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Celebrating 15 Years of 811

17 Mar 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

In March of 2005, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated 811 as the nationwide phone number for excavation damage prevention. Now, 15 years later, we have seen damages decline as everyone from homeowners to construction crews call before they dig. The federal designation unified the nation’s programs into one simple,…

COVID-19 May Strain Our Infrastructure

16 Mar 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

As our nation faces a public health crisis in the form of the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19, many are working or studying from home. With this mass transition from corporate or college life to homes and communities, the nation’s telecom and digital infrastructure could be under new and unprecedented use,…

Digging Blind Wreaks Havoc

14 Mar 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Underneath the feet of every American are millions of miles of buried cables, electrical lines, pipelines, water systems, and more. This vast network of underground utilities is coursing with the information, power, and resources we rely on every day. But because it is buried under our yards, sidewalks, gardens, parking…

A Federal COVID-19 Response That Would Pay Dividends

14 Mar 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

As Congress grapples with how to deal with the immediate health and public safety impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic, including making tests kits available and helping states with additional funding for safety efforts, many are also beginning to think about how to best mitigate any economic fallout resulting from the…

Your Home as a Power Plant

04 Mar 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Residential solar systems are becoming an increasingly popular trend in the United States. By the end of 2018, the U.S. had installed enough solar panels to power 12.3 million homes, and the solar industry managed to generate a $17 billion investment in the economy. These statistics indicate that the implementation…

New Report: The Revenue Failure of the Highway Trust Fund

25 Feb 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts, Press Releases

The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) released a new report today highlighting the declining revenue into the Highway Trust Fund and the looming insolvency that has cast a decade-long shadow over the Fund. In the report, the fuel tax is identified as insufficient –even if increased–for supporting our roads…

Looming Highway Trust Fund Insolvency

24 Feb 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

    The Highway Trust Fund is the federal fund for road and bridge maintenance and repair. It once built the Interstate Highway System and helped keep our roads safe and smooth. Now, it is under the shadow of looming insolvency, with revenue failing to keep pace with spending. The…

What is Fuel Dumping and Why Does it Happen?

14 Feb 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

You are enjoying your day, looking up at the shapes in the clouds when all of a sudden, a pilot far above you releases thousands of gallons of jet fuel. It is jarring, confusing, and seemingly illegal, but it is an accepted practice known as fuel dumping. The relatively uncommon…

It’s Time for Nationwide Adoption of Enhanced Positive Response

23 Jan 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

As technology improves, law and regulation must improve for the sake of public safety. Excavation damage has been a leading – and in many years the leading – cause of pipeline incidents for decades. More than ten years ago, Congress addressed what was then the leading contributor to these incidents…

Has the Car of the Future Arrived?

17 Jan 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

  Throughout the past century, the public has sought to predict what the ‘car of the future’ would entail. And, with the release of the VISION AVTR, a new concept car from Mercedes-Benz, any past predictions have been completely surpassed. This show vehicle was developed in tandem with the upcoming…

Fires, Climate Change, and More

07 Jan 2020, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

  s the immense tragedy in Australia continues apace, helpless onlookers are grappling for emotionally and intellectually satisfying explanations. How could such a conflagration begin, grow, and seemingly thwart all efforts to extinguish? As human lives are threatened, property burns, and animal losses rise to nearly incalculable tolls, pinning all…