The standards, which were hurriedly developed following the passage last November of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, are intended to "help strengthen American leadership in clean manufacturing, catalyze clean energy innovation and combat climate change," the federal agency said in a March 30 announcement.

The GSA approached the asphalt industry in February seeking industry input into developing the standards, but provided a short time frame to respond on such a complex topic. A GSA survey contained vaguely-worded questions and industry representatives expressed frustration that many current initiatives continue to evolve and could change over time, including the use of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). Nevertheless, the National Asphalt Pavement Association, a CalAPA partner, and state asphalt pavement associations did their best to provide information to the federal agency.

"GSA is excited to deploy these groundbreaking standards as part of this administration's all-hands-on-deck effort to catalyze clean energy innovation and strengthen American leadership on clean manufacturing," GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan said in the March 30 announcement. "The feedback we received from industry is proof-positive that combating climate change is also an opportunity to boost American innovation. We were impressed with the industry's overall 'can-do' response to our requests for information, and by the fact that over 44% of the manufacturers that responded were small businesses." The link to the full GSA announcement is HERE.

With regard to asphalt, the GSA said "input directly from the asphalt industry helped shape a menu of widely-available practices to improve this material's environmental footprint." The GSA acknowledged that the standards are expected to evolve "as GSA and its partners build implementation experience."

The GSA document, "Environmentally Preferable Asphalt Standards for all GSA Projects," can be downloaded HERE. The document states that contractors shall provide a product-specific Type III EPD for each asphalt mix specified in the design and used in the project utilizing version 2 of NAPA's EPD Product Category Rule (PCR) for asphalt mixes. The standard further calls for the primate contractor to provide "environmentally preferable asphalt," which is defined as material using at least two techniques drawn from a list that includes the use of five designs, additives or techniques well known to the industry, such as Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA). The document leaves room for the contractor to list and get credit for "other environmentally preferable features or techniques."

The GSA announcement comes on the heels of the unveiling earlier this year of "The Road Forward," a bold asphalt industry initiative to move toward a carbon-neutral future. Many of the elements in the GSA standard are mentioned in the initiative. A previous Asphalt Insider article on that initiative is HERE. For more detailed information on EPDs, CalAPA members should consult a "Member Alert" that was sent March 8. CalAPA has extensively covered EPDs and other related issues in the annual environmental issue of "California Asphalt," the official magazine of the association (once such issue is pictured above). An archive of past issues is publicly available on the CalAPA website HERE.

The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has released the latest draft language for a proposed statewide construction storm-water General Permit in advance of public hearings set for later this month. Information on this topic is posted on the SWRCB website HERE.

A coalition of various industry stakeholders, which includes CalAPA, has been engaging water-quality regulators on this topic in earnest since 2021 and, while some of industry's concerns have been addressed in the latest version of the proposed permit, some of the most problematic language remains, including references to Numeric Effluent Limits (NELs) that the construction industry has criticized as unrealistic, creating unknown but likely prohibitively expensive costs and complexity that will be impossible to enforce. An initial assessment of the cost to comply with these regulations was pegged at at least 50% above current levels. A coalition letter sent last year, joined by CalAPA, called the draft permit "burdensome" and "unworkable." Federal and state water-quality regulations have been the subject of numerous legal challenges over the years.

The general permit regulates storm-water runoff from construction sites, and the current permit, in effect since 2009, already contains strict requirements for monitoring, testing and established best-practices for storm-water runoff control. The new permit language is twice as long as the previous version. Although the permit is intended as a statewide document, the NEL language, in particular, will create havoc in certain areas of Southern California, coalition members say.

The SWRCB will hold a "virtual" public hearing on the draft permit on Tuesday, April 12 from 9 a.m. to noon, and industry representatives are encouraged to participate and let their views be known. A link to the official public hearing notice is HERE. The detailed permit language can be found HERE. CalAPA members should consult special "Member Alert" briefing papers on this topic to assist them in understanding what this proposed permit could mean for their operations.

