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Association & Industry News
 CONCRETEPAC is NRMCA's bipartisan, multi-candidate federal Political Action Committee (PAC) with a stated goal of electing pro-business, pro-ready mixed concrete industry candidates to Congress. Supporting candidates who support the ready mixed concrete industry has never been more critical and, with mid-term elections just around the corner, the ready mixed concrete industry must be prepared to support the races that matter most.
NRMCA is looking for individuals to serve on its Board of Directors. Serving on the NRMCA Board is a rewarding opportunity to give back to the industry. NRMCA represents a broad range of ready mixed concrete companies across the U.S. and its success is a direct result of the skills and expertise of its professional staff working in conjunction with Board members. Director nominees must be committed to promoting NRMCA programs and working in the best interest of its membership and the industry at large. The Board provides strategic direction, fiduciary oversight and governance of the organization’s operations.
SEO
NRMCA is continuing to accept registrations for the 16th National Mixer Driver Championship to be held on Saturday, October 1, at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, CO. We encourage companies to register drivers as soon as possible. Please use the Driver Attendee choice for registration type. The official Driver Rules & Procedures and Driver Schedule of Events can be found online. The deadline for registering drivers for this year’s event is Friday, August 12. Please note that drivers are now required to register for the event online; NRMCA no longer offers the fax/email-back option. Also, as in the past, driver supervisors will need to register separately and NOT as a driver guest. Driver supervisors will register using the Driver Supervisor registration type. Finally, in helping to ensure a successful event this year, we encourage everyone to please review this year’s opportunities for sponsorsing the National Mixer Driver Championship. For more information, contact Gary Mullings or Jessica Walgenbach. 
Buildings
NRMCA and Build With Strength are holding a webinar on Wednesday, August 10, at noon Central time titled Specifying Sustainable Concrete. Performance-based specifications for concrete represent an important synergy with sustainability initiatives because they provide the opportunity to optimize mixtures for performance that can also reduce environmental impacts. Prescriptive specifications often adversely impact the environmental footprint of concrete structures. This presentation outlines how concrete performance can be improved while lowering the environmental footprint by implementing performance-based specifications. The webinar is being presented as part of a series by Structure magazine, a publication by the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations. Presenters are NRMCA Director, Building Innovations, Brandon Wray and NRMCA Executive Vice President, Engineering Division, Colin Lobo. Click here to register. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org. On Wednesday, August 17, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time, Concrete Innovations Session 5 webinar, Contractors' Perspectives on Lowering Carbon Footprint, will be held. Presentations include:
The Concrete Innovations Learning Center is designed to bring practitioners, researchers and policy makers together to exchange the latest innovations for sustainable concrete design, construction and manufacturing. Click here to register; there is no fee. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org.
Acoustic considerations in building construction have increased in importance over the years. Concrete has a natural advantage when it comes to acoustics, but many designers are not fully aware of how easy it is to meet even enhanced acoustic requirements using concrete systems. NRMCA, the Ready Mixed Concrete Research & Education Foundation and Build With Strength addressed this issue by developing a guide to the acoustic performance of concrete construction. Acentech, one of the country’s leading acoustical consulting firms, was hired to assist with this endeavor. The available information about concrete acoustics in now gathered into one document that makes it easier for owners, designers and contractors to produce high acoustical performance buildings using concrete. In addition, the guide provides a basic primer on acoustics, along with information regarding the performance of other building materials. The guide can be downloaded here or here. Build With Strength is a coalition led by NRMCA that promotes concrete building systems through communications, project promotion, education and advocacy. To learn more, contact Scott Campbell at scampbell@nrmca.org or 502-552-5034.
NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Chris Dagosta ICFMA and the Nebraska Concrete & Aggregates Association hosted an Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) roundtable discussion and site tour event in Omaha, NE, on July 19 - 20. The event focused on ICF construction for commercial and multi-family projects and included a tour of Fox Blocks' manufacturing facility followed by a reception at a local brewery for dinner and mingling. The following day's activities took place at an Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Omaha where presentations were given by Dagosta, Jeff Mulder, promotions director for Nebraska Concrete & Aggregates Association; Ryan Bedford, president, Bedford Developments; Matt Green, president KB Walker and Jerry Reimer, the owner of Urban Waters Development. After lunch a trolley took participants to local ICF projects, including Saint Matthews Church and Ashbury Elementary School which were both built using Fox Blocks ICFs. The last stop of the tour was Urban Waters Prairie Queen Multi-Family development (seen here) where attendees saw buildings in many phases of construction. The team at Urban Waters split the group of nearly 45 people into five groups to give personal attention to attendees and more easily answer questions from a group. The attendees included NRMCA members, industry professionals, educators, developers, architects and construction professionals. For more information, contact Chris Dagosta at cdagosta@nrmca.org. 
Registration is continuing for this year’s in-person Environmental Certification Course being held in Orlando, FL, from November 29 through December 1. Course attendees will be educated on industry-specific environmental issues that affect ready mixed concrete production, including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, Discharge Permits, Stormwater Management, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Solids Management, Hazardous Materials, Dust Control, Recycling, Spill Prevention Plans, Air Quality Management, Noise Management, Environmental Auditing and much more. Those who should attend include plant managers, environmental managers, compliance managers, executives or anyone with fiscal and/or environmental responsibilities that should know the details concerning your company’s responsibilities when it comes to EPA regulations, the Clean Water Act, Discharge Permits, Stormwater Management and numerous other critical environmental matters. Click here to register and location details. For more information, contact Gary Mullings or Kevin Walgenbach. Registration for NRMCA’s fall in-person Safety Course to be held October 18 - 20 in Charlotte, NC, is still open. This 2.5-day course teaches participants about OSHA safety compliance, beginning with why safety is so important and details the reasons why an effective safety program actually saves money through loss prevention and control. Participants learn about the new silica rule, electrical safety, machine guarding, fall protection, hazard communication, confined spaces, personal protective equipment, emergency action plans, maintenance shop safety, chute handling, fleet safety, pre-trip inspections and much, much more. Click here for location details and registration information. The staff contacts are Gary Mullings and Kevin Walgenbach. 
Calendar
Please note that e-mail and direct registration links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's website. August 1 - 2, Centennial, CO August 17, Online Course August 25, Las Cruces, NM September 14, Little Rock, AR September 29 - October 3, Aurora, CO October 18 - 20, Charlotte, NC October 18 - 21, Dallas November 8 - 10, Louisville, KY November 15 - 17, Phoenix November 29 - December 1, Orlando, FL December 6 - 8, Dallas December 13 - 16, Kansas City, MO 
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