Tamara Door

Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Advisory Board

Tamara Door

President & CEO Downtown Denver Partnership 511 16th Street Suite 200 Denver, CO 80202 Phone: 303.534.6161 www.downtowndenver.com [email protected]

Tamara Door is the president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership, a 55-year old business organization whose mission is to create an economically healthy, growing and vital Downtown Denver. The focus is on place-based economic development. The three primary pillars are people, place and business.

Door manages a $9 million budget dedicated to building downtown holistically. The focus is on retention and attraction of corporate headquarters and companies, urban planning and development, retail attraction and retention, public policy, transportation and housing initiatives. The Partnership also funds initiatives within Skyline and Civic Center Park to ensure they are properly developed, activated and maintained. The Partnership is funded by the private-sector. In addition, the Partnership manages the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District (BID), which is responsible for cleaning, maintenance and safety within the 125 blocks of the BID.

In addition, the organization produces popular community events that bring more than one million people downtown each year, including A Taste of Colorado, the 9News Parade of Lights, New Year’s Eve Fireworks downtown, the Southwest Rink at Skyline Park, Downtown Denver Employee Appreciation Week and many more.

The Partnership’s efforts are based on a detailed 20-year plan. The organization, in partnership with the City and County of Denver, led an18-month process to create a 20-year vision for downtown, the Downtown Area Plan. Door served as a Downtown Area Plan Steering Committee member along with roughly 50 other public and private business leaders. This inclusive public-outreach process resulted in feedback from over 2,000 individuals in the Denver community and was formally adopted by City Council in July of 2007. It is now in its implementation phase. Door serves as co-chairman of the 2027 Committee, which is responsible for driving implementation of the plan. Door was honored with the Colorado Black Chamber Strategic Partner Award. She was selected by both the Denver Business Journal and Crain’s Detroit Business as one of the Forty Under Forty in the local business community, and was included in Denver’s Powerbook List, compiled by the Denver Business Journal. She is a member of the Young President’s Organization and the Colorado Women’s Forum.

Prior to joining the Downtown Denver Partnership, Door spent eight years as the executive vice-president of the Detroit Regional Chamber, the nation’s largest regional chamber of commerce. She also served for eight years in the banking industry as a vice-president of a tri-state division of retail banking and alternative delivery systems for a national bank. Among others, Door serves on the following committees / boards: • Auraria Higher Education Center Board of Directors – Chairman • 2027 Committee – Co-Chairman • Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce Foundation – Board Member • Citywide Banks Board of Directors – Director • Metro Mayors Caucus for FasTracks – Committee Member • Coalition for SmartTransit – Executive Board Member • VisitDenver – Board Member • International Downtown Association – Board Member

Jay C. Allen

Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Advisory Board

Jay C. Allen

President & Founder CXO 770 W. Hampden Ave. Suite 340 Englewood, CO 80110 Phone: 720.981.3570 Mobile: 720.984.8424 Email: [email protected] Website: www.cxomembers.com

In business, the the saying goes, “It’s who you know.” Most business people will tell you that the hard part is meeting the people you want to know. For high profile senior executives with heavy time commitments, sitting on another committee or board or paying high-priced memberships in clubs isn’t always a practical or preferable option.

In a business landscape awash with leads groups, seminars and other catch-all networking events, Jay Allen has created a new paradigm in peer-to-peer networking among influential people that helps them efficiently build, manage and leverage other influential relationships.

In 2001, Jay Allen and several other senior officers from various companies sketched out their vision of an ideal networking organization for high-profile executives and local leaders. The concept was driven by the key elements the executives wanted to see in the organization: • No vendor sponsorship or participation • Membership only offered to those meeting pre-determined qualifications • An informal setting with no committees, seminars or heavy time commitments • A reasonable membership cost – no exorbitant fees As they began to evangelize the concept among their peers, there was an overwhelmingly positive response. They began with a few private lunch meetings, and within six months, over 100 executives were participating, and CXO was up and running. “It all grew by word of mouth,” explains Allen. “We have never advertised. All communications are via email, phone or direct conversation among members and those they wanted to include.” CXO is open to C-Level executives of companies with at least $50 million in annual revenues and other local influencers (nonprofit, private equity, political leaders, etc.).

“We do the hard part of seeking out and aggregating those people with whom executives want to network and who would like to network with them,” says Allen. “We handle the details, so they never walk away from a CXO event without having received the networking value they were hoping to obtain.” The group meetings have grown very popular as more executives have told others about the informal yet powerful atmosphere of CXO’s gatherings. CXO’s popularity is rooted in its simplicity. There are no attendance requirements; members pay for their own meal at meetings (no sponsors), and their staff facilitates introductions during the events. The strength of the concept lies in the ability of attendees to meet each other and share information without having to hear sales pitches or irrelevant presentations.

Allen says the hardest part of running CXO is turning away people who do not meet the membership qualifications. “The exclusiveness of this organization is what makes it special, but it can be hard excluding great people with the wrong qualifications. We have tried over time to both broaden the span of people we include while maintaining an environment which provides even the most influential people access to people they want and need to meet.” In an effort to expand the ability for more executives to participate, in 2008 CXO merged with Executives Network. Today they manage three networking organizations with over 5,000 executive members in 10 major markets: • CXO: C-Level executives of $50mil+ companies and other influential leaders • EXO: C-Level executives of $5mil - $50mil companies and director/vice president level in larger companies • The Executive Talent Board (XTB): CXO and EXO level executives in the job search Probably the most remarkable thing about the organization and Jay Allen is that he does not take a salary from the organization. The organization dues (under $500/yr) are used to pay for technology and the administrative and event management staff that organize and manage the network and events. Allen puts himself in the same shoes as the other members – making a living off of the significant business opportunities provided by being a part of a large network of influential people.

To learn more about CXO, go to www.cxomembers.com

ICOSA Is More Than Leadership - It’s Leading!

By: Jan Mazotti Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Letter From Editor Most of you have been readers of ICOSA since our inception. At that time, just over two-and-a-half years ago, we were three people with a dream who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. We knew that we could make a magazine about great connectors and collaborators meaningful and valuable to the reader. Since that time, we have grown a lot and have adjusted to “magazine life.” Today we have four employees and an amazing coalition of more than 100 regular volunteer collaborators. We have grown to more than 10,000 subscribers, roughly 5,500 Facebook friends, and have just launched a newly designed web presence, which has regular visitors in more than 25 countries.

Moreover, three months ago we had the distinct privilege of partnering with the Experience Pros radio show to share stories from ICOSA here in the Rocky Mountains. In that short period of time, we have grown from few listeners to just over 100,000 in our time slot. Because of the richness of the stories, the radio show is expanding as well. Starting September 6, 2011, Connect and Collaborate with ICOSA began broadcasting five days a week in 17 states, including Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Illinois, Southern California, Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. Please tune in Monday through Friday from 11:20 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (MST) to learn from these amazing collaborators.

So, to all of the connectors and collaborators — academic, business, community, and government — we say “thank you” for the guidance and support of the ICOSA movement. We will continue to spread the message and we will continue to DO! Because we know that it is more than leadership — it’s leading! Join the movement and DO something today!

All the best, - Jan Mazotti

I Am Fascinated By Bugs

By: Gayle Dendinger Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Letter From Publisher In previous articles, I have referenced bugs because of their metaphoric symbolism. ICOSA exists at the intersection of resources, vision, transformation and continuity as represented by the spider as infrastructure. Collaboration creates value by maximizing these different characteristics.

The past 13 issues have focused on Competitive Advantage, Corporate Social Responsibility, Education, Energy and the Environment, Global Trade, Conscious Capitalism, Sports, Women, the Biennial, Collaborative Leadership, Big Ideas Smart People, Growth and Innovation and now Infrastructure. In the last issue, I discussed how we were progressing as a company to get the magazine where it is today. I also spoke about the Native American culture inspiring me to look at creatures in a metaphorical state. Future issues of ICOSA are going to focus on creature characteristics; hence this issue is on infrastructure. As you flip the page, you will see how the spider uses its web to develop its infrastructure and how that is a basis for a model for organizations.

We have found that collaboration is all about building on the strengths of others to create endless possibilities. Potential doesn’t just appear; it is found-and sometimes even created – by those who seek to expand their horizons. Even people who excel at completely different tasks can find a way to work together and create value. In fact, most collaborative opportunities are the result of circumstance, not intricately calculated planning.

Future issue topics will be on resource management, vision, transformation and continuity. Our goal is to show the importance of creating potential through infrastructure (spider), a resource management system (bee), and a vision (dragonfly), then transforming (butterfly) it all into actual accomplishment and continually (snail) improving upon it. However, just because a strong and organized infrastructure is in place does not mean that imperative resources are automatically shared. A collaborative organization must have a means to store, organize, and easily access the resources. Bees are the representation of resource management. Bees show us that there must be one universal method for information sharing so that the information is sustainable, consistent and uniform.

The dragonfly teaches us to use our vision of the past and present to make deliberate plans of action for future projects and by moving forward using smaller goals; a collaborative effort will be more responsive to challenges in the path and changes in tactics, making a long-term goal more attainable. This is represented by the dragonfly’s eye. Members of the infrastructure focus on their areas of expertise. Resource management systems that are centralized and organized greatly facilitate resource storage and location. A clear vision, along with a detailed plan of implementation, eliminates wasted effort. By building on past accomplishments and constantly working to maintain systems, an organization’s potential and accomplishment will build exponentially as seen in the transformation of the butterfly.

The snail represents continuity. Continuity allows projects to build on one another instead of starting over each time. By reusing and rebuilding infrastructure, resource management systems, and resources, collaborative organizations have a vantage point. In order for an organization to build wisely for the future, it must first reflect on what it already has established. Smart organizations build on established infrastructure, resources, and vision from the past as the basis for the next round of projects. This combination allows collaborative partners to multiply their own core competencies, provide consumer benefits and increase competitiveness. It also enables leveraging of strong contacts and expertise. The five creature characteristics (infrastructure, resource management, vision, transformation and continuity) are instrumental in making collaboration possible. When two organizations join together to work on one project, they have to combine their two infrastructures, two visions and two sets of resources into one shared infrastructure, one shared vision and one set of shared resources. We are excited about the endless possibilities this magazine has created and will continue to create for our collaborative partners.

- Gayle Dendinger

An Initiative Promoting Environmental, Economic, and Cultural Growth

By: Maria E. Luna Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Collaboration

Solar Light Bulbs to Tafert, Morocco

In the Big Ideas, Smart People…Changing the World issue of ICOSA we published a story featuring Nokero solar light bulbs. We are inspired by Nokero’s story and decided to send and deliver bulbs to Tafert, Morocco. This effort is more than a coincidence, but as an opportunity to promote environmental, economic, and cultural growth. We have formed a partnership with Nokero to provide an indigenous village in Tafert, Morocco with solar light bulbs, for both personal and community use. Currently the Tafert village uses kerosene as their main source of lighting.

We know that fuel lanterns release 190 million tons of carbon each year which is the equivalent of 30 million cars, and that more than one million deaths are attributed to fires caused by fuel lighting each year.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that has,” is a guiding principle of ICOSA so when we heard these staggering statistics we had to act!

Join us in the movement and donate today at www.icosamag.com or www.nokero.com/morocco

Tim Sanders

By: Annette Perez Tim Sanders, best-selling author of the book Saving the World at Work and featured in ICOSA’s Corporate Social Responsibility issue has released a new book. In Today We Are Rich: Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence, Sanders provides realistic guidelines to have a successful life and not just how to be successful. Many of his ideas are based on lessons learned from his grandmother — an example of wholesome ideals and pure living. He shares brief reflections of his grandmother, Billye's, way of life, during what seems like a simpler, more innocent time.

He shares what really matters in our lives — strong faith and reliable people. That notion is backed up with abundant tips on positive thinking and avoiding negative effects from media, people, gossip, and the internet, suggesting instead, to surround oneself with fruitful knowledge.

Sanders' concepts remind us that we feed our minds just as we feed our bodies, and of the importance of similarly making healthy choices.

Today We Are Rich: Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence was released in April. For more information on Sanders book or to download a free section of the book please visit www.twar.com.

Ethiopia Reads

By: Janet Lee Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Collaboration

Creating A Reading Culture

Yohannes Gebregeorgis, children’s librarian and library champion, received honorary membership to the American Library Association (ALA) in New Orleans during the opening session of the ALA annual conference. Honorary membership is the highest honor bestowed by ALA on an individual.

Honorary membership may be conferred on a living citizen of any country whose contribution to librarianship or a closely related field is so outstanding that it is of lasting importance to the advancement of the whole field of library service. It is intended to reflect honor upon the ALA, as well as upon the individual. Past recipients of the award have included: Bill and Melinda Gates, Oprah Winfrey, President Jimmy Carter, members of Congress, and other noted librarians.

