Rock Products

OCT 2012

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Editorial Office Election Devoid of Infrastructure Talk It's a presidential election year and in what amounts to the nas‐ tiest campaign in modern memory, no one is talking about infra‐ structure. It's like the passage of Map‐21 was the end of that discussion. So it came as a total surprise to me when the local newspaper here in Cleveland, The Plain Dealer – vetting President Obama and Mitt Romney in preparation for an inevitable endorsement – put them on the spot about our nation's infrastructure. "Historically [transportation has] never been a Democratic or Republican issue," Obama told The Plain Dealer. "We've got a whole bunch of deferred maintenance right now, and the con‐ struction industry is still weak despite the fact we're starting to see housing tick up." Asked specifically how his administration would prioritize such projects, city versus suburban, Obama replied: "I think that increasingly not only experts, but also voters, recognize the old urban‐suburban‐exurban divide doesn't really make sense any‐ more. When you look at states here in the Midwest, cities are the economic engines for the suburbs." Obama favors an infrastructure bank, which would back private investment in transportation projects with public money. Projects would be selected based on how they would boost a region or state. But attempts to create the bank have stalled in Congress, and Obama acknowledged that "we haven't gotten it instituted as robustly as we would like." Romney said his infrastructure priorities would extend beyond urban centers. "Our infrastructure's crumbling," Romney said. "It was built in the 1950s and 1960s, it had an estimated 50‐year life, and you're seeing a dramatic need to repair what we have and to expand our system to remove the choke points that are making it more difficult for our goods to travel across the nation." Romney said he favors public‐private partnerships to fund trans‐ portation projects. Such arrangements, he said, allow entities to work together "to expand our infrastructure and then devote a stream of revenue to repay the public‐private partnership." So there you have it. It isn't much. And the temporary funding mecha‐ nism called Map‐21 isn't near enough to get us to a reality based future. Mark S. Kuhar, editor mkuhar@mining‐media.com (330) 722‐4081 Member: Construction Writers Association 4 ROCKproducts • OCTOBER 2012 11555 Central Parkway, Suite 401 Jacksonville, Florida 32224 U.S.A. Phone: +1.904.721.2925 • Fax: +1.904.721.2930 Mining Media International Corporate Office 8751 East Hampden Avenue, Suite B1 Denver, Colorado 80231 U.S.A. Phone: +1.303.283.0640 • Fax: +1.303.283.0641 Editor, Mark S. Kuhar, mkuhar@mining‐media.com Assistant Editor, Josephine Smith, jsmith@mining‐media.com Graphic Designer, Francesca Peeples, fpeeples@mining‐media.com Vice President/Editorial Director, Steve Fiscor, sfiscor@mining‐media.com President/Publisher, Peter Johnson, pjohnson@mining‐media.com Vice President/Sales & Marketing, John Bold, jbold@mining‐media.com U.S. & Canada, Sales, Sean Carr, scarr@mining‐media.com Scandinavia, UK and European Sales Manager, Colm Barry, colm.barry@telia.com German Sales Manager, Gerd Strasmann, StrasmannMedia@t‐online.de Classified Adver tising: Eastern Gina Kelly, (866) 293‐5001, gkelly@mining‐media.com, Western Christin Doran, (866) 293‐5001, cdoran@mining‐media.com Show Manager, Tanna Holzer, tholzer@mining‐media.com Ad Traffic Manager, Erica Freeman, efreeman@mining‐media.com Rock Products, Volume 115, Issue 10 , (ISSN 0035‐7464) is published monthly by Mining Media, Inc, 10 Sedgwick Drive, Englewood, Colorado 80113 (mining‐ media.com). Periodicals Postage paid at Englewood, CO, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40845540. Canada return address: Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor ON N9A 6J5, Email: circulation@mining‐ media.com. Current and back issues and additional resources, including subscrip‐ tion request forms and an editorial calendar, are available on the World Wide Web at www.rockproducts.com. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Free and controlled circulation to qualified subscribers. Non‐qualified persons may subscribe at the following rates: USA and Canada, 1 year, $82.00, 2 year, $139.00. Outside the USA and Canada, 1 year, $134.00, 2 year, $249.00 surface mail (1 year, $191.00, 2 year, $352.00 airmail delivery). For subscriber services or to order single copies, write to Rock Products, 8751 East Hampden Avenue, Suite B1, Denver, CO 80231 USA; call +1.303.283.0640 (USA) or visit www.mining‐media.com. ARCHIVES AND MICROFORM: This magazine is available for research and retrieval of selected archived articles from leading electronic databases and online search services, including Factiva, LexisNexis, and Proquest. For microform avail‐ ability, contact ProQuest at 800‐521‐0600 or +1.734.761.4700, or search the Serials in Microform listings at www.proquest.com. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rock Products, P.O. Box 1337, Skokie, IL 60076 USA. REPRINTS: Mining Media Inc, 8751 East Hampden Avenue, Suite B1, Denver, CO 80231 USA. Phone: +1.303.283.0640, Fax: +1.303.283.0641, www.mining‐ media.com PHOTOCOPIES: Authorization to photocopy articles for internal corporate, per‐ sonal, or instructional use may be obtained from the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at +1.978.750.8400. Obtain further information at copyright.com. EXECUTIVE OFFICE: Mining Media, Inc., 8751 East Hampden Avenue, Suite B1, Denver, CO 80231 USA phone: +1.303.283.0640, fax: +1.303.283.0641, www.mining‐media.com COPYRIGHT 2012: Rock Products ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. www.rockproducts.com

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