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Arizona Building Trades Members
(Click members to visit their websites)
Arizona Cement Masons, Local 394
Arizona Pipe Trades, Local 469
Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, Local 3
Iron Workers, Local 75
Insulators & Asbestos Workers, Local 73
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Local 627
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 518
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 570
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 640
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 104
International Union of Elevator Constructors, Local 140
International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 428
International Union of Painters, Local 86
Laborers International Union of North American, Local 383
Road Sprinkler Fitters, Local Union 669
Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Local 359
United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, Local 135
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Dear Affiliates:
As you know, the Arizona Building and Construction Trades Council (BTC) has been working hard to change public policy to support local labor in these hard times. In early 2010, language was used in the permit of a multi-billion dollar solar plant requiring the applicant to negotiate in "good faith" with the BTC for a model construction labor agreement - ensuring the training and use of local labor.
Despite many considering this bi-partisan change in policy a step forward in promoting Arizona's economy and job market, anti-local labor advocate David Martin of the Arizona General Contractors (AGC) reacted differently. He has used the policy change to rally anti-union sentiment at the state legislature using false pretense to promote his anti-Arizona agenda. This is seen clearly when David Martin's unfounded rhetoric is laid side-by-side with the BTC's language. Whereas, Martin claims a union take over the BTC's language clearly promotes union and non-union workers with a voluntary agreement. It is obvious Martin's crusade is to make sure large out-of-state and foreign general contractors are able to import labor from outside Arizona - increasing their bottom line while neglecting Arizona.
Recently, three bills supported by the AGC have been dropped at the state legislature (HB 2007, HB 2538 and SB 1404). All three of these bills try to strip the power of the Arizona Corporation Commission to promote the use of local workers and protect the Arizona construction industry from cheap out-of-state workers.
The BTC will continue to work with its allies on both sides of the aisle to stop such bills from deepening the pain felt by Arizona workers who depend on construction to provide for their families. We will keep you up-to-date on the progress of this debate and the BTC's attempts to continue to protect Arizona's working families.
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DOE Awards $967M Loan Guarantee for Arizona Solar PV Project
January 20, 2011
By Katie Fehrenbacher
Gigaom.com
The Department of Energy is handing out more loan guarantees for solar projects. Thursday morning, the DOE said it had offered a $967 million loan guarantee for the Agua Caliente Solar project, a 290-MW, photovoltaic facility that will be built in Yuma County, Ariz., and which NRG Energy said it planned to buy from First Solar last month. |
 Mardian Ranch photovoltaic plant OK'd
January 21, 2011
By Suzanne Adams
Miner Staff Reporter
KINGMAN - The Board of Supervisors approved one solar project and sent another back to the County Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday. The Board approved a minor amendment to the Mohave County General Plan, to the Mardian Ranch area plan and a rezoning request for a 90-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant on 565 acres west of Pierce Ferry Road and four miles north of 23rd Street. The property was once slated for a golf course for the Mardian Ranch master-planned community.
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Federal Board Moves to Block Arizona's
Anti-Worker Proposition 113
January 17, 2011
Yellow Sheets
Arizona AFL-CIO Heralds Actions to Protect Rights of Workers.
Phoenix, AZ - Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced decisive action to block the implementation of anti-worker initiatives that recently passed in Arizona and three other states. In a letter delivered today to Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, the NLRB's Acting General Counsel warned that he had been authorized by the Board to file a lawsuit to enjoin the state's law from taking effect.
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DOE Funds Gigantic Solar Plant
January 2011
Buildings.com
The DOE has announced the finalization of plans for a $1.45 billion loan towards an Abengoa Solar Inc. solar plant project near Gila Bend, AZ.
The 250-megawatt renewable energy project is believed to be the world's largest parabolic trough concentrating solar plant, and the first large-scaled U.S. effort at a plant capable of storing the energy it generates.
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 Solar-power buildup going large-scale across Arizona
January 9, 2011
David Wichner
Arizona Daily Star
Solar-power arrays have sprouted up on rooftops and parking garages across Tucson and Arizona.
The next big wave of solar development will be across expanses of desert, as Tucson Electric Power Co. and other Arizona utilities bring online hundreds of megawatts worth of large, utility-scale solar-power plants.
Last year, state regulators approved some 150 megawatts of renewable-energy projects to be owned by TEP or developed under power-purchase contracts with the utility, including more than 130 megawatts of new solar plants by 2013. Six of those projects are expected to go online by the end of this year.
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 County's solar power future uncertain
January 11, 2011
Suzanne Adams
Kingman Daily Miner Miner
Applications keep rolling in, but actual construction of power plants hasn't started
KINGMAN - The future of solar power projects in Mohave County continues to be cloudy in 2011. The county has approved at least six commercial-grade solar plants but none of them have broken ground yet. One has received approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission and the others have yet to apply. |
Economy gets boost from solar  projects
January 9, 2011
By David Wichner
Arizona Daily Star
The boom in Big Solar is not only good for the environment, it's shining on the local economy.
Solon Corp., a German-based photovoltaic-panel maker that opened its U.S. headquarters in Tucson in 2007, has expanded as it has ramped up systems aimed squarely at the utility and large commercial markets.
Solon recently installed its modular Velocity photovoltaic system, rolled out in 2009, in a 1.6-megawatt photovoltaic array at the Solar Zone, part of the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park.
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EnviroMission nears $30M in funding
by Patrick O'Grady
Phoenix Business Journal
January 12, 2011
EnviroMission Ltd., an Australian company planning to build solar towers in western Arizona, has received close to $30 million in funding.
The money comes from AGS Capital Group based in New York, and company officials said they plan to use the funds to help move forward their solar tower development in the U.S.
The hybrid debt/equity agreement allows EnviroMission to get money as needed, officials said.
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Concentrated solar in Arizona faces tough headwinds
January 13, 2011
by Patrick O'Grady
Phoenix Business Journal
Concentrated solar power plants have been falling like dominos lately, unable to secure financing or running into a myriad of troubles.
A GTM Research paper released this morning shows some continued growth for the industry, but that's only until a slate of projects, such as Abengoa Solar's Solana Generating Station in Gila Bend, are completed somewhere around 2013.
Concentrated solar power (CSP) features one of several technologies, from using mirrored troughs to mirrors focused on towers, will grow from $3 billion in 2011 to $10 billion in 2013. This year there will be 472 megawatts of CSP power installed, and in 2012 there will be 1,200 megawatts installed.
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GWS Technologies, Inc. to Develop Colorado Plateau Wind Energy Project
January 13, 2011
PR.com
Scottsdale, AZ, January 13, 2011 --(PR.com)-- GWS Technologies, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: GWSC) announced today that it is evaluating sites for a proposed 1500 acre commercial wind farm under development northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona. Arizona utilities are required to generate 15 percent of their power from renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels by 2025 to meet state requirements.
In addition to the wind energy potential on the Colorado Plateau, the Company believes that proximity to new transmission lines being built in the area offers tremendous opportunities for the development of utility-scale wind power in Northern Arizona.
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Records in Maricopa health district falsified
January 9, 2011
Gary Grado
Arizona Capitol Times
A former employee of the health care district in Maricopa County falsified more than a dozen public documents during the past three years by counterfeiting the signature of a notary public, compromising at least $8 million in government construction contracts, an investigation by the Arizona Capitol Times newspaper found.
The Maricopa Integrated Health Care System, the government agency that awarded the contracts, tried to hide the employee's actions for months after top officials discovered that the fake documents had tainted the bidding process for contracts that ranged from the construction of a pediatric emergency department at the Maricopa County Medical Center to the installation of new fire alarms.
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