In 2008, Gebregeorgis was named a Top 10 CNN Hero for his work in bringing libraries and literacy to his native Ethiopia. Throughout his career, Gebregeorgis has overseen the establishment of over 40 school library partnerships, three free-standing children’s libraries and seven donkey mobile libraries.

He received the Presidential Citation for International Innovation in 2008 from the ALA president, his former professor, Dr. Loriene Roy, and was invited by ALA president Camila Alire to present the presidential keynote in Boston in 2010. Later in that same year, he was honored with an Honorary Doctorate in Public Service at Regis University, in Denver, Colorado. He was then further honored by being featured in Changing the World: Stories Celebrating 100 Years of Graduate Education at the University of Texas at Austin, published by the University of Texas Press.

In an effort to expand literacy efforts to the northern region of Tigray, Ethiopia he established the Tigray Library and Literacy Development Project, under which he set up the Segenat Children and Youth Library in Mekelle. This gained the attention of American Libraries editor, Leonard Kniffel, who wrote about Gebregeorgis’ work in the article New Youth Library in Ethiopia Makes Impossible Dream Reality.

In addition to his beloved book, Silly Mammo, Gebregeorgis has written a new children’s book, Tirhas Celebrates Ashenda: An Ethiopian Girl’s Festival. Over 3,000 copies of this book were distributed during the dedication of the Segenat Library.

While in New Orleans to receive the ALA award, Gebregeorgis was invited to speak at the Dr. Martin Luther King branch of the New Orleans Public Library in the Lower Ninth Ward, a joint-use library that was ravaged by floodwaters after Hurricane Katrina and has since become a vital force in the rebuilding of New Orleans.

To learn more about Ethiopia Reads visit http://www.ethiopiareads.org.

Colorado Gives Day, an initiative to increase philanthropy in Colorado, is back after an outstanding show of support for the state’s nonprofits last year. An amazing 12,500 individuals donated online, giving $8.4 million, and 28 local businesses joined the effort by adding another $320,000 in just 24 hours. Colorado Gives Day founder, Community First Foundation, and corporate partner, FirstBank, look forward to a repeat performance on Tuesday, December 6, 2011, the second annual Colorado Gives Day.

“Giving back is part of our culture,” said FirstBank CEO John Ikard, whose company is contributing $500,000 for the campaign. “The way we see it, we’re only going to be as strong as our community.”

FirstBank’s goodwill has generated $40 million in charitable contributions and thousands of volunteer hours since 1963, bestowing upon them the honor of Partner in Philanthropy by the Denver Business Journal.

Events like Colorado Gives Day can inspire organizations to support their communities in creative ways. Last year, Colorado Lending Source gave each of its employees $100 to support their favorite local charity.

“Colorado Gives Day was my inspiration for giving my employees money to make a donation online in lieu of a traditional holiday gift,” said executive director Mike O’Donnell. “Every day my employees are helping our small business clients make investments in Colorado’s economy, so I can’t think of a better holiday gift than one that gives my employees a chance to make their own investment by giving back to charity.”

For more information or to make a donation, visit www.GivingFirst.org/cogivesday.

We Must Work Together to Keep Our Communities Safe

By: Tammy Schmidt Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Collaboration

The Arrival of the 9/11 Memorial in Denver

It might have gone unnoticed, a huge piece of twisted steel riding across the country on a flatbed trailer. What drew attention to the giant mound of metal was the American flag, draped and billowing in the backdraft of a semi tractor, cutting through the nation’s summer heat.

The driver of the truck, John O’Dell, could hear the chatter on the CB radio as he drove from state to state. “What’s the deal with that hunk of metal?” an unknown trucker would ask. The reply, “It’s a piece of the World Trade Center from September 11th.” Then the citizen’s band (CB) would light up.

“We would only stop for gas and rest stops, and people would come up to ask about it. They would ask if they could touch it. That was very moving, “O’Dell said. Through some parts of the country, citizens lined the roadway to pay their respects as it came by. O’Dell remembers Saint Louis, Missouri in particular, where it took him hours to drive just a few miles through the city.

The rusted and shredded steel is among 16 artifacts from the site of the former World Trade Center in New York City. It was accepted by the state of Colorado to commemorate the tragedy that happened half a continent away, yet impacted all of us as a nation. The move and its subsequent exhibition was sponsored by The Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab (The CELL), The Denver Post, 9News KUSA-TV, The Anschutz Foundation, MDC Richmond Homes Foundation, Liberty Media, the Civic Center Conservancy, the Colorado Air National Guard, and CAP Worldwide.

Colorado Lieutenant Governor Joe Garcia referred to the artifacts as, “A graphic reminder of that day almost ten years ago—twisted, lifeless, inanimate pieces of steel that remind us of the thousands of lives that were lost that day and the millions of lives that were affected by the events of that day.” The CELL curates exhibits as education on today’s threats of global terrorism, and the Trade Center artifacts will be a part of the redesigned exhibit. Some pieces will also be made into a memorial in Babi Yar Park in Denver and eventually in other communities throughout Colorado.

“These artifacts stand as a stark reminder to Colorado, to Denver, indeed to all of us as Americans of our obligation to remain vigilant and work together to keep our communities, our state and our country safe and secure,” said, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock on August 8th, the first day that the warped steel was on display in Denver. A small crowd gathered in front of Denver’s City and County Building to see the pieces of the Twin Towers up close. Wendy Young brought her five young children to see the display. Her oldest is 10, and was born exactly a month after the 9/11 attacks; the youngest is a toddler. Young tried to prepare them for what they would see, not knowing how it might impact them. “It’s difficult for them to understand, but I think definitely necessary for them to see just even a little piece of history to try to help them understand what happened,” she said.

Gerri Szadaj and Linda Kent brought flowers to lay before the World Trade Center remains. “When it hit it kind of struck everybody—united everybody. And this way, it gives us a chance to pay our respects,” said Szadaj.

Even 10 years later, the sight of the steel stirs deep emotions—sadness, shock, and once again, pride. “It was truly a life changing event, I think, for so many people, individually and as a country,” Kent added.

The artifacts will be on display again on September 11th, as Denver memorializes the 10th anniversary of the attacks. It will be an event that Lieutenant Governor Joe Garcia describes as an opportunity to “…give the people of Colorado a forum to come together and salute America’s will to prevail.” The day will be punctuated with free performances by the Colorado Symphony, the Colorado Children’s Choral, and The Beach Boys.

Creating a Future by Design

By: Keenan Brugh Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Community

Perspectives from Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows

Take a moment and imagine the future. How could technological advances be applied?  What will cities look like?  How might society operate to best address the challenges that humanity faces today?  Meet Jacque Fresco, a modern day futurist whom many compare to the likes of Leonardo Da Vinci.  At the age of 95, he has been living an accomplished life as a self-taught inventor, industrial designer, and social engineer.  Applying a creative, scientific, and multidisciplinary approach to humanity's problems, Fresco has been imagining the future through technical solutions.  In a phone interview, I was able to talk with Fresco and his partner, Roxanne Meadows, to gain insight into the future's wondrous possibilities.

A Dynamic World

The world is changing quickly.  Science and technology continually increase what is possible, and many observe that the rate of change is increasing.  At the same time, social organization has not changed fast enough to adapt to humanity's modern problems. Today's political and economic systems are becoming obsolete and cause avoidable waste and suffering.  The constant state of war is unnecessary and wastes unfathomable numbers of human lives and valuable resources.  Also, the earth's natural capital goods and services are facing increasing pressure as a result of record population, consumption, and waste. This situation necessitates actually designing society and its infrastructure comprehensively, rather than allowing inferior constructions to continue unquestioned because of historical conditioning.  Modern technology can offer solutions far beyond what most people imagine.

The limitations and opportunities of the future are dependent on the perspectives that people hold. As Fresco explained, "If any baby were brought up in Nazi Germany and never saw anything else, they'd be a Nazi. I believe that environment shapes people's behavior.  All the values, facial expressions, emphasis on words, learned actions, etc. are all ideas from our movies, books, and role models."  Just as one's native language is a product of the area in which they were raised, today's society, its institutions, and its infrastructure also affect understanding of what the world is and what it can become.  The great challenge is to understand this frame of reference, then go beyond it, and actually imagine better frames that are unhindered from the past.

The Venus Project

If you could clearly remove all of your biases about the way things have been, what sort of world would you want to create? Fresco has been practicing this exercise for roughly 90 years.  He has been doing so, not as an armchair philosopher; but rather by learning through experiments and testing new alternative hypotheses.  Fresco believes that in order to create a peaceful and prosperous world, one must declare all the world’s resources as a common heritage of all of mankind.  The current inequality between individuals and countries will continue to breed war after war.  This is a long term transition into an entirely new social system of the future. Eventually, he says, the current monetary system will be replaced by a resource-based economy.  In this world, human and natural resources can be better utilized to address the problems facing humanity, such as how to obtain energy sustainably or how to build better cities, instead of building stronger weapons to fight for control over scarce resources.  We no longer have to live in a world of scarcity. For decades, Fresco has argued that geothermal energy is a viable source of clean energy that will last thousands of years.

Today’s cities have grown into what they are through a history of shortsightedness and insufficient technology.  These cities have unending problems such as crumbling infrastructure, urban sprawl, and inefficient transportation. Rather than allowing key infrastructure such as energy, water, and public transportation systems to be formed haphazardly, Fresco calls for their design to be a creative, scientific, and conscious process.  This alternative is comprehensive in its planning.  The city is regarded as a whole system, with interrelating internal parts and external environments. The circular city that Fresco pictures is one of thousands that Fresco has engineered.  The layout uses public transportation that goes around the city and extends in radii from the city center outwards to the government buildings, business centers, and housing areas.  On the outskirts, housing gives way to recreational areas and agricultural lands.  Many buildings can be made efficiently through being prefabricated and transported on site.

In Venus, Florida, Fresco and Meadows have created functional prototypes of some of their designs.  They have made clean, high-tech, and aesthetically pleasing buildings that work in harmony with nature.  Of their many designs, many incorporate a dome shape.  The purpose of this is to maximize internal space relative to the amount of materials used.  The dome is also highly resistant to outside forces, such as hurricane winds or earthquakes.  The Venus Project facilitates research and development efforts as well as acting as a showcase center for spreading the ideas and designs of tomorrow. Their database of like-minded scientists, engineers, and designers acts as a broad technical network to increase cross-discipline communication and help to advance their cause.

“Just as the middle class of today lives better than kings of the past, we believe the wealthiest people today would do better in the resource-based economy of the future,” said Fresco   It will take the adoption of a new mindset in order to bring about the technological and social innovations that Fresco and Meadows envision.  Already, Fresco has been the subject of an award-winning documentary, Future by Design by William Gazecki.

Presently, they seek to make a major motion picture in order to bring the opportunities of the Venus Project into the minds of mainstream audiences.   By increasing awareness about the future’s great possibilities, limiting world views can be replaced with a spirit of innovation and collaboration in shaping a world in which everyone would want to live.

To learn more, visit TheVenusProject.com.

Taking Care of Business

By: Rebecca Saltman Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Community

Colorado Capital Congress

November 2011: With countless attack ads ringing in his ears, the announcement of John Hickenlooper’s victory in Colorado’s gubernatorial campaign, and the state facing a record deficit, entrepreneur Karl Dakin and a number of other business leaders decided that the time was ripe for further change. Calling themselves CIO Colorado (Chief Innovation Officer), they started brainstorming solutions to the ongoing recession, solutions in which Colorado needed to play a major role or else face an endless procession of fiscal quarters bleeding red.

Although rookies in the overall political process, they nevertheless were able to craft a bill (HB 1266), obtain the sponsorship of Pete Lee, a Democrat from HD 18 (Manitou Springs), and start recruiting support for legislation to create a public-private partnership. Its purpose—to raise and invest money in Colorado’s businesses. They were warned early in the process that any legislation would die quickly if it cost the state of Colorado any money, and so the bill was amended to include a Colorado stock exchange and licensing of finders to match-make stock sales where fees would cover operating costs and generate revenue to pay for a bond offering.

As one Capitol Hill insider puts it, “Getting time with state legislators while in session is like panhandling for money at an intersection. You have to catch them when they come to a stop and pitch your proposal before the light changes.” The number of innovative components in HB 1266 required more time than usual to explain, putting CIO Colorado at an immediate disadvantage.

