Water, water, water

October 1, 2014  |  Editorial

By Ron Bygness Eight years ago, I interviewed Ernie English. At that time, Ernie was with GSE and was the chairman of the Geosynthetic Materials Association’s Executive Council. I asked him several questions about the state of the geosynthetics industry, about market opportunities, about some hist…
Read More
Educate the Educators

August 1, 2014  |  Editorial

By Ron Bygness The Professor Training Course for Geosynthetics (aka, Educate the Educators) was a successful educational effort that ran for one week each summer, 1994–1998, at Auburn University in Alabama under the direction of Prof. Dave Elton. A reinvigorated plan to launch a 21st century versi…
Read More
Landfills, landfills, landfills …

July 11, 2014  |  Editorial

EPA ups methane capture requirement Next step: A new energy source With the EPA‘s recent announcement that new landfills will be required to capture two-thirds of their methane and toxic air emissions by 2023 (13% more than current requirements)—see our previous post on this subject—the Ob…
Read More
EPA updates to reduce methane from new landfills

July 3, 2014  |  Editorial

By Ron Bygness As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan—Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed in a July 1 press release updates to its air standards for new municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. The release continued: “These upda…
Read More
What’s the word in WRRDA?

June 1, 2014  |  Editorial

By Ron Bygness Geosynthetics! That’s the word all right! For the first time in U.S. history, the phrase “use of geosynthetic materials” is included in an official, passed-by-the-House, passed-by-the-Senate, signed-by-the-president, United-States-of-America law. You can read it yourself right h…
Read More
Geosynthetics and infrastructure

May 15, 2014  |  Editorial

Whither the geosynthetic products, applications, and services? White House official says: The Obama administration will intensify its efforts to get Congress to pass legislation that pays for roads and bridge repair. Money for roads and bridges? New York—The latest example is his campaign urging C…
Read More
Geosynthetic reinforced soil system for bridge building

April 25, 2014  |  Editorial

Pennsylvania’s State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) has several success stories to brag about, including geosynthetic reinforced soil integrated bridge systems (GRS-IBS). But a clear benefit of the group, according to Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch, is that it shows t…
Read More