Nothing but blue skies

On December 3, 2009, a Portland Cement Association press release was headlined, “Harsh conditions in cement industry to persist in 2010.” The next day, a release went out with the headline, “Cement industry poised for unprecedented period of growth.” Well, what a difference a day makes. The news lately has been just like that. One day the sky is falling, the next day the sky is blue. For the aggregates industry, President Obama’s recent comments after signing the HIRE bill definitely reflected blue sky. “This jobs bill will maintain crucial investments in our roads and our bridges as we head into the spring and summer months, when construction jobs are picking up,” he said. Funding the Highway Trust Fund by way of another bill is helpful, but it is not a sufficiently funded replacement to SAFETEA-LU. Now that the contentious healthcare reform bill has been passed, Congress needs to make infrastructure investment more of a priority. If that happens, the sky will start getting very blue. -- Mark S. Kuhar