![]() Work could begin next spring on the construction of a large liquid natural gas storage facility that will cost around $180 million to build and will belong to the Albuquerque-based New Mexico Gas Company. The project is slated to go up on a site in Rio Rancho two miles to the north of the Double Eagle II Airport and west of the Atrisco Vista Boulevard. It is expected that the facility itself will take up only 25 acres of the 160-acre site. Late last year New Mexico Gas submitted an application to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission seeking approval of the project. In so doing, the company said the proposed facility would help ensure “a reliable gas supply to customers of NMGC,” while also helping to “control the impacts of price volatility on the Company’s customers.” Centerpiece of the project is a massive steel storage tank capable of holding up to one billion cubic feet of natural gas in liquid form. The facility will also allow NMGC to vaporize liquefied natural gas into gaseous form for use in the company’s distribution system, based upon need. The storage facility will make it possible for the company to endure natural weather disasters such as Winter Storm Uri, which led to power lapses throughout Texas in early 2021. The proposed project has met with some questions, particularly from a group called the New Energy Economy, which is based in Santa Fe, and has wondered about safety issues connected with the tank. That group has argued that liquefied natural gas can pose “significant risks to public safety and the environment.” In its website, the New Energy Economy also says that the liquefied natural gas would have to be transported by truck to other parts of the state, “which could lead to increased traffic and dangers along congested transportation corridors.” NMGC has contended, however, that the new facility will “use the latest technology and it will be built using industry best practices,” adding that “many similar projects operate safely and reliably throughout the United States.” Public hearings on the project are expected to be held in October by the Public Regulation Commission. If all goes well, NMGC has said that construction of the facility could be underway by the second quarter of 2024, with the goal of making it fully operational sometime in 2026. By Garry Boulard
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![]() More than $64 million in grants coming out of Washington is being made available for pipeline and underground natural gas storage facilities upkeep work. The funding is coming through the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which is a part of the Department of Transportation, and is designed to give state governments support in keeping pipelines and gas storage facilities up to date. “These grants will be another important tool for ensuring America’s pipelines are the safest and most reliable in the world,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement announcing the grant funding. Altogether, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will distribute what are called Pipeline Safety State Base Grants worth a total dollar amount of $60.5 million. An additional nearly $4 million is being made available through underground natural gas storage grants specifically designed to help fund equipment maintenance and updates, among other things. State inspection efforts currently oversee more than 80% of the nation’s vast 3.4-million-mile pipeline system. The grant opportunities come five months after the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration announced that it was offering more than $25 million in grants to go for first responder training and improved safety programs for transporting and handling hazardous materials. In the last two years, the agency has awarded more than $206 million in grants for state-based gas pipeline safety efforts. By Garry Boulard ![]() A former grocery store building that once served Tucson’s vibrant Chinese community is on the market with a $3 million asking price. Located at 600 S. Meyer Avenue, the structure measures just over 11,400 square feet, and is designated as a Class B building. Extensively renovated in 2009 at a cost of nearly $4 million, the two-story structure features a solar panel roof, elevator, exposed brick walls, and vaulted ceilings. The structure started out as the Jerry Lee Ho's Market, a vital grocery store providing foodstuffs and goods to Tucson's Chinese community. According to scholar Li Yang, writing in the Journal of Arizona History, "The Chinese operated sixty grocery stores, ten restaurants, and two laundries" in south Tucson. Many of those businesses also had a thriving Hispanic clientele, but largely went by the wayside as a result of urban renewal efforts in the 1960s that marginalized the neighborhoods populated by those businesses. The Jerry Lee Ho building was closed some two decades ago, before a renovation effort was undertaken, resulting in the creation of a new heating and cooling system and modern office space. The structure is being listed for sale by the Tucson offices of NAI Horizon realtors. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans are underway for the construction of nearly 130 single-family and duplex homes in the growing Colorado city of Golden. The project belongs to the company NexMetro Communities, which is based in Phoenix, and expects to spend around $70 million building the new residential community. The project will go up on a 16-acre site in the 5400 block of McIntyre Street that NexMetro purchased for just over $5 million, and will see the building of one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes. NexMetro also plans to build such community amenities as a swimming pool, barbeque area, dog park, and walking trails. Each of the homes will additionally have private backyards. Work on the project is not expected to begin until the summer or fall of 2025, with a rough completion date of sometime the following year. Launched in 2012, NexMetro has made a name for itself specializing in built-to-rent housing. In its first decade it put up well over 5,000 units of housing, announcing earlier this year that it had surpassed the $2 billion mark in invested capital. In a profile of the company published this summer by the site Due Diligence, it was noted that build-to-rent homes