Arizona Building Trades Council News Update

October 12, 2012
The Hill

The Obama administration finalized a program Friday to fast-track solar energy projects on public lands in six Western states.

The Interior Department set aside about 285,000 acres for commercial-scale solar in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. The federal government will offer incentives for development, help facilitate access to existing or planned electric infrastructure and ease the permitting process in the 17 zones.

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Feds to propose third Arizona 'solar zone' for renewable-power projects BLM Logo

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON - The Bureau of Land Management is set to identify a third parcel of land in Arizona on Friday as a potential site for development of utility-scale solar-power projects.

If approved, the 2,550-acre Agua Caliente site in Yuma County, north of Interstate 8 near Dateland, would join two other Arizona zones, in Brenda and Gillespie.

They were among 17 sites in six states named "solar energy zones" by the Interior Department, which hopes the designation will speed development of renewable-energy projects.

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CSP Technology to Improve Solar Power Generation Concentrated solar cells

October 1, 2012
AZoCleantech

Presented with funds from the U.S. Department of Energy, the University of Arizona College of Engineering researchers will lead a 5-year research project worth $5.5 M, for developing efficient and cost-effective concentrated solar power systems.

The tanks that hold the molten salts at Abengoa's Solana Plant are enormous. The salts can keep the solar-heated fluids very hot for several hours, so they can be transferred to turbines to produce electricity even when the sun isn't shining.

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Banner breaks ground on 4 health-care clinics in East Valley

October 25, 2012
East Valley Tribune

Banner Health Group officially broke ground on four 21,000-square-feet East Valley health centers in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Queen Creek Thursday.

"We want to offer care for the whole family in one center," said Becky Kuhn, president for Banner Arizona East Region.

The centers will have primary care doctors, as well as onsite imaging and laboratory services. Extended morning and evening hours, as well as Saturday mornings, will give families extra options, Kuhn said.

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Arizona City Approves Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion Plan
October 24, 2012
Bloomberg.org

Arizona city officials in Prescott approved a wastewater plant expansion plan that will cost at least $35.3 million, with construction to begin this month and continue for two years.

The sewage plant improvements near Prescott's airport will boost the plant's capacity from its current 1.2 million gallons a day to 3.75 million gallons daily when completed in 2014,. City officials said costs for the upgrades and repairs when done may be higher if including engineering design work, land acquisition and easements.

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Cognizant of Cloud Potential, a $25M Investment in Data Centers

October 26, 2012
Data Center Knowledge

Cognizant is investing an initial $25 million to open additional data centers in North America and Europe in support of its cloud offerings. The company is planning to build data centers in Arizona and Virginia in North America, as well as Slough, UK, and Amsterdam over in Europe.

The new facilities will house and power ithe company's cloud platform and services, giving it a bigger and more geographically diverse footprint in which to serve its clientele. Cognizant is a provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services.

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Future mining projects promise jobs
By Chase Kamp

Copper Area News

Arizonans are well-aware of the state's deeply entrenched "five C's" of industry, and since the 1800s, the big one for eastern Pinal County has been copper. Mining booms forged the foundations for many cities in the region, which has come to be known as the Copper Corridor.

Certainly, the area has also faced its share of mining busts throughout its weathered history. However, mining remains the area's cornerstone industry and numerous mining projects are on the horizon, promising to be economic engines and providers of much-needed jobs in the wake of economic uncertainty.

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Mine backers blast Barber on call for new impact study
October 26, 2012
Arizona Daily Star

U.S. Rep. Ron Barber's recent call for a new environmental impact statement on the proposed Rosemont Copper mine has angered the mine's backers.

The Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce held a news conference Thursday afternoon to slam Barber for unnecessarily trying to delay the ongoing review of permits for the mine. The mine is proposed for an area southeast of Tucson in the Santa Rita Mountains outside Sonoita.

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Arizona shedding construction jobs while most states gain
October 22, 2012
Phoenix Business Journal

Although Arizona's recession-battered construction industry has come a long way in the past year, the local workforce is still struggling to retain skilled workers, according to a recent report by the Associated General Contractors of America.

Arizona saw the fifth largest month-over-month drop in construction employment in September with the loss of 2,000 jobs, or a decline of 1.7 percent, the report said. Almost two-thirds of the nation, on the other hand, experienced job gains during the same time frame, the report said. That report is based off of the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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