By Therese Dunphy, Editor-in-Chief

Arizona

Vulcan Materials Co.’s Western Division reports that it was awarded the 2009 Blue Sky Award for Innovative Research given by the Maricopa County Air Quality Department. The company received the honor for its leadership and research involved in the development of a sustainable alternative to traditional hot-mix asphalt that lowers greenhouse gases and other emissions and uses 25 percent recycled materials. The mix, WarmPave, is also being produced at Vulcan’s Reliance Plant in Southern California where testing confirmed 30 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions per ton of material produced compared to conventional hot-mix asphalt and reductions of 55 percent for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions.

California

The California Construction & Industrial Materials Association (CalCIMA) announced the winners of its 2009 Safety Awards program. “This year, the recipients’ accomplishments included engineering changes to improve safety, teaching innovations, team-building techniques, safety culture establishment, effectiveness of their safety programs, and leadership within their companies,” said Mike Herges, chair of CalCIMA’s safety & health subcommittee and safety and health services manager for Graniterock Co. The winners include: Small Aggregate Plant — Dean Browning, general manager, Holliday Rock Co., Inc., Upland; Large Aggregate Plant (tie) — Greg Wilkerson, plant manager, Corona Quarry, Vulcan Materials Co., Corona, and Michael Cunningham, plant manager, Perkins Plant, Teichert Aggregates, Sacramento; Ready Mix Concrete — Lenny Price, operations manager, Thousand Palms, CalPortland, Thousand Palms; and Industrial Minerals — Mike McGath, plant manager, Newberry Plant & Hector Mine, Elementis Specialties, Inc., Newberry Springs.

California

With its environmental report complete, Cemex’s proposal to mine a 400-acre parcel of Jesse Morrow Mountain is likely to head to the county planning commission, the Fresno Bee reports. The 100-year plan calls for excavation of benches along the mountain’s south side to allow for the extraction of granite. As each bench is mined, the one above it is to be graded and reclaimed. A Cemex spokesperson, Jennifer Borgen, told the newspaper that it would take 3,000 acres along the Kings River to produce the same amount of aggregate as the company’s current proposal. The company is donating $10,000 and 40 acres of the unmined portion of the mountain to the Kings River Choinumni Farm Tribe, which supports the proposal.