are "purpose-built in a contiguous community and run like an apartment complex, with on-site property management and shared amenities such as a swimming pool and clubhouse." Besides the metro Phoenix market, NexMetro has built extensive communities in Dallas, Denver, and Tampa, among other locations. By Garry Boulard ![]() A series of programs and projects designed to help underserved entrepreneurs grow their businesses are in line for up to $125 million in funding, the Department of Commerce has just announced. The Capital Readiness Program, which itself is being funded via the Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative, is designed to help minority small businesses, strengthening them by providing capital for job creation. The purpose of the program, said Donald Cravins, Jr., Under Secretary of Commerce, “is to provide every American entrepreneur with an equitable shot at building a successful business.” Cravins, in a statement, additionally noted that overall, the Biden Administration is currently investing “$10 billion to support small businesses and empower them to access the capital needed to invest in job-creating opportunities.” According to the White House, the Capital Readiness Program is the "largest-ever direct Federal investment in small business incubators and accelerators of its kind.” At present, 43 non-profit and community-based groups, as well as private sector entities and institutions of higher education, are in line for Capital Readiness Program funding. Recipients include the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation, which is receiving $3 million to put together a business accelerator and incubator program to help underserved entrepreneurs gain access to capital in Arizona, Nevada, and California. In announcing the Capital Readiness Program late last year, Cravins remarked that the “greatest obstacle facing disadvantaged entrepreneurs, especially women, is access.” By Garry Boulard Judge Rules in Favor of Referendum Challenging Big Northern Arizona Healthcare Campus Project8/8/2023 ![]() An obstacle has been placed in the path of a project that could see the $800 million construction of a new hospital campus in northern Arizona. Coconino Superior Court Judge Brent Harris has issued a ruling denying a request by the health care organization Northern Arizona Healthcare to put a stop to a referendum asking voters to decide on the project. For some two years now, the Northern Arizona Healthcare system has been laying the groundwork to build what it being called a Health and Wellness Village. As planned, the project would be built near the Fort Tuthill County Park, roughly 6 miles to the southwest of downtown Flagstaff. As proposed, the project would not only see the construction of a multi-story hospital and ambulatory care center, but also a hotel, grocery store, restaurants, residential units, and a natural retreat with walking trails measuring around 22 acres. While the idea has won the support the Flagstaff City Council and been the subject of a series of public input meetings, it has also engendered opposition from some residents who have called for more transparency in the process. A group called Friends of Flagstaff’s Future have called for more information on the project, declaring that an “unbiased community needs assessment is warranted.” Another group, Flagstaff Community First, earlier this summer submitted around 4,800 signatures, when only 2,607 were required, to have the project put on a ballot this fall, arguing that the public should have a say in deciding on such a large development project. In response, Northern Arizona Healthcare went to court to put an end to the referendum move, claiming in particular that some of the petition language suggesting that the healthcare group was going to directly build a retail or commercial building was in error. Jude Harris, however, has ruled that the referendum could proceed despite the wording of the petition. In a statement, Northern Arizona Healthcare said it “plans to appeal the decision because voters deserve to understand the issue at hand is hospital construction, not retail and commercial construction.” By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans are now moving forward for the construction of a memorial space in El Paso that will pay tribute to the nearly two dozen people who died in a mass shooting at a local Wal-Mart in 2019. The plans are calling for the creation of a circular plaza, with seating and landscaping that will surround seven granite markers in the center of the plaza. Those markers will bear the names of the people who died. The shooting took place on August 3, 2019 at the Wal-Mart located at 7101 Gateway West Boulevard on the east side of the city, and has since been described as the deadliest attack on Latinos in U.S. history, resulting in the death of 23 people and injuries to 22 others. In the years since, various memorials have been created to honor those attacked that day, including a 30-foot-tall gold metal structure at the Wal-Mart itself called the Grand Candela, resembling a large candle. That memorial, put up near the edge of the parking lot directly off of Gateway Boulevard West, was unveiled in the fall of 2019. A second memorial has seen the building of a semi-circle wall at Ascarte Park, located at 6900 Delta Drive. Built by the County of El Paso, the Ascarte Park memorial, which is called the Healing Garden, includes a series of bronze plaques bearing the names of the shooting victims. The latest memorial is being undertaken by the City of El Paso and is expected to cost around $470,000 to complete. Funding for the project is coing out of a Quality of Life bond earlier approved by city voters. The plaza is being created by well-known El Paso artist Tino Ortega, who has also created a series of murals in various pockets of the city honoring the Wal Mart victims. Work on the new memorial is slated to begin later this year. City officials have said they hope to see the project completed sometime in 2024. By Garry Boulard ![]() Even as economists regard the latest job numbers as proof that the national labor market is cooling off, at least 187,000 new jobs were created last month. Those new Department of Labor numbers come at the same time that the agency is reporting a 3.5% unemployment rate, one of the lowest such figures on record. July’s 