The bill was voted down 7-6 (in a surprising show of political solidarity, right along party lines – 7 Republicans and 6 Democrats). However, in graciously acknowledging the efforts of CIO Colorado and commending everyone for thinking outside of the box, an invitation was extended by a number of the legislators, civic leaders and state officials to come back after the Legislature adjourned and discuss ideas for improving Colorado’s capital markets. This invitation led to the establishment of the Colorado Capital Congress. The effort is run by Karl Dakin, who also serves as the Executive Director of the Sullivan Chair for Free Enterprise at Regis University. The Congress represents a citizen-led public forum focused on improving Colorado’s capital markets and has teamed with the Institute for the Common Good, also at Regis University, to do just that. “If you don’t like an idea, you can’t simply criticize it. You have to try to make the idea as good as it can be,” Dakin says. “From the perspective of someone who opposes the idea, your commitment is to make it more acceptable. Then, if you are a member of the Congress and you still don’t like the idea, your first chance to say anything negative is to vote no on October 20.”

The concept for the Congress is to promulgate ideas for increasing monies to Colorado’s businesses and projects, while easing access to existing capital. The Congress acts as a new democratic interface between the public and Colorado legislators, without the narrow-minded agendas accorded to other groups such as lobbyists and their ilk. It presents an opportunity for ideas like those raised by CIO Colorado to be vetted through development and dialogue by capital experts and the general public, married to feedback from Colorado officials and legislators.

The Colorado Capital Congress is open to the public, and an invitation is extended to every citizen of Colorado to join as a representative. The Congress provides a non-partisan, innovative environment where ideas will be evaluated, discussed and developed. “The Congress is intended to provide a forum where ideas can be engaged through positive dialogue,” said Paul Alexander, director of the Institute on the Common Good (ICG). The ICG serves the community at-large by promoting the common good and providing a safe and effective space for community dialogue, communal discernment, and public deliberation. The Institute also seeks to facilitate dialogue aimed at developing strategies to resolve important community issues.

From a business perspective, the Congress is intended to give a new voice to the Colorado legislature. However, the need for better communication is not only on the business side of the equation. During any given legislative session, there are often too many bills vying for discussion, the merits of which rarely come under rigorous scrutiny. The Congress creates an opportunity for legislators to not only understand proposals for change, but to participate in the process that may grant those bills life.

As Karl Dakin criss-crosses the state recruiting businesses and legislators to join the Congress, he faces skepticism and apathy. “It’s hard work,” he admitted. “Most small businesses feel that they are invisible and that any effort is a waste of scarce time needed to survive.” He laughed about a pitch to one sitting legislator who stated he didn’t have the time because he was campaigning for office. “How can any candidate expect you to vote for them if they put more time into campaigning than solving our problems?” said Dakin.

The Colorado Capital Congress will circumvent lawmakers’ lack of resources by moving ideas for improving Colorado’s capital markets via a very different vehicle. The Congress will fashion ideas into action initiatives through a carefully-refined six-stage process. The process takes existing bureaucratic functions and redefines them, creating a chronological horn-of-plenty. Each of the six stages alone is a familiar tool in legislative parlance, but here are joined and timed to flow organically. In the first stage, ideas are born – exploring new solutions and improvements to existing systems. Second, initiatives are developed as ready-to-implement, detailed statements of change. Third, the all-important discussion stage represents a determined effort for public input to avoid the behind closed doors label. Logically then, the fourth stage is the vote – indication of support or opposition to a developed initiative. The final two stages – information dissemination (publication of books and educational programs) and action (new laws, regulations, public/private partnerships or private collaborations) are already better known as the public faces our governing bodies.

Up to 20 ideas will be selected as initiatives and assigned to task forces that will be responsible for developing the ideas to a point of readiness for implementation. Then, representatives in the Congress may discuss the issues online. On October 20, all representatives will be invited to the Regis University campus to vote on all initiatives. The Sullivan Chair will then arrange for development and publication of knowledge gained from the Congress. Finally, champions will be recruited to implement each initiative receiving a majority vote. Action may ultimately take many forms, any one of which could impact the daily lives of tens of thousands of Coloradoans.

The organizational meeting for the Congress was held on June 29. Pat Ladewig, vice president of academic affairs at Regis University, welcomed participants and invited everyone to join in the Jesuit tradition of improving one’s community through innovation. Alexander shared some of his family’s history in Colorado banking and set forth the convening principals for dialogue in the conduct of the Congress. Dakin provided details on the operation of the Congress and opportunities for participation.

On July 25, the Congress held a brainstorming session to better identify and recreate serendipitous opportunities: changing how sources of money are matched with businesses seeking funding. Futurist Tom Frey of the DaVinci Institute made a keynote presentation on the future of Colorado’s capital markets. Pointing out how the Roman Empire failed in part due to its use of Roman numerals and its inability to complete higher math functions, Mr. Frey challenged the audience to identify and be prepared to discard the Roman numeral equivalents within Colorado’s capital markets. The address presented trends on the use of money, alternative currencies, and new forms of payment.

Thus inspired, the attendees formulated the four most pressing issues within the state’s capital market which included: sources of capital – existing cash or other resources that may be converted to cash or used as collateral; matching capital sources with businesses – quicker, better, faster ways to create appropriate matches that recognize the readiness of a business to receive capital and the ability of the an investor to evaluate risks; greater incentives – ways to make investments in Colorado businesses more attractive than offshore investments, creating cash reserves or other investment alternatives; and reduction of risks – ways to reduce actual risks and the perception that investing in Colorado businesses is too risky

A variety of collaborative techniques were employed to avoid overthinking, to encourage lateral thinking and to shift perspective.

Several ideas were proposed which will be reviewed and filtered for duplicates and then placed on the idea page on the Colorado Capital Congress website. Members of the public may join the Congress and post their own ideas as well. Key individuals are being recruited to become part of the leadership of the Congress and manage the taskforces developing each initiative. 80 individuals will be matched with 20 Regis University students to research issues and facilitate public discussion. The objective is to develop each idea to a point where it is ready-to-implement.

The first initiative, Colorado Capital Agents, will explore authorizing qualified individuals to facilitate the sale of Colorado securities between Colorado buyers and sellers and to earn a commission for their work. Additional initiatives are being staged on a wide range of topics. Currently these talking points are loosely aggregated into local approaches (enabling community investment pools, single- and multiple-industry specialty funds, and recognition of hybrid L3C entities), and regional approaches (recruiting international capital into the state, online scoring systems benefiting both investors and investees, and government incentives for investing in Colorado businesses).

“To be successful, the Colorado Capital Congress must generate workable initiatives,” Dakin observes. Simple statements of objectives or public policy have the appearance of wish lists. The Congress’ initiatives must address the needs and concerns of investors. Like any customer, investors need to be incentivized to invest now and to invest in Colorado businesses instead of other alternatives. The higher quality of Colorado businesses must be proven and broadcast to the rest of the world. In effect, Colorado’s investment products have to be superior to those of the competition. Product improvement will likely take the form of improving investors’ rates of return and lowering risks associated with investing. Nominations are now being accepted for the leadership of the Congress and individuals are needed to lead task forces with the responsibility for development and dialogue of each initiative.

Business and civic organizations are asked to endorse the Congress and invite their members to become representatives in the Congress. Current representatives engage each other on opposite sides of many contentious issues, but always arrive at one shared observation. The Colorado Capital Congress is a wonderful opportunity to speak up and be heard—to work with others who share the vision that together we can make things better, and to actually dive into the nuts and bolts of our problems, and make changes where they will do some good.

To learn more about the Congress visit http://www.ColoradoCapitalCongress.com or on Twitter at @cocapcongress. To learn more about Colorado Capital Agents visit http://www.meetup.com/Colorado-Capital-Agents.

Rebecca Saltman is a social entrepreneur and the president and founder of an independent collaboration building firm designed to bridge business, government, nonprofits and academia. To learn more visit www.foot-in-door.com or twitter @opendoors4u.

Colorado Women Building Infrastructure

By: Elizabeth Leake Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Community

Both In Business and In Life

The Colorado Women's Chamber Annual Awards Luncheon celebrates the accomplishments of outstanding women and businesses in Colorado. The awards presented are Lifetime Achievement, Young Professional, and Sustainable, Small, Medium and Large Businesses of the year. The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the efforts of a woman who has demonstrated significant leadership and has made an impact on women in her community. The Young Professional Award recognizes the efforts of an outstanding Colorado young professional woman who demonstrates significant accomplishments in her career and has contributed to the business community. The Company of the Year Awards honor small, medium, and large companies that create a workplace culture that supports the highest levels of personal and professional accomplishment for their women employees by encouraging them to excel in the company, devote time and energy to their community in a meaningful way, and forge paths of leadership for other women to follow. The Sustainable Company Award honors a company that creates a workplace culture that supports the environment, the economy, and society.

Large, Medium and Small Companies of the Year Award Finalists

DatamanUSA, LLC

DatamanUSA is a small, local, privately-held, for-profit business with a history of Best Business practices. It is100 percent woman-owned by Nidhi Saxena, who is the founder and CEO, and who mentors female employees to help them achieve the same level of excellence as she has. DatamanUSA believes in providing effective and efficient technology solutions through best talents, along with a sense of commitment, value and integrity for 100 percent customer satisfaction. They assist their women workforce with high energy and focus making them purposeful people and committed activists—who make it happen. DatamanUSA has training, retraining and mentoring programs. DatamanUSA has a mature subcontracting program that helps identify, qualify and leverage services. There are over 50 women-owned IT consulting and staff augmentation companies that are in the DatamanUSA’s subcontractors program.

Entitlement and Engineering Solutions, Inc.

Entitlement and Engineering Solutions, Inc. (EES) fosters a work culture that encourages all employees, not just women, to provide their best work. EES is a small woman-owned civil engineering company that employs a majority of women for their staff. EES has cultivated a workplace environment that supports women in their career pursuits while acknowledging the demands on their personal lives. The female majority at EES encourages a comfortable, supportive, non-competitive atmosphere to allow each employee to strive for excellence. Women’s unique traits are valued as one of EES’ strengths, and EES employees are encouraged to cultivate those unique traits along with their professional skills to climb to leadership positions within the company, on projects, and within the community. By allowing flexible schedules, alternative work weeks and telecommuting, EES keeps talented and successful women engaged and employed within their field. By embracing these alternative work options, EES highlights women’s contributions to the industry and secures a consistent place for women in the profession.

Hensel Phelps Construction Co.

Hensel Phelps Construction Co. (Hensel Phelps) established the Women’s Network (WNet) to create an environment that encourages women to pursue excellence within the company. It was established as a forum for mentorship and leadership development for women in construction within the organization. The WNet has working groups established in each of Hensel Phelps’ seven district offices, having been established in Colorado at the corporate headquarters in Greeley, Colorado. Hensel Phelps contracts for all types of goods and services from women-owned companies involved in all aspects of the construction and related industries. From design and engineering, to supply and installation of construction products and services, to inspection and commissioning of projects, Hensel Phelps has been recognized in the Colorado community as a leader in the advocacy and advancement of women-owned businesses.

Holland & Hart

At Holland & Hart, women are encouraged to take an active leadership role within the firm. In the last 20 years, three women have acted as the managing partner or chair of Holland & Hart’s management committee. In addition, the firm’s activities committee, audit letter committee, federal political action committee, lease committee and wellness advisory committee are all currently chaired by women. Women attorneys are also included as voting members of other influential firm committees. Holland & Hart was one of only 32 firms in the country recognized by the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) through its new Gold Standard Certification Awards Initiative. It is the only initiative directed toward certifying, publicly recognizing, and broadly publicizing eligible law firms that have integrated women into the highest leadership positions in the firm.

Raytheon

Diversity at Raytheon is about inclusiveness—providing an atmosphere where everyone feels valued and empowered to perform at a peak level regardless of the many ways people are different, including but not limited to age, race, gender, sexual orientation, family history or physical ability. One of the ways Raytheon promotes inclusiveness is Raytheon Women’s Network (RWN). RWN provides employees with various opportunities to facilitate their career development, enhance their leadership skills, and increase their exposure to leaders. Additionally, RWN's community outreach and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs establish Raytheon's brand within their community. RWN is an employee resource dedicated to serving as a strategic business partner in building and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. RWN is committed to increasing the visibility and contributions of Raytheon women, thereby enhancing the company's ability to become an employer of choice for women.

Sherman & Howard

Sherman & Howard recognizes that diversity is critical to the success of the firm and their clients. In 2008, they developed an inclusiveness council made up of lawyers and other firm professionals who work to ensure that inclusiveness is a core value throughout the firm and remains a core principal in recruiting, retention and promotion practices. Through these initiatives, Sherman & Howard seeks to develop and maintain a partnership and workplace that is inclusive for all lawyers and staff including people regardless of their race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or national or ethnic origin. Sherman & Howard demonstrates its commitment to diversity and inclusiveness by placing women in leadership roles throughout the firm. Over 90 percent of the positions listed under professional leadership opportunities have been filled by women within the firm who have demonstrated outstanding efforts and were awarded the position based on performance and demonstrated capability in their respective fields.

