October 30, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Last week included a relatively unheralded day called “Imagine a Day Without Water.” Started in 2014, the day is a national education campaign that brings together diverse stakeholders to highlight how water is essential, invaluable and in need of investment. Not all Americans have to imagine a day without water. More than 2,000,000 Americans live without basic access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Even in these divided times, 73% of Americans support investing in water infrastructure to increase resilience to climate change, even with a $1.27 trillion price tag. Let’s not turn “imagining” into “realizing” this loss.

Looking ahead: Next week, almost everyone will be talking politics, for good or bad. Next week, though, also includes a day that has no political bounds. In December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly designated Nov. 5 as World Tsunami Awareness Day, calling on countries, international bodies and civil society to raise tsunami awareness and share innovative approaches to risk reduction. By the year 2030, an estimated 50% of the world’s population will live in coastal areas exposed to flooding, storms and tsunamis. It may not sound important in South Florida, but there is a potential risk, so please pay attention!

October 2, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: This past week the Senate passed a 1-year extension of the FAST Act to ensure that surface transportation programs did not expire as scheduled on Sept. 30. While we should applaud congressional action that ensured vital surface transportation programs did not lapse, we should be disappointed that the extension maintained flat funding and failed to address the needs of state departments of transportation and transit agencies as a result of the pandemic. We can only hope that Congress uses this coming year to develop a bipartisan transportation reauthorization that increases investment and addresses the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.

Looking ahead: The next round of stimulus can’t come along soon enough, especially if you are an airline worker. With the recent layoffs, the need for another $20 Billion (on top of the previously authorized $25 Billion) is critical for the long term viability of our skies. For those that feel corporate bailouts are too much, they must never want to be able to take another flight to go on vacation or visit a relative. Airlines run a business that is based on a delicate balance, including passengers and cargo, to ensure a seamless system. Let’s make sure America keeps flying!

October 23, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Eleven minutes. That’s how long I was able to stay with my wife during the admitting process before her gall bladder surgery. I wasn’t able to come back for almost six hours. That’s another harsh byproduct of the pandemic. Fortunately for us, it was relatively minor surgery that went relatively well, but what’s it like for children or those going into much more worrisome treatments? The additional strain on patients cannot help their recovery process, and it means even more workload on the kind medical professionals that have additional mundane duties – I couldn’t even fill up her water jug.

September 18, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: The construction industry is always tied to the economy. Availability of capital and interest rates on the private side, decreases in taxes and user fees on the public side. While construction has generally moved along for the last six months of pandemic, I received word Friday that the State is beginning to cut back and cancel transportation projects. For those in the service industry, I’m sure not many tears will be shed, but construction has been the lone bright spot in unemployment and every dollar invested returns 7 to the overall economy. We’re close to a very negative turning point.

Looking ahead: I just can’t get over how little is being made of the census wrapping up in less than two weeks. Multiple lawsuits are trying to extend this deadline because of COVID-19 impacts, but those will likely be sorted out by next week. The nature of the Census and a hasty count would impact some deserving areas for an entire decade, limiting their ability to handle growth and care for their citizens. The next couple weeks will determine the outcome of the next decade for many Floridians.

September 11, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Recently the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) partnered on a new economic report that quantifies water infrastructure investment and what happens when the nation fails to invest. The report “The Economic Benefits of Investing in Water Infrastructure: How a Failure to Act Would Affect the U.S. Economy Recovery” shows that closing the water investment gap brings enormous economic benefits and public health protections. As federal lawmakers consider how best to alleviate economic hardships caused by COVID-19 and protect public health, it is critical they understand the role water plays in keeping communities safe and healthy and our economy flowing.

Looking ahead: We all understand the immediate need for Congress and the administration to provide fiscal relief to state and local governments hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are also longer-term stressors on our nation’s infrastructure system that need to be addressed, specifically the relationship between the federal government and local governments. The ACEC Research Institute and partners have produced a series of recommendations to better align federal policies, funding options and regulations with local priorities within urban areas. The Community Serving Infrastructure: A Playbook for a New Infrastructure Partnership offers recommendations. Our local officials should read the Playbook this week.

August 21, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: This past week, I heard from a lot of people about the quality of both public and private virtual learning as the beginning of the school year kicked off. While most of the conversations ended with a reference to an alcoholic beverage, there were some definite success stories. My own daughter who never previously attended school struggled with PK3 math lessons, but found a connection over music class and story time. A teacher friend found that he was able to migrate to a completely paperless class. I know it isn’t easy, but let’s dwell on the positive for the children.

Looking ahead: This coming week will see two hurricanes simultaneously hit the gulf coast in Florida. In a typical storm response, there is a great deal of coordination between localities that share common risk. Risk prone areas have huge resources in crews, generators, pumps and everything necessary for recovery, but never quite enough to recover individually from a true disaster. For those events, it requires many localities banding together to give the resources of dozens of localities. If storms start coming in twos, threes or more, we’ll need to rethink preparedness and recovery plans. Let’s hope this is an anomaly.

August 14, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Last week, the nominating council for the Public Service Commission (PSC) sent four names to Gov. DeSantis for appointment of an expiring term. The list included three outgoing state legislators and one engineer. While I understand that the PSC must review a wide range of topics that aren’t all technical, three legislators jumping on the $132,000 per year part-time job is something that appears to be ready for failure. I believe that these positions should have requirements for technical competence. They sign off on all our utility rates, do we want politics in that role?

Looking ahead: The Public Service Commission (PSC) has a history of over 130 years in the State of Florida. Last week, the nominating council sent four names to Governor DeSantis. The Governor now has 30 days from then to nominate the next member. The member that currently holds the seat is the only engineer currently on the PSC. I’m not saying all 12 members should be engineers, but I’d like to think that one of 12 members of the group that regulates energy, water, sewer, gas and, to some extent telecom ought to be. Please keep at least one engineer, governor!

August 7, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Last week, while most people in South Florida experienced the first “in the times of COVID” hurricane preparation, the folks at SpaceX were trying to bring two Americans back to earth safely. With the first water landing in 45 years and with the two astronauts being healthy and safe, SpaceX continues to prove that NASA’s desire to be a Low Earth orbit space customer rather than a space agency is a solid decision. It was very nice to see that some truly important scientific work is still being done while the rest of the world is going crazy.

Looking ahead: With [Director of the United States Census Bureau] Steven Dillingham’s statement last week about delivering a complete and accurate 2020 Census count, the next several weeks are going to be critical. Census workers visiting populations that haven’t self-reported are going into high gear and the date for the end of data collection hasn’t changed from Sept 30. Mobile applications on tablets and phones are pushing efficiency, but we need to assist them. With a national response rate of 63.1% and a statewide response rate of 60.1%, the current 58.4% response rate isn’t going to work. We’ll lose our fair share of important dollars.