Yearly Archives: 2017

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, yesterday chaired a hearing of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to consider six of President Trump’s nominees for key positions at the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of the Interior (DOI).

California, Rhode Island Add Most Jobs for the Year; Missouri and District of Columbia Have Largest Drops; California, New Jersey Top Monthly List; Georgia and Wisconsin Have Biggest Decreases for the Month

The National Institute of Building Sciences Building Enclosure Technology and Environment Council (BETEC) and the Building Enclosure Council – Philadelphia invite you to submit abstracts for papers by August 1, for presentation at the fifth BEST Conference Building Enclosure Science and Technology™ (BEST5), to be held April 16 – 18, 2018, at the historic Loews Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Colorado Senator Cory Gardner announced today that the National Park Service is teaming up with partners across the nation to distribute nearly $50 million in high priority maintenance and infrastructure projects at 42 parks in 29 states. Congress provided $20 million for the projects as part of the Centennial Challenge program which will be matched by $33 million from more than 50 park partners to improve trails, restore buildings, and increase visitor access to parks.

The Alliance to Save Energy released the following statement from President Kateri Callahan regarding the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations bill report released Friday:

The Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society (collectively the “Environmental Groups”), the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and Panoche Valley Solar LLC (a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Development, Inc.), have entered into a settlement agreement concerning the size and location of a solar project currently under development in California’s Panoche Valley.

For years, dozens of historic rowhouses in an East Baltimore neighborhood sat vacant, boarded up and crumbling from neglect while nearby families were in need of affordable housing. Then, a $9.3 million redevelopment project rehabilitated 32 vacant rowhouses into beautiful affordable housing homes complete with a coffee shop and a workforce development center inside two mixed-use buildings.

Existing-home sales slipped in June as low supply kept homes selling at a near record pace but ultimately ended up muting overall activity, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Only the Midwest saw an increase in sales last month.

The National Association of Realtors® today said that significant improvements to the “21st Century Flood Reform Act,” key legislation aimed atstrengthening and reauthorizing(link is external) the National Flood Insurance Program, have cleared the way for endorsement of the bill. Among the changes, Realtors® support the House Financial Services Committee’s commitment to retaining “grandfathering” – a policy that protects homeowners from significant rate increases when a flood map changes.

The 2017 Stars of Energy Efficiency awards, honoring the top energy efficiency innovators, will be presented to American Water, the Chevrolet Bolt EV, Itron, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Schneider Electric and 7-Eleven, the Alliance to Save Energy (Alliance) announced today. The awards will be conferred before nearly 400 leaders from industry, government and the non-profit sectors at the 25th annual Evening with the Stars of Energy Efficiency Awards Dinner on September 14 in Washington, D.C.

Thousands of advocates, organizations, and elected officials in more than 30 cities across the country will join the Our Homes, Our Voices National Housing Week of Action, July 22 to 29, led by the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF), to call for increased federal investments in affordable housing and community development.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 recently honored four Pacific Northwest communities for excellence in providing safe drinking water to the public by using the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program. The communities of Stevens County (Mission Ridge), WA, and Ashland, Baker City and Garibaldi, OR received this recognition after being nominated by their respective states.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) today reached an agreement with leaders of the House Financial Services Committee to craft a viable, long-term flood insurance reauthorization bill that will keep the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) fiscally sound and enable home builders to provide safe and affordable housing to consumers.

“Stop Blogging! How To Build A Hyperlocal Content Machine” is the compelling title of the session that MB Confidential licensed real estate broker Dave Fratello will co-present at Inman Connect at the San Francisco Hilton, August 7-11, the nation’s largest real estate technology conference.

“What Consumers Really Want Will Shock You – Hint: It’s about them, not you!” is the provocative title of the session that Seattle real estate marketing expert Noelle Bortfeld, Chief Marketing Officer at Windermere Real Estate, will headline at Inman Connect at the San Francisco Hilton, August 7-11, the nation’s largest real estate technology conference.

The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Remodeling Market Index (RMI) posted a reading of 55 in the second quarter of 2017, down three points from the first quarter of 2017. For 17 consecutive quarters, the RMI has been at or above 50, which indicates that more remodelers report market activity is higher (compared to the prior quarter) than report it is lower. The overall RMI averages ratings of current remodeling activity with indicators of future remodeling activity.

To assist low-income households in the U.S. with rising water and wastewater rates, seven leading water associations issued a guide that assesses the feasibility of rate-funded customer assistance programs (CAPs) in each state.

WSSC commissioners today approved two construction contracts totaling $7 million to improve drinking water infrastructure in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. These contracts underscore WSSC’s clean water mission by replacing aging water mains in the Beltsville area of Prince George’s County and installing a new elevated water storage tank in the Clarksburg area of Montgomery County.

The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) takes its multifamily financing process completely online with the launch of the new Multi-Family Lending Application. “We developed this application to make it easier for developers to do business with the Agency to increase the production of affordable housing in the District of Columbia,” stated Todd A. Lee, Executive Director of DCHFA, “This is the first in a series of innovations in affordable housing finance that the Agency will deliver over the next 12 months.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry today announced $40 million in Department of Energy awards for the establishment of four DOE Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs), which will provide the scientific breakthroughs for a new generation of sustainable, cost-effective bioproducts and bioenergy.