Work Options for Women

The mission of Work Options for Women (WOW) is to help impoverished women gain the skills and confidence they need to work their way out of poverty and become gainfully and permanently employed in the food service industry. WOW trains and hires women in poverty situations into the food service industry and assists them with life-changing opportunities by helping them address transportation, housing and childcare needs in order to teach them job responsibility and commitment to the training program. Their success rate with moving participants out of poverty and into self-sustaining employment situations is over 80 percent. With a staunch focus on moving women in need into a self-sustainable employment situation by teaching them much-needed skills in an industry, WOW will succeed in putting women to work in the community with an opportunity for advancement.

Sustainable Company of the Year Award Finalists

Goodwill Industries of Denver

The mission of Goodwill Industries of Denver (Goodwill) is to create opportunities for individuals to change their lives and the lives of others while building a strong and sustainable community. Goodwill is a solution to reducing waste, a thriving nonprofit serving the needs of many in our community and ultimately, a socially responsible discount retailer. Each year, Goodwill diverts more than 55 million pounds of waste from landfills including used computer equipment through a partnership with Dell computers. More than one million donors and two million shoppers helped turn one person’s trash into someone else’s treasure by donating, reusing and repurposing goods. Goodwill ensures that more than 30,000 individuals in the community have the opportunity to change their lives and the lives of others while building a strong, sustainable community. Revenue from stores provides career development and skills training for at-risk youth, struggling families, and individuals with disabilities.

ReDirect Guide

At ReDirect Guide, everything they do is in an effort to make living green simple and accessible. ReDirect Guide's resources, events, initiatives and projects are intended to provide pragmatic and easy-to-use tools to help everyone make green choices in their everyday purchases. They believe that by finding, qualifying, and presenting green businesses in easy-to-use formats, they are helping individuals contribute to a better world with every dollar they spend. Their products and services are designed to promote businesses that incorporate environmental and social responsibility, to strengthen community, to provide educational resources, and perhaps most importantly, to make it easy for consumers to find healthy and sustainable products and services in their area. As their name implies, they redirect consumer support to sustainable companies by providing an easy to use guide to green businesses and local resources.

Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy consistently meets its business goals and honors its commitments to customers, employees and the environment; the company proves that it is built to last. That was certainly true in 2010, an outstanding year in every category. They met their financial goals, maintained outstanding customer service, demonstrated environmental leadership, and achieved operational excellence. Xcel Energy’s list of environmental accomplishments is long—from their portfolio of renewable energy sources to their emissions-reduction efforts to their investments in promising new technology. All of those initiatives got them closer to a clean energy future. As Xcel moves in that direction, they balance their environmental responsibilities with their obligation to customers to deliver reliable energy at a competitive price. They want consumers to be aware of the fact that their balanced resource strategy, which includes a mix of energy sources, will continue to keep costs reasonable.

Wildlife Bridges

By: Jennifer Cook Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Community

First-Ever International Competition Develops Innovative & Cost-Effective Design Solutions for Safe Passage of Wildlife Over Superhighways

Since World War II, roads and highways have spread across our landscape to connect urban and rural communities, drive the economy and fuel an ever-growing population’s transportation needs. Yet when it comes to locating and designing these byways, little attention has been paid to the effects on wildlife movement and the integrity of eco-systems.

Now two major trends are increasingly being recognized as experts analyze the effectiveness of North America’s roadway systems. The first is that collisions between wildlife and vehicles have doubled in the past 15 years and are a growing threat to both human safety and wildlife, costing Americans $8 billion annually. The second is that climate change is creating a need for wildlife to move across landscapes, unimpeded, as they seek more normal temperatures, water and other resources being compromised in current habitats.

As a result, both transportation and natural resource agencies are looking at ways to make North American highways safer for drivers and wildlife alike. In response to this emerging priority, the ARC International Wildlife Crossing Design Competition—a Canada-U.S. collaboration including more than 25 government, academic and environmental organizations—was formed in early 2010.

“Our goal for this initiative was to engage interdisciplinary design teams and challenge them to come up with cost-effective solutions that would enable humans and wildlife to better co-exist through innovative engineering and architecture,” explained Nina-Marie Lister, ARC’s professional competition advisor and associate professor of urban & regional planning at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario. “Through the ARC competition, we hope to usher in the next generation of wildlife crossings, taking what we’ve learned through existing infrastructure and use new methods, materials and thinking to reduce structural costs, and increase adaptability and ecological function.”

ARC’s creators and sponsors chose West Vail Pass on Colorado’s Interstate 70 as the design case study for the competition from numerous nominated sites throughout North America. Since the heavily traveled stretch of highway bisects a critical wildlife habitat linkage for a wide range of species—including black bears, cougars, bobcats, lynx, coyote, elk, deer and marten—the site presented competition participants with real and serious problems of animal movement.

Out of 36 submissions, ARC partners short-listed five teams comprised of landscape architects, architects, engineers and ecologists to develop concept designs for a crossing structure that provides safe passage for wildlife across the busy I-70 corridor. On December 1, 2010, the five top teams unveiled their architectural models during the Western Governors Wildlife Committee Meeting in Denver.

The five ARC finalists include: Balmori Associates from New York City; The Olin Studio from Philadelphia; Janet Rosenberg & Associates from Toronto; Michael Van Valkenburgh & Associates with HNTB Engineering from New York City; and Zwarts & Jantsma Architects from Amsterdam.

The museum-quality architectural models then went on display at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., where the winning team was announced on January 23, 2011, during the National Academies' Transportation Research Board's Annual Conference. HNTB+MVVA, a New York City design firm, was unanimously chosen by a jury of five leading experts for their use of ordinary materials, such as concrete and other structural materials easy to procure close to any given area. The exhibit finally returned home to Colorado last April for the 2011 Vail Film Festival, where community leaders had the opportunity to learn about the need for Wildlife Crossings in their own backyard.

“The international competition both establishes and inspires a new category of public infrastructure that is both responsive and responsible to environmental concerns,” said Jared Polis (D-CO), Colorado congressman. “The ARC competition addresses a global problem with a Colorado-based solution that will demonstrate the importance of international cooperation.”

Growing scientific research—including the seminal work in road ecology initiated by Parks Canada—shows the importance of wildlife crossings and their effectiveness at reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions. In 1981, Banff National Park began to upgrade an 83-km (51.6-mile) section of the Trans-Canada Highway in response to growing traffic volumes, collisions and wildlife road-kill. Now there are over 24 wildlife underpasses and four wildlife overpasses from Banff National Park’s east entrance to the border of British Columbia.

The crossings, along with fencing, have reduced wildlife-vehicle collisions by more than 80 percent. As a result, 11 species of large mammals—including wolf, grizzly bear, elk, lynx, mountain lion and moose—have made nearly 250,000 safe crossings (and counting) across these paths. More such projects are underway, including an international public-private partnership established by Parks Canada to monitor wildlife mitigation measures and improve efficacy of these types of projects around the world. “The work that Parks Canada started nearly 30 years ago has put Banff on the map as a leader in wildlife crossings and will continue to provide opportunities for technology transfer for ARC and other similar initiatives,” said Carol Markham, consul for political/economic relations at the Consulate General of Canada in Denver. She further states, “The ARC competition clearly demonstrates the strong relationship between Canada and the United States and is a wonderful opportunity to underscore the Canada-U.S. partnership as joint stewards of our shared environment.”

Now that the ARC competition is complete, Nina-Marie Lister is still hard at work preparing for the next incarnation of the project, ARC Solutions. While the competition focused on the West Vail Pass area, the applications developed can also be applied to other locations in need of wildlife crossings, explained Lister, adding that ARC’s new phase will strive to implement the design concepts already created through the competition. The website www.ARC-Solutions.org is scheduled to launch late September 2011.

“By installing wildlife crossing structures, whether you’re building new bridges or retrofitting old ones, we are able to preserve the integrity of the whole landscape,” said Harvey Locke, co-founder of the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) initiative based in Calgary, Alberta, and vice president for Conservation Strategy at the WILD Foundation in Boulder, Colorado. “ARC is about how to do something we know how to do and do it in a more beautiful and cost-effective way.”

For more information regarding the ARC International Wildlife Crossing Design Competition, visit www.arc-competition.com, and for ARC Solutions, visit www.arc-solutions.org. To learn more about the Consulate General of Canada in Denver or the Canada-U.S. partnership in environmental stewardship, please contact Jennifer Cook, Communications & Cultural Affairs Officer for the Consulate General of Canada at (303) 626-0672 or [email protected].

Infrastructure for Dominant Low-Cost Electricity

By: Emily Haggstrom Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Business

Dry Forks Station – Will it be the Last Coal-Based Power Plant?

Coal is as much a part of our past as it is our future. The Greeks used it to fabricate metal, Aztecs used it as fuel and the Britain’s used it during the occupation of the Roman’s and throughout the earliest stages of the monarchy. Coal is the very foundation of our early economic progress in the United States, providing basic domestic needs, transportation options, and production of raw materials as well as power.

As an abundant natural resource, coal has continued to serve as the primary source of energy to produce electricity. And although our country continues its environmental movement, making strides towards more clean technologies to provide electric power, our nation as a whole still relies heavily on the power generated from coal and its low-cost production.

And while the need for electricity continues to rise along with the costs, it is more important than ever for requisite low-cost, reliable, time tested methods of production that are still in high demand. And while many Americans would prefer green sources of energy, the cost to benefit ratio doesn’t fit the pockets for most of those same individuals.

Federal regulations have been strengthened around coal-based operations and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new standards to protect the quality of air and water while preserving the land as much as possible in its original state before any reclamation occurs. These statutes and standards have made it increasingly hard for companies like Basin Electric and other coal-based energy producers to acquire permitting to create infrastructure for low-cost electricity options desired by many rural Americans.

Although grant money, private equity and government subsidies are being directed towards clean energy, research continues to be made regarding continuous improvements in ultra-low emissions from coal-based electricity. By working towards advanced emissions controls, a suite of new technology has become available and will continue to be refined to help deliver clean-coal fueled electricity.

“Coal is the most available, reliable and affordable energy resource that this country has,” said U.S. Senator John Barrasso.

Establishing Power

In a 2002 Power Requirement Study, Basin Electric and its member facilities evaluated the need for generation based on load requirements with a 10-year perspective. The group forecasted the need for a new facility between 2008 and 2011 to meet the growing need of the local communities served by these member cooperatives. After three years of a rigorous permitting process necessary to meet the requirements for impact alleviation and a review and analysis of over 12,000 pages by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WYDEQ); which ultimately led to a subsequent federal lawsuit, Basin Electric was issued a “complex, highly technical permit”. “Issuing a permit for a plant like this is a monumental undertaking. Staff from WYDEQ reviewed hundreds of documents, attended hearings, and spent countless hours analyzing technical data regarding the environmental controls for this power plant. Wyoming has some of the strictest environmental rules in the country,” said Ron Harper, Basin Electric CEO and General Manager.

Once the permit was issued, project development ensued. In just four years, with a workforce of 1,300 at its peak and over six million hours worked without lost time injury, the mine-mouth operation finally opened. By strategically locating the facility next to the Powder Basin subbituminous coal mine, Basin Electric helped eliminate rail expenses over a long-term haul for lower quality coal to help keep costs down and quality up.

“You can build clean coal-based power plants, we’ve done it with Dry Forks,” said Daryl Hill, Media Relations Supervisor for Basin Electric, “The DEQ wrote us a very good permit and Dry Forks is the first of its kind to have the environmental standards that it does. It’s a great plant on the front end in terms of production and on the back end in terms of the environmental controls and we’re very proud of that and we think it will set a precedent for other plants moving forward.”

The Strength of Dry Forks Station

In what could be considered a perfect Wyoming morning, without a cloud in the sky, the sun shone bright and a light breeze danced past more than 1,100 people as dignitaries cut the ribbon and dedicated what some believe to be the last coal-based power plant in the United States. It was a defining moment for the people of Gillette, the state of Wyoming and the nation as a whole to stand witness to the possible historic event.

Speaking tongue-in-cheek, Gillette Mayor Tom Murphy said, “Not only do we (Wyoming) have electricity, but without Wyoming, you wouldn’t have any. This plant provides jobs for hard-working Americans. Producing electricity takes hard work and coal helps make this country great.”

Utilizing advanced coal technology to meet the stringent requirements of the WYDEQ and the EPA, the new Dry Forks station features an “air-cooled condenser, the largest in North America, which works as a large radiator cooling water without losing the water to evaporation.” The bag-house along with a high efficiency circulating fluid bed scrubber to help reduce pollutants such as mercury, along with an accompanying removal system is the first of its kind in the industry; add in 20 LO NOx burners equipped with environmental controls and the station is poised to meet its permit limits.

