{"id":6556,"date":"2020-02-19T14:22:28","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T14:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/2020\/02\/acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure\/"},"modified":"2020-02-19T14:22:28","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T14:22:28","slug":"acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"ACMA Assembles on Capitol Hill to Promote Composites in Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"

ACMA members and leaders\u00a0gather\u00a0for the\u00a0fifth Infrastructure Day in Washington, D.C<\/em><\/p>\n

ARLINGTON, VA\u00a0(February 18, 2020) \u2013<\/em> On February 12-13, 2020, nearly 50 composite manufacturing business owners and leaders assembled at the American Composites Manufacturers Association<\/a>‘s (ACMA)\u00a0fifth annual Infrastructure Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C to advocate for the increased use of composites and advanced materials in upcoming infrastructure legislation.<\/p>\n

“The nation’s aging infrastructure is top of mind in Washington and around the country. The nation’s leaders have noted America needs more than a trillion dollars’ worth of investment to rehabilitate bridges, water systems, dams and the electric grid. Composites are uniquely poised to provide real-world solutions to meet this demand,” said ACMA President Tom Dobbins.\u00a0 “ACMA’s membership is actively engaged with Members of Congress and other government officials to advocate for our industry and lobby for the IMAGINE Act and legislation to launch a standards and research program at NIST.”<\/p>\n

On the 12th, the event started\u00a0with a half-day of programming to educate\u00a0attendees about\u00a0the current political landscape and\u00a0review pro-composites legislation that could benefit composites like the IMAGINE Act that would\u00a0authorize $650 million fund that can be used by asset owners (states, cities) for innovative highway and water infrastructure construction.\u00a0Additionally, the NIST Composites Standards Act could inject $11 million of research to model composites durability.<\/p>\n

Day one continued with ACMA’s President Tom Dobbins, who provided an\u00a0overview\u00a0of the organization’s\u00a0recent legislative advocacy accomplishments for the composites industry, including advancements\u00a0for new standards for FRP utility pole crossarms, new building codes, and R&D. The Alpine Group’s Mike Henry provided an overview of the\u00a0political landscape during\u00a0election season, and he detailed how to navigate the political landscape during this time to get\u00a0business done in Washington. He reiterated that\u00a0the upcoming election could impact the legislative cycle and\u00a0highlighted the critical window of time that\u00a0the composites industry must maximize\u00a0to\u00a0lobby for key legislation that will inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the\u00a0entire industry. Afterward, attendees went to Capitol Hill for meetings with Congressional leaders and ended the day with a dinner discussion featuring Senator Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), Chairwoman, Subcommitee on Transportation and Infrastructure.<\/p>\n

On the 13th, the event resumed with more congressional meetings throughout the morning. The event concluded in the afternoon with\u00a0an in-depth panel discussion featuring participants from the US Chamber of Commerce, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Highway Administration, and the Associated General Contractors. The panelists analyzed several\u00a0political and legislative developments tied to infrastructure investment and spending.<\/p>\n

Lee Forsgren, Deputy Assistant Administrator\u00a0for Water\u00a0at the EPA provided an overview of how the agency\u00a0efforts to finance\u00a0new\u00a0infrastructure projects such as plans for new\u00a0clean, safe water systems. He highlighted numerous opportunities for companies to tap into funding\u00a0for current and upcoming drinking water and safe water infrastructure initiatives. Hari Kalla, Associate Administrator for Infrastructure at the Federal Highway Administration similarly outlined the Administration’s research efforts and opportunities to collaborate on technology deployment.<\/p>\n

“Our infrastructure is inadequate…state DOTs are struggling to maintain the systems,” added Ed Mortimer, Vice President of Transportation and Infrastructure at the US Chamber of Commerce. He emphasized the need for all parties to pursue environmentally sound decisions using innovation and technology to modernize infrastructure, and he urged the audience of composite business leaders to make their voices heard in Washington.<\/p>\n

Mortimer added, “Our lawmakers don’t have the political courage to come up with funding solutions because here we are…”\u00a0 The Chamber proposes a four point\u00a0plan that 1. adjust the\u00a0fuel tax;\u00a02. encourage more private investment; 3.\u00a0accelerates project deliver; promotes\u00a0workforce development.\u00a0 Mortimer concluded that a\u00a0broad infrastructure plan is needed\u00a0that goes beyond transportation, and includes waste water, rural broadband, pipelines, and such a plan should “be more beneficial to the environment than the current infrastructure.”<\/p>\n

Brian Deery from\u00a0Associated General Contractors followed with an overview of the Trump administration and Congress’ efforts over the last 4 years to promote new infrastructure legislation. Deery mentioned that several key developments were a “good omen” that infrastructure will\u00a0be a priority, including the passage of a new bipartisan spending package that provides $287B in infrastructure spending over the next five years. Also,\u00a0the President’s recent budget proposal includes an\u00a0infrastructure plan that\u00a0includes\u00a0$800B for infrastructure over the next ten years. Despite this movement, Deery added that\u00a0composite manufacturing business leaders and owners\u00a0should be “cautiously optimistic,” that everyone is talking about infrastructure and\u00a0so far the industry has seen “a\u00a0lot of smoke…now we’re looking for the fire.”<\/p>\n

To see the event agenda and speaker details, visit the 2020 Infrastructure Day website<\/a>. For questions and photo requests, contact Barry Black at bblack@acmanet.org<\/a>\u00a0or call ACMA at +1.703.525.0511.<\/p>\n

About ACMA<\/strong>
\nThe American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) is the world’s largest trade group representing over 3,000 companies in the composites industry in North America alone. ACMA is recognized as the premier provider of composites industry educational resources through its CAMX conference and trade show, conferences, and Certified Composites Technician (CCT\u00ae) program. It is a timely source of business intelligence and analysis for the composites industry through\u00a0Composites Manufacturing<\/a><\/em>\u00a0magazine, website and newsletters. It serves its members and the industry by providing strong, proactive leadership in growing the composites market and technical, legislative and regulatory affairs. Visit acmanet.org.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ACMA members and leaders\u00a0gather\u00a0for the\u00a0fifth Infrastructure Day in Washington, D.C ARLINGTON, VA\u00a0(February 18, 2020) \u2013 On February 12-13, 2020, nearly … <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nACMA Assembles on Capitol Hill to Promote Composites in Infrastructure - American Composites Manufacturers Association<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ACMA Assembles on Capitol Hill to Promote Composites in Infrastructure - American Composites Manufacturers Association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ACMA members and leaders\u00a0gather\u00a0for the\u00a0fifth Infrastructure Day in Washington, D.C ARLINGTON, VA\u00a0(February 18, 2020) \u2013 On February 12-13, 2020, nearly … Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Composites Manufacturers Association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-19T14:22:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"matrixsuperadmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"matrixsuperadmin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"matrixsuperadmin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ac6c7b283e1a527add756565caef3edb\"},\"headline\":\"ACMA Assembles on Capitol Hill to Promote Composites in Infrastructure\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-19T14:22:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-19T14:22:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure\/\"},\"wordCount\":909,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Press Releases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acmanet.org\/acma-assembles-on-capitol-hill-to-promote-composites-in-infrastructure\/\",\"name\":\"ACMA Assembles on Capitol Hill to Promote Composites in Infrastructure - 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