187,000 new jobs, said acting assistant Labor Secretary Julie Su, contributes to what is an “average of 218,000 jobs per month over the past three months.” Su also noted that “healthcare, social assistance, construction, and financial activities all gained jobs in July.” Jared Bernstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, issued a statement on the White House’s website saying that the labor market is “cooling off in expected and necessary ways while maintaining historically low levels of slack, with unemployment below 4% for a year and a half.” While the 187,000 new jobs represent a gain over June’s report of 185,000 jobs, those numbers represent modest gains compared with April, which saw an increase of 281,000 jobs, and January up by a remarkably strong 472,000. The most robust recent months were seen in last July’s 568,000 job gain, and the remarkable more than 904,000 new jobs recorded in February of 2022. The construction industry saw a 3.9% job gain in July, with gains in the nonresidential, heavy and civil engineering, and residential specialty trade sectors. Total construction employment nationally now stands at just under 8 million, up from the 7.7 million recorded in July of 2022. “Nonresidential construction contractors continue to expand their payrolls,” observed Anirban Basu, chief economist with American Builders and Contractors, adding that “General and public works contractors collectively hired thousands of people in July.” But Basu added that “weakness in several commercial real estate segments may help explain job losses among nonresidential contractors last month.” Nationally, according to the Labor Department, professional, scientific and technical services jobs were up in July by 24,000; followed by the construction industry with 19,000 new jobs. The leisure and hospitality sector, meanwhile, registered employments gains of around 17,000. While the 3.5% unemployment rate is nothing to sneeze at, according to economists, the rate was slightly lower in January of this year at 3.4%. Until the Covid 19 outbreak In March of 2020, a 3.4% mark was also achieved in both January and February of that year. By Garry Boulard ![]() Land has been purchased for construction of a pilot training facility that will go up to the west of the Denver International Airport. United Airlines Incorporated has announced the acquisition of some 113 acres made up of currently undeveloped farmland to build the facility, a step that is being seen as another sign of the air carrier’s growing presence in Denver. “This property gives us a lot of options,” United spokesperson Russell Carlton said in a statement announcing the acquisition. Earlier this spring, the Chicago-based airliner announced that it was adding both new flights and gates at the biggest airport in Colorado. In revealing its flight expansion plans this spring, Scott Kirby, chief executive officer of United, remarked that the company’s “expansion in Denver will further enable us to connect our customers to destinations across the globe and revitalize our presence at the airport with modern, customer-friendly offerings.” A portion of the new United acreage is located at 1761 E. 64th Avenue, roughly 20 miles to the west of the main DIA terminal. Not all of the site will be used for the new training facility. But, as noted by the publication Simple Flying, while United has not announced any further plans for the land in question, “the possibilities seem endless with that much space to play around with.” United is the third largest airline in the world, judging by the size of its fleet and number of routes. Its presence in Denver, beginning in 1937, has become massive, comprising some 42% of the airport’s overall market share. In the last two years, the Denver airport has become United’s largest hub, operating 468 flights a day. At the same time, United has emerged as the largest private employer in Denver, with a workforce in excess of 10,000 people. United’s existing flight training center is located at 7500 E. 35th Avenue on a 23-acre campus dotted by seven buildings. That campus is thought to be the largest of its kind in the world. By Garry Boulard ![]() As part of a larger effort to ensure healthier and safer workplace environments, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is setting aside the week of August 7 to the 13th as “Safe + Sound Week.” The effort, said Doug Parker, OSHA assistant secretary, is designed to highlight the things that employers can do to enhance workplace safety, noting: “We want businesses to have a system, and not just good intentions, and make safety a core value for every worker in every workplace.” The Safe + Sound Week program was originally launched in the summer of 2017 and was defined by OSHA then as a “new nationwide effort that calls on organizations of all sizes in a wide range of industries to raise awareness of the value and importance of workplace safety and health programs.” The initiative is designed to mitigate a challenge that is some ways has proven almost impossible to do away with entirely: in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported just under 5,200 fatal work injuries for 2021. That figure, while significantly lower than those recorded in a less safety rules-stringent era in the 1950s when the injury rate was ranged between 13,000 to 16,000 annually, nevertheless represented an 8.9% increase over the year 2020. Those rather astoundingly high 1950s numbers, notes the publication EHS Today, “were almost all attributed to traumatic injuries from falls, electrocution, and machine hazards.” By far, according to the BLS, the greatest number of fatal work injuries, at more than 1,000, took place in the construction industry. Transportation and warehousing recorded 805 fatalities, followed by the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries at 511. Recent OSHA safety initiatives have additionally gone well beyond addressing the physical workplace hazards that accounted for such large numbers in the 1950s. “Mental health, workplace stress, and suicide have very real work-related implications,” says an OSHA press release, noting in particular that the suicide rate in the nation's construction industry is currently “3.5 times higher than that of the general population.” By Garry Boulard |
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