The $1.35 billion Dry Forks Station, six miles north of Gillette was built to provide enough wholesale power to member cooperatives in 135 counties over a nine state territory that will supply electricity to over 308,000 homes. More than $336 million was invested in environmental controls with an accompanying budget of $5 million annually to operate those controls. Basin Electric is proud to employ 85 fulltime employees who are supported by local vendors and contractors.

“Coal from Wyoming has fueled American dreams. As we think about this, it’s grand to see a power plant up and running in the midst of other coal plants across the country being shut down,” said Governor Matt Mead speaking about how low-cost electricity helps maintain a quality of life. “We hope this is a sign of many more to come.”

And while the immediate future suggests otherwise, Basin Electric and its Dry Forks station will continue to mine the local subbituminous coal that the region is known for, providing low-cost electricity to nine rural electric systems that provide electricity to around 2.8 million consumers. “The energy from this power plant is not only electricity but human energy to keep it going,” said Powder River Energy Corporation CEO Mike Easley.

TSC Global

By: Aaron Arnold and Rebecca Saltman Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Business

Roofs for the World

The Challenge

January 12, 2010, 4:53 p.m. just west of Port-au-Prince, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake ravaged Hispaniola’s poorer half.  Nineteen months later, some 634,000 survivors—40 percent of those Haitians displaced by the original quake—are still virtually homeless.  Residing in tents distributed by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) is proving punitive, as the tents swiftly become useless tatters.

Constructing durable and cost-efficient residential housing, simple commercial buildings, schools, and medical clinics which could be swiftly erected, remains a daunting challenge.  Add to that massive undertaking the desperate need for infrastructure development in the beleaguered nation, and the challenges start to look Biblical.  Addressing Haiti’s structural and infrastructural needs will require a matrix of public-private partnerships.  That naturally suggests both collaboration and an organization not afraid to shift and transcend conceived boundaries between public and private enterprise.  Collaborative efforts will have to be infused with innovation in order to accomplish large-scale development that directly meets the needs of the impoverished and displaced.

The Social Enterprise

TSC Global is an organization that blends these facets together in an effort to solve the challenge of building for communities plagued by poverty and degradation. The for-profit social enterprise blends business acumen with the heart of a not-for-profit. By promoting its products in a B2B stream, the goal of genuine infrastructural development in the developing world becomes something more than onerous.  According to Director Steve Riley, the decision to commit to enterprise was driven by the need for twofold sustainability.  “[We] want to be on the side of the equation that is focused on capacity building and restoring the dignity that comes with self-reliance,” he says. He notes that systematic humanitarian aid can create an unsustainable dependence in the recipient community. Therefore, the organization itself is not interested in a symbiotic existence with donors, preferring self-sufficiency through revenue generation.  “Fundamentally,” says Riley, “our motivations are philanthropic, but we have not forsaken entrepreneurship or free enterprise to fulfill our corporate mission.”

The Innovation

The organization’s innovation is actually relatively simple.  Its products are based on cement-latex thin shell composite (TSC) hyperbolic paraboloid (HyPar) roofing technology.  This TSC HyPar construction method is the brainchild of George Nez, who recognized the potential for the versatile HyPar shape—a double curved planar surface. Nez discovered that the shape could be combined into many configurations, such as a pyramid hat or lampshade, or an attractive cross-gable bungalow that can be constructed with minimal and often local building materials.

To achieve the shape in quadrant by quadrant panel form, a rigid frame is first constructed, generally using lumber or even bamboo. The frame is then carefully tightened across a sequencing of HyPar lines and spanned with a mesh of either fiberglas mesh strips or locally sourced porous fabric and chicken wire.  The HyPar membrane forms the underlay for several applications of thin shell composite “parge”, an admixture of portland cement and latex additive.  The mixture is “painted” on using brooms, interpenetrating the HyPar-shaped membrane. Usually, a total of six layers are applied over a week’s time, amounting to a flexible but strong surface that in the end is no thicker than a centimeter.

Overall, a TSC roof is lightweight, swiftly erected, very cost-efficient, adaptable, and durable, contributing to TSC Global’s tagline “Roofs for the World.”  The strength-flexibility continuum translates to earthquake and wind resistance, and theoretically promises 100 years of longevity.  The composite material diminishes interior noise from rain, while the HyPar shape is ideal for rainwater harvesting. Top-vents create a much cooler living space compared to the brutal heat suffered under corrugated metal roofs. The entire roof can be lifted onto an existing wall structure, or the structures can be built “roofs first” atop posts, allowing for a shelter that a family or school can move under and later add wall systems as desired or able.  Moreover, the reduction of material usage plus the proof of suitability and widespread acceptance of bamboo instead of lumber provides a greener solution for affordable structures.

The Originators

TSC Global founders  Brad Wells, Steve Riley, George Nez along with key advisors Randy Parsley and Steve Brooks, have decades of pertinent experience among them. From Executive Director Brad Wells’ business ownership experience, connections and entrepreneurial spirit, to Steve Riley’s passion for growth in underdeveloped countries, to George Nez’s inspiration and seminal ideas regarding how to create these roofs starting with his 1974 “roofs first” epiphany while relocating 23,000 villagers in Ghana, to Randy Parsley’s 30 years of residential and commercial construction experience, to Steve Brooks recent experience village and urban planning in Kigali, Rwanda—these men have a rare personal grasp of and innovative approach to affordable and post-disaster problems and the solutions.

The Model

“I believe TSC has a great potential to address the shelter needs of people at the bottom of the pyramid,” says Steve Brooks, Principal at Denver’s Oz Architecture, referring to the technology’s possible impact in the developing world.  Brooks serves as a board member at TSC Global and sees a demonstrable value in the way that the technology can be implemented with local materials and local labor, and in fact the structures are architecturally satisfying.  “[The TSC] surface becomes an integral structural shell that resists vertical and horizontal loads without beams and joists,” he says.  Furthermore, natural ventilation is built into the construction process.   Brooks acknowledges that the organization will meet with obstacles, from the political to the mercenary.  For example, there is real potential for opportunists to mimic the techniques outside of TSC Global’s purview:  “The challenge is quality control in execution within the local context.” Ensuring such controls is a matter of collaboration, especially since TSC Global aims to build on a large scale.  Progress begins by establishing partnerships with local community and business leaders, then looking to build contracts with international aid organizations and governmental institutions.  The organization trains local tradesmen, conveying the technology to home-grown entrepreneurs. The end goal, providing an appropriate and immediate structural solution while also ensuring income generation for needy populations, comes about almost organically.

TSC Global’s aspiration is to proliferate its high-tech product with low-tech methods, giving families and local businesses affordable real estate assets.  The organization estimates a unit cost of $4,000 including materials and labor.  Assuming an 8 percent interest rate, a family making the developing world median income of $2.50 per day can pay off its own mortgage over 30 years.  Associated costs are little more than those of temporary relief shelters, while the life of the TSC structure is exponentially superior.

The Work In Haiti

TSC Global has completed small-scale projects in Africa and is currently working to establish itself in Haiti in the more expansive role described above.  Wells and Riley are striving to simultaneously attract private investors and grant funding from international organizations, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).  In these early stages, however, local, in-country collaboration is paramount. TSC Global has worked closely with Haitian construction company Truxton, SA which has provided logistics and shipping support.  Truxton’s president, Didier Gardere, has proven to be invaluable, making numerous marketing calls and opening doors with the Haitian government and NGOs.  Collaborators like Gardere are refreshing, according to Riley, especially in a humanitarian environment in which large aid organizations tend to be bureaucratic, cynical, and innovation averse, all of which contribute to exacerbating poor structural conditions.  Riley expands:  “I know NGOs don't want to build shacks that will fall apart and devolve into slums, but that is what will happen at the prices for houses that NGOs want their contractors to build with. Haitians don't want this kind of housing either. It is offensive to them in my opinion. What they want is help buying a home that will be livable and long lasting so they have the benefits of home ownership and wealth building through real estate.” Further challenges abound in Haiti.  Riley explains that logistics and supply chain establishment are difficult in any developing world situation.  TSC Global has overcome these issues in small projects by sourcing materials in local markets.  However, scaling up in Haiti will require a different approach.  “We simply do not have the time, nor can our clients afford for us to spend weeks tracking down materials suppliers in-country,” says Riley.  The organization’s proposed solution, which it is shopping to investors and grant-makers, is to construct a materials yard to serve as a home-base for controlled inventory of goods both imported and locally sourced (including for wall systems), as well as distribution to building sites.  In other words, TSC Global becomes its own supplier, and eventually can support entrepreneurs who take on the technology.

The Public Factor

Part and parcel of the effort to make TSC Global grow is nurturing the ultimate public-private partnership:  outreach intended to lodge the organization’s technology and operating model in the minds of potential investors and influential personalities, while also generating interest in the media and general public.   Most recently, the organization displayed its products at the Clinton Foundation/Government of Haiti Building Back Better Communities Expo in Port-au-Prince, an event attended by both former U.S. President Bill Clinton and new Haiti President Michel Martelly.  Stateside, residents and visitors of Denver can check out TSC Global at their facilities at 1205 Osage in Denver, and at the Design for the Other 90% exhibition at RedLine Gallery (2350 Arapahoe Street).  The Design 90% display includes three small roofs artfully and prominently presented.  The exhibits are the beginnings of a campaign to bring affordable product, to the bottom billions, and also to make reverberations locally and globally, rippling outward to deliver on the aspiration to “build back better” what has crumbled and to innovate not only the way that people think about infrastructure development, but also spark a revolution in humanitarianism—one driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and financial empowerment rather than unsustainable handouts.

For more information about TSC Global please see visit their website at http://tscglobal.org or on twitter @tscroofs.

TAKRAF

By: Matt Edgar Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Business

Heavy Equipment for Extreme Infrastructure

In the earliest part of the Iron Age in Europe, iron was smelted from ore found in bogs and swamps in Germany, Scandanavia, and the Netherlands. Bog iron is somewhat resistant to rusting due to residual silicates, and has been used in art, architecture, tools, and weapons for over two millennia. In 1725, the Baroness of Löwendahl and Augustus II the Strong started a foundry, which smelted bog ore to be used in the production of iron art castings in Lauchhammer, Germany. The foundry eventually transformed into a construction factory, and TAKRAF, one of the world's leading manufacturers of heavy surface mining and transportation equipment, was born.

Eighty years after its founding, the company was commissioned to work on the first steam engine in Cure-Saxony, and from there, became focused on mechanical engineering and production, building water wheels and machines. As the end of the 19th century neared, TAKRAF moved to Leipzig, one of Germany’s larger industrial cities at the time. During this period, the company became more invested in mining, bulk material handling, crushing and conveying. Within 50 years, the TAKRAF name was officially established and became the leading manufacturer of mining systems and equipment.

Prior to the end of the cold war, the firm was one of East Germany’s largest industrial companies. The company specialized in open pit mining infrastructure, cranes, and bulk material handling. After the re-unification of Germany, the MAN Group, a $20 billion leading European industrial player in transport-related engineering, bought TAKRAF and helped give the company a worldwide platform. TAKRAF USA was founded in 1994 in the Denver Tech Center and was TAKRAF’s first international subsidiary. The company went through another change when the Techint Group, another massive $28 billion worldwide group based in Milan and Buenos Aires, purchased the firm in 2007 and merged them with Techint’s material handling division Italimpianti, forming Tenova TAKRAF.

TAKRAF USA services open pit mining infrastructure in both North and South America. Its equipment is used in some of the most extreme climates of the world, servicing the northern tundra of Canada, the high mountains of Chile and Peru, and the deserts of Mexico. The equipment itself is some of the biggest pieces of machinery in the world. For example, the F60 conveyer bridge is 502 meters long and holds the Guinness World Record as the largest moveable object in the world. The equipment is commensurate with the large volume and needs of the mines that they service. TAKRAF crushing and conveying systems are currently being used in Chile’s Escondida Mine, which is the largest mine in the world.

Because TAKRAF’s equipment provides vital infrastructure for mega mines, there are big dollars at stake. Thomas Gramling, executive vice president and director of TAKRAF USA, explains, “In our business, we deal with base metals such as lead, iron ore, molybdenum, copper and precious metals like gold. All of our equipment is used on critical paths of production, from crushing the source ore to conveying the materials. It must be durable to operate in extreme locations, but also efficient and easy to maintain because it operates at the top of the industry in terms of tonnage. Gramling explains, “The temperature in Canada can get down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit, so ease of maintenance is important.” He goes on to underscore the importance of TAKRAF’s equipment running smoothly by pointing out that every hour that a world-class mine is shut down they can “lose millions of dollars in gross margins.”

