• President Biden was praised by construction and engineering groups for his ongoing support for heavy infrastructure funding, as highlighted during his State of the Union address on February 7^th, though also unsettling some by signaling that a potentially broader 'Buy America' mandate may be in the works.
• In a fact sheet provided by the White House, it was noted that nearly $200 billion in IIJA funding had been announced for the more than 20,000 projects that had already been funded, according to the President.
• Industry groups like the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Council of Engineering Companies voiced optimism, indicating a positive return on investment and tangible results for the American people. Some, however, maintained caution, including the National Electrical Contractors CEO, David Long, who mentioned that issues related to supply chain, high inflation, and workforce shortages remain to be tackled.
• Many construction industry officials voiced concerns over the new 'Buy America' standards, particularly Canadian lumber producers, who filled the 15-billion-board ft shortfall that US lumber producers failed to fill in 2021, according to the president of the BC Lumber Trade Council, Linda Coady.

• Old structures and substandard construction practices may have contributed to the devastating number of casualties from the February 6^th earthquake and aftershocks experienced in Turkey and Syria, according to Northeastern University experts.
• Mehrdad Sasani, professor of civil and environmental engineering, stated that modern buildings can be designed to withstand an earthquake even though damage to the structure is expected. Other key factors determining casualties are how populated an area is and how severely the ground is shaken.
• With the U.S. experiencing significant seismic activity in the center of the nation and on the West Coast, old buildings can be retrofitted in a number of ways, according to Jerome Hajjar, chair of the civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern. Hajjar added that adding steel bracing and concrete frames would help prevent severe devastation, noting that owners of buildings constructed before the late 1990s should consider having their structures inspected for extreme events.

• Republican lawmakers on the House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee described the Biden administration’s Waters of the United States rule as an example of federal agency overreach at a Feb. 8 hearing of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unit.
• The hearing was part of a larger GOP effort to overturn the Biden administration final WOTUS rule released on Dec. 30. Led by committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.), 150 Republicans have signed on to a Congressional Review Act resolution to void the regulation expands U.S. water bodies protected under the Clean Water Act.
• The debate over what waters should be federally protected is contentious and long-running. A coalition of construction and small business groups that includes the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), and Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), filed a lawsuit Jan. 18 challenging the Biden rule.

• The Energy Department on Thursday announced a $2 billion loan to help a Nevada company step up production of critical components of electric vehicle batteries.
• The company, Redwood Materials, plans to use the loan to expand a manufacturing campus near Reno, Nev., where it makes some of the components from new and recycled sources. The company was founded by J.B. Straubel, a former top Tesla executive, and has partnerships with Panasonic, Ford Motor, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo.
• After construction is complete, Redwood aims to produce enough battery materials at the Nevada campus to support production of more than one million electric vehicles a year. The loan will help to create about 3,400 construction jobs, Redwood and the Energy Department said. The company said it expected about 1,600 full-time employees to work at the campus when it was finished.

GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. (GZA), a Massachusetts-based provider of geotechnical, environmental, ecological, water, and construction management services, has acquired Equity Environmental Engineering, LLC (Equity), a New Jersey-based provider of integrated planning and environmental consulting services throughout metropolitan New York and the Mid-Atlantic. “Equity’s strong capabilities are a natural extension of the five core services currently offered by GZA—environmental consulting, geotechnical engineering, natural resources consulting, water resources engineering, and construction management—and will help GZA expand and deepen our ability to serve clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic,’’ said GZA President and CEO Patrick Sheehan.

KCI Technologies, Inc. (KCI), a Maryland-based engineering, consulting, and construction services firm, has acquired National Telecom Design (NTD), a Virginia-based provider of telecom engineering, relocation, and inspection services. The acquisition of NTD will further grow KCI’s engineering, backbone and lateral fiber design, relocation and inspection capabilities for communications clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Scott Riddle, Executive Vice President and Utilities Market Leader, stated, “The addition of NTD to our team of communications designers will enable us to increase KCI’s breadth of services throughout the region and beyond. Together, we are committed to providing communications solutions that address our clients’ needs on an even greater scale.”

Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. (Oaktree), a California-based investment manager specializing in alternative investments, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Enercon Services, Inc. (ENERCON), a Georgia-based provider of engineering and environmental services that supports the safe and efficient production, delivery, and use of electricity, from AE Industrial Partners, LP (AEI), a Florida-based private equity firm specializing in aerospace, defense & government services, space, power & utility services, and specialty industrial markets. In partnership with management, Oaktree will provide additional resources to support the Company’s strategic vision and growth plans, while AEI will retain a minority interest in ENERCON. Founded in 1983, ENERCON provides engineering and environmental services to customers in the power generation, power delivery, and related markets, including nuclear, renewable and conventional power generation, transmission and distribution, distributed generation, battery storage, and EV infrastructure. Robert Bryan, President of ENERCON, commented, “We are very excited to begin our partnership with Oaktree, who shares our common values and supports our commitment to delivering the highest standards of excellence to our clients. This investment provides additional resources for ENERCON to build on its position as the provider of choice for engineering consulting in the power and utility sector and offer expanded capabilities for our clients and opportunities for our employees.”