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What Does Damage Prevention Leadership Look Like?

27 Oct 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

The damage prevention process is tried and true. Notifying a One-Call center through 811 has worked for over a decade, and for at least 30 years prior, other phone numbers and communication methods did the trick. With so firm a foundation and such an established system, how can innovation and…

Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg Visits Charleston Infrastructure

13 Oct 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been on a tour touting the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that will lead to billions of dollars in infrastructure spending across the country. His latest stop was the lowcountry of South Carolina. Meeting with local leaders and visiting key infrastructure assets,…

Innovation is the Only Path to Solving Climate Change

16 Sep 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

If the threat is as dire as some believe, we cannot wait for policy changes to take effect. Realistically, tax and regulatory policy cannot bring about the type of innovation revolution needed. Taxes discourage growth and regulation restrictions action. While restriction may be worthwhile when it prevents and holds back…

Expanded Amtrak Service Finds Friends in Federal Government

07 Sep 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

The relationship between passenger rail and freight rail often comes across the way cinematic thrillers depict tension between the FBI and local police. Both want to ensure public safety and maintain order, but each wants to flex its jurisdiction and make sure it gets the respect it deserves. Like fictionalized…

Gulf Coast Gambit: Amtrak’s Play For New Passenger Rail Service

07 Sep 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Amtrak is seeking to establish twice daily passenger service between Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, Louisiana. With Hurricane Katrina damaging rail infrastructure back in 2005, many passenger routes along the Gulf Cost have long been dormant. However, over the last several years, Amtrak has increasingly ramped up its efforts to…

Energy Month: Natural Gas

17 Aug 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

Natural gas has become the fossil fuel of choice in the last decade as energy producers shift towards less environmentally-impactful fuels. The U.S. today produces almost all of the natural gas that it uses. Investments into fracking technology allowed massive upticks in production in the U.S. and current innovations promise…

Energy Month: Coal

17 Aug 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

Coal is primarily used to create electricity in the United States. For coal to create electricity, bituminous or subbituminous coal is burned, which turns water into steam that turns a turbine and creates electricity. Bituminous and subbituminous coal is found in abundance in West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. In…

Energy Month: Wind Energy

17 Aug 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

Wind energy has been used for purposes of sailing and flying for hundreds of years. Wind energy can also be harnessed for electricity via wind turbines. Turbines, advanced from the previous windmills, use the wind to turn propellers that generate electricity, delivered to homes and businesses through transmission and distribution…

Energy Month: Renewable Energy

09 Aug 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

Renewable energy sources have received significant amounts of investment in recent years as combating climate change becomes a higher priority. Sunlight, the movement of water, and the natural movement of wind all have been harnessed to generate energy. Most of these systems work by harnessing the heat or kinetic energy…

Energy Month: Fossil Fuels

09 Aug 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

The U.S. has a diverse and proven supply of several types of fossil fuels that can be used to power the national grid. Coal, natural gas, and petroleum all have been used to power American homes, heat and cool buildings, and power vehicles for over a century. Since the Industrial…

Energy Month: Hydropower

01 Aug 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

Hydropower has been used for hundreds of years at small scales to power windmills on farms but has massive potential to provide commercial electricity for entire cities and parts of the country. Hydroelectric dams can either harness the power of fast-flowing rivers or release a large amount of water that…

Energy Month: Nuclear Energy

01 Aug 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

Nuclear energy has long been a technology that most associate with large, expensive reactors that cost billions to build. However, nuclear power can generate massive amounts of energy with zero carbon emissions. The costs to build nuclear plants have skyrocketed even though nuclear power generation in the U.S. peaked in…

Energy Month: Petroleum

01 Aug 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

Petroleum has long been used to power vehicles, heat homes, and facilitate travel across the U.S. As climate change becomes a more pressing issue, oil extraction and associated petroleum products have come under scrutiny for the heavy impact on the environment. Of particular concern is the process of fracking, which…

Energy Month: Solar Energy

01 Aug 2022, Posted by John Cassibry in All Posts, Blog Posts

Solar energy continues to be utilized by homeowners to decrease their energy bills in regions of the U.S. with lots of sunlight. The two main types of solar power – photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) – generated 88 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2020. Solar panels have become…

An Embarrassment of Riches Unspent While Costs Soar

27 Jul 2022, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

If there is one thing the latest Common Ground Alliance (CGA) Technology Report makes clear, it is that the damage prevention ecosystem has an embarrassment of riches on its hands in terms of technological innovation. Indeed, a review of other CGA studies and publications along with reports by various regulatory…