TAKRAF views its client relationships as long-term partnerships built to service a premier customer base. A mine can last 20-40 years depending on the ore body, so the company will be involved in the mine in some capacity whether it’s equipment, engineering, retrofitting and more for decades. Clients served out of the Tech Center office include BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, FreePort McMoRan, Groupo Mexico, and Goldcorp. These are, “leading edge clients with high standards, and they have great expectations for their partners,” according to Gramling.

Over the next few years, TAKRAF plans to capitalize on the booming mining market as rates of precious metals continue to climb to record-setting numbers. In an effort to increase mine supply and efficiencies to meet the increased demand, TAKRAF clients are interested in increasing capital expenditures on capital projects, boding well for TAKRAF, which will be involved in many of these capital projects.

TAKRAF USA is on track to have a record revenue year in 2011 and doesn’t foresee growth slowing in the immediate future. Gramling sees big potential in the U.S. coal market, especially in coal exports, and expects to see an increased need to export coal to the BRIC countries like India, China, Russia, and Brazil as they stoke their economies. Since some of these U.S. coal facilities are at maximum capacity, outdated, or both, TAKRAF can assist in the capital projects required to increase capacity, retro-fit or build new coal terminals, loadout and port facilities, so U.S. coal mines can meet the projected demand for exports.

Matt Edgar is a contributing writer for ICOSA. He is the owner of Community First Commercial Real Estate, a Denver-based Tenant Representation firm. Matt can be reached at 720.435.2191 or [email protected].

Breaking Barriers With Multi-modal Transportation Infrastructure

By: Niccolo Casewit, Eli Regalado, and Emily Haggstrom Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Business

Breaking Barriers With Multi-modal Transportation Infrastructure

Infrastructure is more than airport runways, bridges, roads, and trains. It is ultimately about connecting people, information, goods and services. Our lifestyles have become more regional requiring greater mobility to get where we need to be. Colorado is transforming what it means to live, work, and play in a great environment.

And that environment is about to get substantially better as Denver’s transportation dreams are finally becoming a reality. Through collaboration, inspired innovation and a well-coordinated directive, public transportation is showing up as an increased investment for the diverse communities across Colorado’s front range. After more than a decade of planning, Denver’s metropolitan communities will finally see construction and expansion to their transportation infrastructure through its front range FasTracks development.

FasTracks: Connecting communities

The $6.7-billion FasTracks multi-corridor rail system, although conceived in the late 1970’s, was finally made possible three decades later after a group of elected officials reached out to communities in the suburbs through a regional campaign. Led by charismatic innovators like restaurant owner and former mayor turned Colorado governor, John Hickenlooper, the initiative was spearheaded with a win-win approach to regional transportation.

The program aims to expand Denver’s current infrastructure by building roughly, “122 miles of new commuter rail and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit, 21,000 new parking spaces at light rail and bus stations, and enhanced bus service for easy, convenient bus/rail connections across an eight-county district,” says the Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) FasTracks website. The successful implementation of the program hinged on how unique communities found ways to link to each Other, providing visitors and residents public transportation to Denver’s central business district and cultural amenities.

With the expected completion of FasTracks in 2025, the development is poised to serve roughly 3.39 million people, helping to alleviate traffic congestion, connect communities, and enhance economic development in the neighborhoods it passes through.

Downtown Denver and its Growing Urban Sprawl: The need for transportation infrastructure

As Denver’s tourism and convention business continues to thrive and citizens across the downtown and metropolitan communities begin to experience what each neighborhood has to offer, it has become more important than ever to connect residents to the growing attractions in and around Denver. And access is everything as the city’s downtown hosts three major sports venues, a world-class performing arts center, a leading second-tier convention center, a funky mix of restaurants, retail, and entertainment along streets across Denver’s prime pedestrian sprawls.

With 300 days of sunshine, connecting modes of transportation between exciting, walkable, mixed-use districts is Denver’s way of creating innovation through transit-oriented design and city building. The FasTracks development has helped to attract companies like DaVita, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Gates Corporation, which were looking for a prime location and ease of mobility for their employees.

Union Station: The $500-million Hub for FasTracks

Denver’s beaux-art Union Station was built in 1881 to connect Denver with Cheyenne, Wyoming. Currently, the building is being repurposed as the new multi-modal transportation hub that will host a three-block underground regional bus transit station, new commuter rail platforms, and a public plaza serving a mixed use retail and office development in the newly constructed terminal.

RTD, the City of Denver and the Denver Union Station Project Authority (DUSPA) faced a $300-million budget gap for improvements and was forced to seek additional capital through cooperation with around 50 entities, which involved federal, state and local agencies to work with private partners to assure funding. In the end, Federal Railroad loans, an increase in property and local sales tax, as well as tax increment financing will be the key to the project’s successful completion. DUSPA, with their contractor Kiewit Western Company, report that the first phase of the underground bus transit project and the relocation of the existing light rail platform are nearly complete.

The commuter rail station itself, is set to be completed by fall 2016 with the unveiling of the east line to Denver International Airport. If the deadline for construction is met, Denver’s Union Station will serve as the designated terminal in FasTrack’s hub and spoke system.

The Eagle 3P Project: Public Private Partnership Success

The Eagle 3P project is a public-private partnership between RTD and Denver Transit Partners (DTP). By creating this partnership, RTD has been able to tap into the private sector’s up-front capital to build FasTracks, the largest commuter rail system expansion in the United States.

Through its partnership with the private sector, RTD is able to obtain global expertise and financing that will bolster a sustainable financial armature for the rail system in decades to come. For example, the team was able to forgo a 34-year term, instead securing a shorter 20-year term typically used by public bonding agencies. Through its securitized bond, global bonding agencies responded with lower financing costs, which in turn increased profits and also helped to off-set higher one-time costs associated with all-electric rail lines.

The Eagle 3P partnership arrangement passes the benefits of long-term capitalization, value engineering, and operational cost savings back to the transit district. By augmenting RTD’s FasTracks funds with private equity and private activity bonds, along with Federal loans and grants, the prudent long-range financing terms are paying off. Integrated design-build and clever operations planning have helped RTD achieve a $750-million savings over the total cost of the multi-corridor commuter rail projects.

By using a globally inspired financial payment model called the availability method, RTD is able to pay the capital costs over time with fare box collections, grants, and transit sales-tax subsidies. This enables RTD to concentrate district efforts on organizational-wide integration and finding ways to improve system services.

Work Force and Economic Development

According to Kevin Flynn, RTD’s Public Information Officer for the Eagle 3P Projects, over the five-year multi-corridor rail build-out, RTD estimates that the project will stimulate 10,000 new jobs in construction including their suppliers and other related services.

Through its commitment towards long-term work force development and training, RTD was the recipient of a $486,465 grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). RTD in collaboration with the Community College of Denver, the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver and Denver Transit Partners (DTP) secured the grant for the Workforce Initiative Now (WIN) program that will assist in providing work-force training for the construction of the new heavy-rail commuter rail lines.

“In the long term, finished transit projects will increase employment by increasing the reach for the employees to possible jobs, and the employers, thus increasing the desirability of transit-rich Metropolitan Denver to companies wishing to relocate here. Bottom line: The reliability of commuter trains and fixed guide-ways, and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), will make Denver one of the most attractive places to do business.”

With a young and well-educated population of over 2.8 million people, the Denver metro area has become a regional-hub for research and technology. Colorado’s regional high-tech beltway runs 30 miles between Denver and the City of Boulder, housing a number of national research institutions like the University of Colorado, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Research and Energy Laboratory (NREL) which will benefit from the ease of transportation the rail lines will bring.

More importantly, the American Public Transit Association (APTA) reports quarterly on transit issues and compiles data on the savings that an average commuter can expect. Denver’s costs vary, but it ranks 13th in transit savings of $857 or $10,287 annually by citizens who do not own or operate a car. As a benefit of living and working in transit-rich neighborhoods, transit-oriented communities actually induce additional economic development - supporting local shops, restaurants and services around each transit node. Real estate values in transit-rich neighborhoods are also seeing gains for this very reason.

Note: Since this story was written, RTD received a full Financial Funding Grant Agreement with the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) for a total of $1.03 billion to cover two separate rail line projects. While the construction of the East Rail Line is now fully funded, it was not dependent on finalizing the grant. This represents a huge boost for the 122-mile build-out of the entire FasTracks rail system.

Niccolo Casewit AIA, is an architect and urban planner. As a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) activist, a member of the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) Livable Communities sub-committee; and the AIA Denver Urban Design Committee he is well known as a community advocate for multi-modal infrastructure in the Denver region. Casewit is currently working on several architectural planning projects in several of the transit-rich neighborhoods of Denver.

Water Infrastructure

By: Marshall Palm Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Business

A Paradigm Shift

Natural light floods the central atrium and modern architecture of a newly constructed office building in Salt Lake City. Rex Plaizier, company president, stands on the broad teakwood staircase thinking back about his quarter century career with WesTech Engineering. Having worked in most every capacity during his tenure, he has witnessed the growth of a great company. From an initial group of several visionary men who mortgaged their futures to forge the beginnings of a small wastewater treatment engineering firm, the company has grown to now count global sales and a worldwide reach. The rows of drafting tables in the basement of a modest home have been replaced by a new glass-faced office building housing dozens of computer-aided drafting stations. The slide rules that were indispensible to perform calculations are an anachronism now, replaced by machines that complete hundreds of calculations per second. But the tenets that made the company great in the beginning still hold true today. Hard work, accountability, and pride of ownership still guide the company. As a recognized leader in a dynamic industry, Rex Plaizier relates an experience which was for him a paradigm shift in his understanding of the world and the legacy of his company.

In a scene that plays out daily in many parts of the world, he saw a glimpse of a larger picture. “A few years ago I took my family to Mexico. It was a marvelous cultural experience for them, and we were all enjoying our time there.” He recalls. “There were many different sights and sounds and environments there. One of the things that we started to notice were women and girls carrying large bottles of water on their heads. Curiosity got the best of me, and I stopped and chatted with one woman and her daughter, and I found out that this was their drinking water that they would take home two or three times a week. It was about a mile and a half journey each way.”

“My paradigm shifted considerably when about a block and a half later my little daughter, who was about the same age of that girl carrying the jug, looked up at me and said, ‘Dad, thank you for doing what you do so that me and mom don’t have to carry water on our heads two or three times a week.’ Then I realized what we do at WesTech is more than just a job, more than just manufacturing equipment; it is truly benefitting the lives of people.”

It is estimated that one billion people on planet Earth have no access to clean water, and instead are subject to the ravages of disease and misfortune from the lack of any infrastructure that would bring them relief. While Earth is the water planet, only a small two percent of it is able to be consumed as drinking water. And the human population is growing each year, increasing pressure on these finite resources.

While people in many countries take clean water availability for granted, it is bracing to consider that the mortality rate associated with waterborne disease in New York City and other major western population centers was staggering if we looked back just over one-hundred years. Advances in water and wastewater treatment have been arguably the greatest benefit to the human condition during the 20th century—equally as important as the great advances in medical technology because it affects the lives of us all.

Against this backdrop, WesTech Engineering finds reason to take great pride in each project that they design and manufacture as both an opportunity for environmental stewardship and for helping to build the infrastructure for a healthy society. Each project is a small step that may help one day to end the ongoing scourge of water scarcity.

With thousands of installations commissioned over the course of WesTech’s 38-year history, many are large municipal and industrial plants handling huge flow rates in the billion of gallons per day. Some more modest projects are counted as equally important.

Help for Haiti

When a massive earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, the scope of the tragedy was overwhelming. WesTech began like many companies in their industry, working with charities and companies across the United States to provide an efficient and readily available means to provide safe drinking water to the rural areas of Haiti. WesTech has partnered with Cascade Engineering to transport to and set up water filtration sand filters for families. The inexpensive, cylindrical sand filters use easily-replaceable sand and gravel in a simple gravity filtration process which provides the daily drinking water requirements for a small family. With the help of many volunteers, WesTech continues to be instrumental in providing filters to rural communities of Haiti.

Operation of the sand filters is simple, inexpensive and effective. Water from their local source is introduced into the top of the cylinder, flows through a diffuser plate, then a biological layer of organisms which develop on the surface naturally. These ingest the bacterial contaminants present in the water. The water then flows down through separate levels of tight sand, separation gravel, and lastly, underdrain gravel. The resulting filtered water is pushed up and dispensed through a top-mounted outlet tube for use in the home and community.

With the onset of the cholera outbreak in Haiti that has claimed thousands of lives, WesTech continues in partnership with charities and companies to help bring more filters to Haiti. Over the past 14 months, WesTech has successfully provided a reliable means of water supply to hundreds of families.

Passion for Problem-Solving

CEO Steve Brewster has also been with WesTech since its inception and explains the passion that he feels for their work, “We want to bless the people across the United States and across the world. Water is such an important need. You can’t live without water. We want to bless the lives of our employees, and one of the best ways we can do that is through the core values we espouse.”