A previous Asphalt Insider article on this topic is HERE. This issue was ranked as one of the Top 10 stories of 2021 by Asphalt Insider editors, and also made the list of Top 10 issues expected to have a major impact on the industry in 2022.

Oakland-based CPM Logistics may be best known by readers of this publication for their work with Caltrans District 4 on a highly-regarded mentor-protege program for construction, which was an outgrowth of meetings between agency and construction industry representatives in the mid-2000s and was initially piloted by Caltrans and Associated General Contractors of California. The program continues to connect establishing and emerging businesses today and is being considered for expansion to other parts of the state. Former Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin, recently promoted to Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, spoke favorably of the mentor-protege approach during an exclusive interview for CalAPA's magazine, California Asphalt, which can be viewed on-line HERE.

The upcoming assemblage of public works entities is being put on by United Contractors and being billed as a "Contractor Public Works Agency Summit." It will take place May 11 in Long Beach. Information about the event is HERE.

It is just one of many facilitation and coordination efforts spearheaded by the company, which has expertise in program, project and construction management, with specific emphasis working with small, local and disadvantaged communities. For more information about CPM Logistics, contact them at (510), 255-1523, or visit their website HERE.

CalAPA's website, which is a starting point for many people seeing information about asphalt pavements, ranks at the top of search-engine listings, as does CalAPA's in-depth coverage of the industry in the association's highly regarded magazine, "California Asphalt," which is now in its 25th year of publication. An archive of past issues of the magazine can be found HERE. CalAPA articles and fact sheets always include references to original source material for those who want to verify the quality of the information being published by the association.

As much as the association prides itself in combing through massive amounts of information and distilling it to the most essential and useful elements, presented in an easy-to-digest format, occasionally some extra assistance is required. Last week the association received a call from a college student doing a research paper on asphalt plants, and he came upon a special page of resources on the CalAPA website where updated fact sheets and other information about asphalt plants is easily accessible. That page is HERE.

To be clear, we're not offering term paper assistance to every college student in California, but with so much misinformation floating around these days we appreciated that this particular student made the extra effort to seek out clear, concise, credible, fact-checked information about our industry. It's not that hard. We wish others, including some elected officials, mainstream media outlets and activists, would do the same. One place to start is our publications page HERE.

WARM MIX ASPHALT: Asphalt produced at lower temperatures through the use of mechanical devices (water-injection) or additives. Asphalt produced in this manner can reduce fuel consumption, emissions and can aid in compaction on the job. With WMA, temperatures generally start 30°-70°F lower during mixing and remain lower during trucking, placement, and compaction. The mixture cools after compaction to form the asphalt pavement.

Each week we highlight a key point or best practice of interest to asphalt paving crews, inspectors and others working in the field. We welcome suggestions. More tips can be found in our "Asphalt Parking Lot Construction Checklist" HERE. Information on the CalAPA "Quality Paving Certificate" program is HERE.

PRE-CONSTRUCTION REVIEW: Every paving project should start with a detailed review of the project's contract, plans, and specifications. Any questions arising from this review should be promptly directed to the design firm's engineers.

Each week we highlight a term that is specific to climate-change issues related to the asphalt pavement industry. This feature is intended to raise awareness of the asphalt industry's climate-change initiatives and the specialized terminology that goes with them. More information on the "Road Forward" asphalt industry climate initiative can be found HERE.

ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS: Details of a product's environmental performance during its lifecycle.

“Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics."

-- Omar Bradley

We hope you enjoy CalAPA's Asphalt Insider newsletter. We are committed to providing you with the most up-to-date information on technical issues, regulation, news, analysis, events and trends in California that is of interest to the asphalt pavement industry and our various agency partners. Click HERE to contact us with any comments or suggestions.

Sincerely,

Executive Director

California Asphalt Pavement Association (CalAPA)®