was given by the PJM Interconnection to members of DEP’s Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee on October 15. PJM is the regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia, including Pennsylvania. The presentation covers how the PJM Connection evolved, how your electricity is dispatched, carbon emissions levels since 2005, etc. (RGGI is the cap and invest program ordered by Governor Wolf and currently the regulation for this program is out for comment.)

Note .pdf pages 15 and 16 of the presentation clearly and definitively show how far Pennsylvania has come with respect to decreasing air emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides since 2005. Note also .pdf page 17, which illustrates the carbon price modeling from PJM showing that as carbon prices increase through the RGGI process, generation decreases in Pennsylvania, DE, MD and NJ and increases in the rest of regional transport organization. See also the change in the coal usage in the PA region vs. the rest of the regional transport organization. So as PA reduces its reliance on coal, other areas do not drop their reliance on coal, but rather pick up that usage (commonly referred to as leakage in these discussions).

Should you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to contact Josie Gaskey.
Environmental News
DEP Mining eDMR Submittals
We received advance notice that DEP Mining will be sending out a mass mailing to individual NPDES permit holders for mines that encourages them to register with the eDMR reporting through the DEP Greenport by December of 2020.

The EPA Electronic Reporting Rule for NPDES permits has been in effect since published in the Federal Register as a requirement in 2016. The Department has been encouraging voluntary reporting of electronic Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) data since 2018. To date, they have almost 300 individual NPDES registered and reporting DMRs electronically. However, there are approximately 500 remaining individual NPDES permits that have not registered.

EPA has been requesting that DEP report additional information to them through uploads from DEP’s database to EPA’s database, with a mutual goal of having all individual NPDES permittees registered by the end of 2020. YOU MUST REGISTER FOR A DEP GREENPORT ACCOUNT BEFORE YOU CAN SUBMIT DMRs. Greenport Registration link is HERE.

The Department is not, at this time, requiring submittal of general NPDES permit (GP104) DMRs, because the database is not yet set up for reporting DMRs for GP104 permits. This will, however, be a future requirement.

Given it has been more than four years since this requirement, we encourage you to register before the Department takes more direct official action on those that don’t already submit electronically.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Josie Gaskey.
Environmental News
DEP Environmental Justice Policy
DEP has withdrawn the proposed Environmental Justice (EJ) Public Participation Policy (DEP ID: 012-0501-002).

In 2018, the Department published for public comment, a revised EJ Public Participation Policy that focused on enhancing public participation during permit reviews for specific trigger permits they believed warranted additional public input and engagement in EJ areas. Some noncoal mining permits were on the trigger permit list.

After reviewing all comments received, the Department has decided to withdraw the Policy and will develop a policy that will focus on integrating EJ into other Department practices and policies to provide tangible benefits to communities. The Department is focused on incorporating a community engagement process to ensure inclusive community voice around its creation. The Policy is proposed to include: revised EJ areas/population definition; interagency collaboration and EJ planning; EJ mapping, resource and data development; grantmaking practices around EJ; language translation processes; and EJ training for Department staff and external partners.

We will keep you appraised of further movement on this.

Should you have any comments, contact Josie Gaskey.
Environmental News
The Latest on Manganese and DEP
As we’ve indicated to you previously, a regulatory package consists of several pieces, one of which is the Independent Regulatory Review Commission’s (IRRC) Regulatory Analysis form. Both our comments and the PA Coal Alliance comments noted the inconsistencies of the proposed regulation with the Regulatory Review Act.

IRRC has submitted official written comments to DEP on the manganese rule. In particular, IRRC’s comments indicate the following with respect to the point of compliance:

" - the mandate of Act 40 is clear and does not provide discretion to the EQB. Given the language of Act 40, the comments submitted by the Committee, and the requirements of the RRA, we ask the EQB to explain why this rulemaking and the inclusion of two possible points of compliance is consistent with the intent of the Act 40 and the General Assembly.”