The core values to which he refers support the fact that the company is incorporated as an Employee Shared Ownership Plan, or ESOP. This mentality of ownership and accountability is the basis for every decision made by the board of directors on down to the man pushing a broom and has lent to their continued success over nearly 40 years.

The back of each employee-owner’s name badge is printed with the company core purpose. It reads “To pursue our passion for problem-solving by advancing and applying water technologies to benefit humanity.” This purpose defines the direction of each new project identified by the company.

Rosarito Rising

A recent project in Mexico highlights the real improvements to quality of life realized by infrastructure improvements to water and wastewater systems. Partnering with Laval Tijuana, a construction contractor in Mexico, WesTech works closely with Rigo Laborin to provide long-term wastewater treatment solutions in northwest Mexico. Laborin was born in the area and knows firsthand the importance of clean water.

Laborin endeavored to build with WesTech a wastewater treatment plant near Rosarito, Mexico. Laborin’s first challenge was to convince local officials and residents that a treatment plant would benefit them.

Explains Laborin, “I was born in Tijuana, so I know about water shortages in this particular area of the country. It’s a major problem. The water quality was not even close to think about reusing it. So we searched for technologies to make that dream possible. It’s been an uphill battle. Nobody believed in water reuse. Trying to convince government officials to use the best technologies out there and not cut corners was difficult. …There were a thousand people not wanting the wastewater treatment plant there. Fortunately, we had worked with WesTech before on a wastewater treatment plant that was called Santa Fe Number One. It had a good start and a great result.”

Conchita Cantù, a local resident, along with many community members of Rosarito, Mexico were very upset when they were told that a wastewater treatment plant would be built close to their homes. “I said, when this started, that I didn’t want the plant there,” said Cantù. “Everyone in the community didn’t want the plant there. I thought it was going to be something really smelly and really bad.”

But with an attention to excellence in public works projects and a desire to improve the reputation of wastewater treatment plants and their operations, Laborin was able to help educate the Rosarito community about the importance of clean water in the local and world environments.

“When Rigo explained everything about the water and the treatment of the water, I began to think that it was something really good,” said Cantù. “And then, when the plant started working, everybody realized it was a good thing. I think that’s good because we have water, and we have sewer lines and everything, and our lives are better now. Everybody enjoys the park, and everybody is happy about the plant.”

Since the plant began operations, the quality of life in the Rosarito community has improved dramatically. Its residents now revere the work that Rigo has done and the vital role that the new water treatment plant plays in providing a better life for the Rosarito community.

“By getting running water and sewage lines into those houses, their way of life changed dramatically,” says Laborin. “Next thing we knew, they had a gorgeous park, a community center, paved roads, running water and a sewage system, just because a wastewater treatment plant was built nearby their community. This work is making a big difference in our communities. Wastewater treatment has changed people’s lives. It feels good to do something relevant; you know that you’re actually making a difference. You see cleaner beaches, non-contaminated wells. I know we’re doing the right thing.”

Conchita Cantù now gardens at the community park with children of her community, drives on paved streets and enjoys many other benefits made possible by the reclaimed water now available from the wastewater treatment plant and the new supporting infrastructure.

Beach Closed

Larger and higher profile projects are also on WesTech’s resume. One example is the Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion Project in Los Angeles. The project provided Hyperion 20 mammoth 150 ft-diameter clarifiers, large sedimentation devices for water clarification which incorporate proprietary and highly efficient separations technology. Prior to the plant capacity expansion, releases of sewage into the ocean were recurring events with closure of the beaches as only one environmental consequence. The clarifiers were a large commitment for WesTech, who won the bid and supplied the equipment ahead of the contractors’ deadlines. The new clarifiers increased the treatment capacity at the Hyperion WWTP to 450 million gallons per day (MGD) average with peak flow capabilities of 1000 MGD. The importance and scope of the project led the American Public Works Association to name Hyperion as one of the top 10 public works projects of the 20th century. The plant services the entire population of the City of Los Angeles. Unintended releases of wastewater to the open ocean are no longer a menace to wildlife or to surfers and swimmers.

After the Hurricane

Current projects offer similar advances to communities and to the environment. In Florida, the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority oversees the water treatment needs for some of the most pristine and scenic parts of Florida, aptly named The Emerald Coast.

Hurricane Ivan was a category five storm at its peak that came ashore in Florida with sustained 130 mph winds causing major devastation. The existing water treatment infrastructure was not spared. Power was knocked out, and resulting pump failures at the plant flooded parts of downtown Pensacola with storm water and raw wastewater for several days. The deficiencies of the old plant were made apparent by the storm, and plans were made to upgrade the facility for future storm events and increased capacity needed for population growth. WesTech has provided advanced equipment for solids separation, sludge removal and biological treatment that increases plant capacity to 20 MGD. The new plant is the largest public works project in the history of Escambia County and services the entire population of Pensacola. It was commissioned in spring, 2011.

Self Sustainability

Santa Monica, California is a place of unparalleled beauty which embodies the carefree coastal lifestyle. When Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) was detected in the groundwater supply of Charnock Wells in Santa Monica, immediate action was needed. MTBE is a chemical compound which is a flammable and colorless additive to gasoline. It easily mixes with water with a resulting unpleasant taste and documented health issues including a known carcinogen.

WesTech worked with the city and with local environmental officials and Black and Veatch, a global engineering firm, to implement a solution. Granular Activated Carbon Contactors and Horizontal Pressure Filters were designed specifically for the project and deployed to meet strict project deadlines. The new plant is now in operation and services 90,000 permanent residents and nearly 300,000 daytime visitors. It has restored Santa Monica’s contaminated groundwater supply and renewed their self sustainability by reducing the city’s dependence upon imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River.

Personal Challenge

– Global Growth

Chicago and Atlanta are now home to WesTech offices alongside the headquarters in Salt Lake City. Offices also operate in China, Brazil, and South Africa, and the company recently opened new offices in India. WesTech India commenced business in spring, 2011 with offices located in New Delhi and Chennai, giving them reach into both northern and southern India. An additional office will soon be opened in Mumbai, giving WesTech additional reach into central India.

With capabilities in minerals production, industrial process, energy production, water and wastewater process, WesTech is well diversified. This diversification enables the experience from a broad spectrum of knowledge bases to be brought to bear in any liquid solids separation challenge.

CEO Steve Brewster smiles as he explains, “This company has grown from three to well over three hundred people during my time here. One of our core values is to achieve productivity through hard work. We know that being successful doesn’t just happen. As a company, we studied the notable business book, The Great Game of Business, by Jack Stack, and we believe its premise is true: “It’s pretty easy to stop one person, but it’s hard to stop a hundred.” WesTech is its people!

To learn more about WesTech Engineering, visit http://www.westech-inc.com or call 801-265-1000.

Converting Refineries to Terminals

By: Steve Crower, Greg Haas, and Emily Haggstrom Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Business

Creative Infrastructure Transactions Turn Inoperable Refineries into Growth Centers For Communities

OVERVIEW

Several announced or completed RTT projects are repurposing operating and shuttered refineries in an industry that has been plagued by decades of excess refining capacity. An over supply of transportation fuels in developed economies is lowering refining margins and forcing owners and governmental agencies to consider repurposing refinery sites that are often considered an eyesore.

Although these refining sites may have considerable environmental issues; they benefit from an installed base of infrastructure with multi-modal access, and have permits that can be transferred or re-instated. By using private funds and bringing in well capitalized energy companies as owners, ex-refining sites can be converted into useful sites that generate tax revenues for local governments and provide communities with well-paid, highly skilled jobs from a business model that can generate consistent cash flow.

HISTORY

Currently in the United States there are 326 refinery sites of which 60 percent, or 196, are ex-refineries, they are obsolete, shut down and inoperable. Most of these ex-refineries were shut down as a result of the unintended consequences of generous U.S. government subsidies from the 1950s to the 1970s that led to the construction of hundreds of small, unsustainable refineries. In general, energy feedstocks and refined fuel products are transported to and from an operating refinery using rail, highway, water and/or pipelines. Refineries that had access to all of these forms of transportation were able to compete and are most likely operating today. However, refiners without access to a pipeline or water transportation logistics were forced to refine only feedstock resources that could be transported short distances by costly rail or over-the-road tanking options which left them at a competitive disadvantage.

After crude prices collapsed in 1982, refining margins decreased as well. Low prices for distillates and other refined products drove refiners to consolidate into ever-larger, more-complex, better-capitalized companies with greater economies of scale. Refiners located on deep-water ports were able to import various grades of less expensive crude as they leveraged their tremendous processing volume advantage to produce a wide range of low-cost distillate products. In 1984, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) passed more stringent laws governing waste disposal and emissions. Many of the smaller refineries that were already struggling were unable to afford the equipment required to meet the new federal guidelines. When guidelines were not met, penalties and fines were imposed putting small refiners at an even greater disadvantage.

For the next several decades, volatile and depressed commodity prices limited investments in the U.S. energy infrastructure. Demand for energy was increasingly met using imports from countries with excess natural resources. Now, environmental regulations have restricted the number of available terminal locations to store and distribute hydrocarbons while the U.S. struggles to meet its own resource needs and export its excess resources to the rest of the world. The confluence of these factors and the presence of 196 available ex-refinery sites ready for potential RTT projects provide an opportunity to both energy companies and local governments looking to clean up the properties and produce jobs for the community.

RTT TRANSACTION PROCESS

Enter Dahlman Rose & Co., an investment bank positioned to advise governments and energy companies on transactions for these environmentally contaminated ex-refining sites in an effort to convert them into productive storage and distribution facilities. After performing several refining asset transactions, bankers discovered a trend among buyers of small refineries: even with the most well-intentioned business plan, buyers were unable to restart the small shuttered refinery.

Typically, Dahlman Rose evaluates ex-refining sites and works with the buyer and seller to ensure the valuation makes sense for each party involved. Most sites have a tank farm used to store inventory while the refinery was operational. Therefore, these tanks require little additional capital and can produce consistent cash flow by storing distillates, asphalt or other products used in the energy value chain. Permits once used by the refinery can be applied to the trans-loading coal located in remote locations in the U.S. and can now be distributed to world markets.

THE TERMINALLING INDUSTRY

The U.S. business has few competitors, high barriers to entry and strong profit margins (profit margins can be five times more than refining). companies are compensated to store physical commodities such as coal, oil, natural gas, asphalt and distillate fuels to assist refiners in their operations. Recently, financial institutions have invested in the terminalling business, allowing their traders to use the physical product as collateral for trading.

Even if the majority of ex-refining sites were used for storage, the supply/demand dynamics have pushed storage rates to their current increased value. In fact, terminals on the West Coast command high storage rates because the permits to build new terminalling sites have been significantly restricted.

CASE STUDY – Western Colorado

One recent RTT conversion example lies in western Colorado where there is an abundance of natural gas, uranium, coal and oil shale reserves. However, western Colorado is served by only one rail line, has few pipelines and is 200 miles away from the nearest refinery. Therefore, the region needs to import distillates and products to develop its natural resources and needs a location to store and export its energy resources to world markets.

Through a series of transactions, an ex-refining site located in Fruita, Colorado is currently coordinating several large industrial annexations on its path to becoming an RTT conversion project. The 536-acre ex-refining site used to be the home of an old Gilsonite refinery and was eventually sold in 1973 to Gary-Williams Energy Corporation and other oil refiners processing crude oil until all operations ceased in 1993.Typical of most ex-refineries, the site benefits from rail access along the entire northern side of the property and overland roadway access to interstate 70 and the Colorado River on the southern side.

The first transaction, a $10.1 million deal with a private equity-backed environmental remediation firm, is removing the asbestos and dismantling the refining equipment for scrap steel. The soil is being remediated and the groundwater is being cleaned using private funds augmented with cash flow from long-term contracts to store asphalt in 50-year-old storage tanks that are still on the site from the previous refining operations.

The second transaction resulted in a $6 million deal with a publicly traded oilfield service company that purchased 40 acres of environmentally clean land to import, store, and distribute hydraulic fracturing sand to develop the significant gas fields in Wyoming and western Colorado.

The third transaction was a $4.5 million deal with a publicly-traded coal company that purchased 213 acres of land and will invest additional $15 million to build a two-mile rail spur to export the vast Colorado coal reserves. This transaction became necessary after Colorado passed legislation that forced the conversion of coal power plants to natural gas, forcing coal companies to find a way to move the product to more receptive markets.

Finally, a large road construction company owns 100 acres of land that will serve as a gravel mine with an expected resource life of 15 years. As traffic in the area increases, road construction will require the import of asphalt and gravel located on the site.

ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF THE CONVERTED SITE

In 2001, when the City of Fruita realized the implications of the run-down site and the potential the rail-line served, it forged partnerships to ensure the parcel was remediated using private equity with no expense to taxpayers and releasing the city from the environmental liability and tax repercussions that the site posed. The city also saw the monetary and fiscal benefits that could spur growth within the small town from businesses that could be served by improving the entire site. As a result, the city laid out a development plan entitled Greenway Business Park, a document that outlined the city’s intentions to, “capitalize on the assets of the three major areas in the Fruita/Mesa County Greenway Business Park,” a large parcel of land that would cover an area marked by remnants of the ex-refinery site. Through its forged partnerships, the city was able to obtain a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to fund the clean-up, redevelopment and restoration of the larger 1,336-acre industrial park and the 39 acres of the ex-refinery terminal conversion. The project is in line with the city’s 2011 Economic Development plan, which strives to protect and enhance existing assets while creating the infrastructure for new growth.

After the site met Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) compliance orders with the Environmental Protection Agency, the city of Fruita was able to secure a strong viable company to acquire a portion of the ex-refinery site. Once the land remediation is completed, and pending annexation, the city of Fruita is poised to generate significant economic impacts from taxes, infrastructure and business development.

Additionally, the site permits allow supplementary storage terminals and distribution infrastructure to be built that will provide the local community with jobs. Once the RTT process is complete, the site will allow refined products to be imported via truck and rail, and its energy resources to be exported to world markets. Once the infrastructure is in place, the city will boast increased tax revenue from businesses establishing or relocating to the area; increased energy and property tax revenues for the city, the county and the school district; and is set to include a new wastewater and sewage treatment plant that has long been needed in the area.

Without the impending conversion of the ex-refinery into a terminalling facility, the city of Fruita would have never been able to realize the benefits to help improve the quality of life for local residents. It was important to the city to grow and build energy related businesses. And with the terminal conversion, it brought hope for attracting new businesses and individuals into the area. Through the coordination of several large industrial annexations due to be completed by the end of the year, the city of Fruita may once again see a spur in investment, property ownership and increased business relationships through financial incentives and tax credits from the larger industrial site—Greenway Business Park.

Portions of this article originally appeared in Fuel Magazine, a publication of Hart Energy LLP.

Steve Crower is vice president of energy investment banking at Dahlman Rose & Co. in New York, NY. Mr. Crower graduated with a B.S. Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. in Finance from Rice University. He can be reached at [email protected].

Greg Haas covers the energy industry for Houston-based Hart Energy LLP from the dual perspective of a former Wall Street energy equity analyst and a former engineer with Exxon. Mr. Haas graduated with an M.S. and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign and an M.B.A. in Finance from Rice University. He can be reached at [email protected].

Pipeline Infrastructure

By: Matt Edgar Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Business

Campos EPC - Engineering America’s Fuel Transportation

It’s seemingly inconsequential, but everyday some Americans take for granted that they can turn on their thermostat, warm water, chill food, and fill up on gas. The natural resources that society finds as necessities to daily life are readily available. Often, the end user of oil and natural gas puts little thought into the complex processes involved in converting natural resources into a useable product. All the while, energy producers and transportation companies are at work, exploring and recovering the fuel sources to help society, while simultaneously helping to power the nation’s economic engine.

After oil and gas are discovered and extracted, they must be transported to a refinery. Generally, the most efficient and economical means of transporting large amounts of oil and gas is through buried carbon steel pipelines. The pipeline infrastructure across the nation is an overwhelming network composed of massive multi-diameter pipelines that bring oil and gas from the well sites to the refining facilities, across rural areas and state lines, which will ultimately serve the end consumer.

One group serving the needs of the midstream sector is Campos EPC, LLC. The Denver-based firm, according to its web site, “has the capabilities to perform turnkey pipeline projects with specialized expertise in the areas of hazardous liquid and natural gas pipelines.” Its core business, however, is “helping natural and liquid gas transmission pipeline companies to develop and implement their Pipeline Integrity Management Program,” says Jim Pyeatte, one of the firm’s principals. Six years ago, the company was founded by Marco Campos, a University of Colorado, Boulder engineering graduate, whose corporate website biography highlights his in-depth knowledge of pipeline operations, maintenance and construction, with an emphasis on Pipeline Integrity Management. In the firm’s early stages, Campos brought in other industry veterans, such as Jim Pyeatte, to “help the company grow strategically, utilizing my knowledge and network that I acquired over my career at Texaco Pipeline Inc.,” Pyeatte relayed.

Pipeline infrastructure requires intensive, on-going assessment and management regulated by the Department of Transportation that has developed codes to ensure that pipelines are constructed, maintained and operated in a safe manner; with minimal impact to the environment. Over the past 15 years, hazardous liquid and gas transmission pipeline companies have been forced to develop formalized Pipeline Integrity Management Programs in accordance with federal and state regulations.

Pyeatte explains that integrity management is a “formalized and documented process that assesses specific threats, inspects the pipeline using destructive and non-destructive techniques while developing and executing repair strategies to safely operate the pipeline until the next scheduled inspection, which typically occurs every five to seven years in high consequence areas depending on the product type.

Currently, the hazardous liquid industry has completed baseline assessments of all their pipelines in high consequence areas, whereas the natural gas pipeline industry has until December, 2012. Campos EPC supports clients nationwide, but locally the company has been focusing on clients such as Xcel Energy and MarkWest Hydrocarbon to support compliance with the December, 2012 deadline.

The first step of assessment is a thorough review of the documents for a particular pipeline, looking particularly at year built, pipe characteristics, appurtenances, valve types, historical modifications made to the pipeline, previous inspection results, leak history, etc.

Inspection tools like an Internal Line Inspection Tool (ILI), is used to run through the pipe using magnetic flux leakage principles to locate anomalies such as internal and external corrosion, mill anomalies and dents. The ILI tool collects data sent to a data analyst who interprets it much like a cardiologist reads a cardiogram. In conjunction with a GPS, anomalies are identified, and problems within the pipeline can be easily located, in some cases within a few feet, and repairs can then be made.

Pressure testing is another assessment method used. In this long-used technique, water is pumped into the line and is pressurized between 125-150 percent of the maximum allowed operating pressure. The line must hold pressure to assure that there aren’t any critical anomalies in the line while also testing the strength of the pipeline. A rupture or leak during these tests indicates areas of weakness. However, a limitation of this method is that it doesn’t identity areas of active erosion unless a rupture or leak occurs and the corrosion can be identified visually.

“Increased regulation and scrutiny of the industry have been a positive for not only the consumer and the environment, but also for the company,” states Campos. The firm has since doubled its revenue in the last three years, adding staff in areas like engineering, project management, procurement, and inspection. With increased staffing and the continued need for pipelines to transport our nation’s energy, Campos EPC subs-out $7 million per year in field services work. By continuously updating its process and safety manuals, as well as its business model to better serve its clients, end-users of oil and gas can be assured that it is life as usual by not having to think about the colossal infrastructure running beneath their feet.

To learn more about Campos EPC, visit http://www.camposepc.com or call 303.623.3345.

Building for the Future

By: Emily Haggstrom Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Business

Komatsu Equipment Company

Equipment manufacturers and dealers hinge their businesses on growth and development across America. As work and jobs decline, so does the need for these suppliers; but as one Utah-based Komatsu-owned distributorship knows, if you build it, they will come. This distributorship proves that their key pieces in the heavy equipment industry are vital to continued development throughout Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, the tri-state territory they serve.

The precipice of business for Komatsu Equipment Company has always been rooted in customer service, by supporting and supplying mining and construction equipment in their region. The Company offers its customers a range of equipment from 1 ton compact hydraulic excavators to 360 ton haul trucks.

Komatsu America, the second-largest fully-integrated manufacturer and supplier of construction equipment in North America realized the growth within Komatsu Equipment Company’s tri-state territory and expanded the current Salt Lake City facility to meet the growing demands of their customers. “We think this facility is truly state-of-the-art and will definitely help us better serve our customers, not just in Salt Lake City and the state of Utah, but throughout our three-state territory,” said Komatsu Equipment Company President John Pfisterer at the dedication of the company’s new facility last fall.

In just under one year, Komatsu Equipment Company expanded from their original 75,000-sq./ft. operations into a brand new state-of-the-art 102,000 sq./ft. green-enhanced facility. Because of its size, the new facility serves as the Western region-training center for Komatsu America providing up-to-date education on engine technology, EPA regulations, new models and machine monitoring technology to customers and employees.

The new facility also features a 12-bay service shop equipped with a dedicated paint bay; a rebuild center with 30 ton cranes for specialized mining equipment; a 360 ton track press for even the largest dozers and excavators; and a parts and warehouse department that can store more than 100,000 parts and components. The increased storage, quicker repair turnover and emergency call-out service allow Komatsu Equipment Company to better serve customers like Flatiron Construction, Wadsworth Brothers Construction, Western States Contracting and Kennecott Utah Copper to achieve improved productivity in the work they do.

Alstom

By: Maria E. Luna Issue: Rebuilding Our Infrastructure Section: Business

Chat•ta•noo•ga

Chattanooga Alstom is a gleaming example of how smart investments in the right infrastructure are a foundation in manufacturing which will change the ability in the United States to compete in global markets. The facility provides energy components to power plants, which in turn, fuels infrastructure. This niche as important, as it is also said by President and CEO of Alstom in the U.S. and Canada, Pierre Gauthier, to be “a perfect example of how the right infrastructure investments attract businesses that cascade benefits throughout the local and national economies.” Infrastructure investments need modernization through collaborations between people, technology, and control/support systems.

Alstom developed the Chattanooga facility to be the center for excellence for power generation technologies in North America. The world’s largest turbines are engineered and manufactured in Chattanooga, Tennessee by Alstom. Alstom invested $300 million in the facility. Being the biggest is in this facility’s culture since it is also the largest rotor over speed balancing facility in the world. Turbines are used in power generation for fossil steam, nuclear and gas power plants. Not only is there manufacturing and rotor balancing, but the facility is state-of-the-art and is committed to using clean energy, and as such, has LEED Gold certification . The facility also retrofits projects so the range of services for customers is extensive. Alstom is not only in Chattanooga, but it is in 26 different locations employing 8,500 people in North America. Specifically, this facility alone created 350 new jobs.

The balancing facility assures that rotors experience no vibration during normal operation. Alstom Chattanooga is capable of balancing rotors that weigh up to 350 metric tons, are 22 meters long, have a diameter up to eight meters and have a maximum speed of 4,500 rpm. For visualization, the average car could fit into a balancing chamber. The size is of importance to the nuclear energy industry as it can retrofit existing parts to make them more efficient and build equipment for the next generation of power plants. Services for major power plant components are rotor and casing for steam turbine assembly, rotor and final assembly for gas turbines, production of turbo-generators, and production of moisture separator re-heaters and other heat exchangers.

Chattanooga is in the heart of the industry. The location is of significance due to the comprehensive roads, rails giving access to heavy freight, and waterways available to the city of Chattanooga. Therefore the strategic location means rapid fulfillment and simplified transportation logistics for customers. Alstom Chattanooga’s barge dock on the banks of the Tennessee River is equipped with a 1,000 ton lifting crane, which is a well thought out endeavor since 80 percent of North America’s power plants, existing and planned, are accessible from the Tennessee River.

LEED is a rating system that guides construction in producing high performance buildings that are not only better for the environment but for the people who work there, and in comparison to other buildings are more profitable. LEED Gold certification requires high standards in six categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation in design, and lastly, regional priority. The scale is based on 100 points. LEED Gold ranges 60-79 points. This is a benchmark of excellence for a manufacturing facility. The Chattanooga facility specifically has done the following to reach Gold certification:

Recycling

• More than 3,400 tons of steel (226 truckloads) were recycled during construction of the plant. • Concrete debris from the construction was used for road construction • One pre-engineered building was given to a local high school for use as a sports training facility, and another is being use by an alternative energy company. • Air conditioning units have been donated to the city of Chattanooga. • Glass doors and storm doors, windows and light fixtures have been given to Habitat for Humanity for use in local housing projects.

Sustainable design

• Efficiency upgrades lowered energy consumption by 35 percent. • Skylights provide lighting to 75 percent of the occupied space. • Heat generated from manufacturing will supplement the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. • Captured rainwater will irrigate the terrain. • Fifty percent of the property, excluding the building, was landscaped to minimize storm water run-off. • The site promotes low-emission transportation with bicycle racks, preferential parking for low emission vehicles and public transportation access.

Through collaboration between Deborah Wince-Smith, president and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness, and Alstom, discussions have started to identify specific recommendations for infrastructure investment policies. These recommendations will be available through the National Manufacturing Strategy and presented during the National Manufacturing Summit in Washington, D.C. on December 7-8, 2011.