Their comments also address issues with:

  • whether the regulation is supported by acceptable data, is reasonable and is actually needed,


  • direct and indirect costs to the Commonwealth, its political subdivisions and to the private sector, and


  • implementation procedures.


DEP is required to provide a response to IRRC’s comments.

Should you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact Josie Gaskey.
Josie
Safety & Health News
As reported by Josie Gaskey, PACA's Director of Environmental, Safety & Health.
Email Josie
Safety & Health News
MSHA Confined Space Alert
MSHA has issued a Confined Space Alert addressing fatalities after entering confined spaces to clear material and obstructions.

Best Practices include:

  • Operators should identify and eliminate or control all hazards before miners begin work and when clearing blocked material. Miners should be trained in these practices.
  • Lock-out, tag-out. Never enter a confined space until the supply and discharge equipment is locked out.
  • Never lock-out using the start and stop controls. These do not disconnect power conductors.
  • Assign a safety harness and lanyard to each miner who may work at material supply and discharge areas or any areas where an engulfment hazard exists. Do not use lanyards that depend on free-fall speed to lock.
  • Place warning signs:
    • “Fall Protection Required Here.”
    • Confined Space – Engulfment Hazard” warning signs at all access points to hoppers, bins, and chutes.
Should you have any questions, contact Josie Gaskey.
Safety & Health News
NIOSH-MSHA Respirable Mine Dust Partnership (for coal and noncoal)
The Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP) was established by the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 and amended in 1997 to prevent early coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung, from progressing to a disabling disease. As required by this Act and the MSHA rule for respirable coal mine dust exposure, the program offers periodic lung function testing, respiratory health assessment questionnaires, and extended health surveillance for surface, underground, and contract coal miners.

Radiographs collected by NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health), under CWHSP, as well as epidemiological studies by NIOSH have documented an increase in cases of black lung and progressive massive fibrosis among coal miners located primarily in central Appalachia. Historically, these cases have presented themselves among older miners with 20+ years of exposure. However, newer cases show occurrences in younger miners with shorter exposure duration (10-20 years). This has caused many to conclude that these new cases of disease result from increased exposure to crystalline silica. The presence of r-type opacities in radiographs have been associated with silicosis, and NIOSH has documented a six-fold increase in r-type opacities between radiographs taken in the 1980’s and 2010’s for coal miners in central Appalachia.

NIOSH believes not enough is known about respirable crystalline silica exposure and disease among our nation’s noncoal miners. Since 1974, NIOSH has recommended an exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica of 0.05 mg/m3. In 2016, OSHA amended its existing respirable crystalline standard to establish a permissible exposure limit consistent with NIOSH’s recommendation.

NIOSH and MSHA developed a Respirable Mine Dust Partnership (RMDP). The purpose of the RMDP is to work together to safeguard the health of all mine workers regarding exposure to respirable crystalline silica. Although the partnership will initially focus on respirable crystalline silica, the intent is for the partnership to address exposures to a broad range of respirable hazards in the future.

Late last week, the RMDP held a two-day workshop entitled, “Silica Exposure and Lung Disease in the Mining Industry”. The agenda and links to the talks can be found here.

The revision to the dust rule is being worked on by MSHA currently.

Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Josie Gaskey.
PACA Members in the News
Kallie
PACA Members in the News
As reported by Kallie Kline, PACA's Director of Member Services.
Email Kallie
PACA Members in the News
National Mining Association & Federal Agencies Honor Leaders in Mine Safety, Environmental Stewardship and Technology
This month, the National Mining Association (NMA), the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement and the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health will honor outstanding achievements in mine safety, environmental stewardship and technology.

We are pleased to recognize the following PACA members who have been recognized:

SAFETY: Small Dredge - Pennsy Supply, Inc.

SAFETY: Small Underground Nonmetal - Hanson Aggregates

To read more about the criteria, other national winners and more, use the link below.
Read More
PACA – Building and Connecting Communities