Cement Americas

SPR 2013

Cement Americas provides comprehensive coverage of the North and South American cement markets from raw material extraction to delivery and tranportation to end user.

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FEATURE PCA PRESIDENT CA: Compared to his year-end forecast, which was done in face of the fiscal cliff crisis, it was quite different. GS: What PCA did late last year is activate our grassroots teams and lobbyists on Capitol Hill, having them talk to legislators and their staff, and saying, "We need to solve fiscal cliff." We didn't say, "Raise taxes," or "Cut entitlements." We simply reflected Ed Sullivan's forecast at the time – if we go off this cliff, there's going to be an impact on the economy generally and the cement industry more specifically that is going to be very bad for employment and the recovery economy. We could have seen the economic activity retract, a return into a recession, and a reduction in cement demand. That wouldn't have been in our interests or the country's interests. Ed is still very bullish on the medium- and long-term prospects for the cement industry, to the point where he believes we will be short on capacity by the end of this decade or the beginning of the next decade. CA: Is there an emphasis on the benefits of cement and concrete – in particular life-cycle and sustainability issues – when PCA is in Washington having discussions with regulators or legislators? GS: Absolutely. That is working its way into a spinoff of the work we've been doing at MIT with the Concrete Sustainability Hub. The focus on life-cycle, cost analyses, carbon footprint of the industry is something we are pushing very hard in a variety of areas. For example, California has adopted its climate change legislation, and the highway department is looking at ways of reducing the carbon footprint of paving. MIT and PCA have been talking to Caltrans [California Department of Transportation] about how the carbon footprint of concrete pavement is lower than asphalt when you look at it in a life-cycle fashion, based on MIT research. When you look at it in a cost fashion, it is also less expensive both with the initial installation and over time. Those types of positive messages are the sort we're taking from the MIT research both to the states and the federal government. Our advocacy is focused on carbon intensity as well as life-cycle costs, showing that whether it's resiliency or cost or carbon footprint, there are significant advantages to the use of cement and concrete over other products. CA: After every major weather event, such as Hurricane Sandy, or a particularly aggressive tornado season, talk turns to the idea of building with concrete, particularly when it comes to residential building. GS: Resiliency means different things to a lot of different people, and we're making the argument that for every dollar you invest in resiliency, you save about $4 in not having to rebuild. That type of long-term thinking and investment is sometimes difficult to get policy makers, legislators or regulators to grasp. Whether you're talking about buildings or infrastructure such as flood walls or berms or pavements, there are significant advantages to using cement or concrete over other materials in terms of resiliency. That message is being embraced by many policy makers in the wake of Sandy and other storms. We had a resiliency day out in Joplin, Mo., [site of a devastating May 2011 tornado that killed nearly 160 reisidents], in the fall, in which we said, "As you rebuild post-tornado, if you invest in resiliency in your rebuilding, it will pay long-term dividends and it will be inexpensive in the long term." That's the message we took to Capitol Hill post-Sandy as well. CA: While you're leading PCA, will there be certain areas of interest you will emphasize? GS: Clearly, the shift from Skokie to Washington emphasizes the importance of the federal government to the future of the cement industry. I have a mandate from our board to increase and deepen PCA's profile in Washington, as well as at the state level. One of the things that I'm a firm believer in is the coordination of our technical people in Skokie, our lobbyists in the D.C. area, and our regional representatives we have in the promotion groups. We have to all work together and sing off the same songbook in order for us to be successful. I'm not a particularly helpful guy down in Augusta, Ga., for example. There's got to be a local representative down there to talk to the state legislature, but we can help our Georgia lobbyist or Colorado lobbyist develop the messages that are similar to what we're doing at the federal level. That's a very important goal that I have moving forward. I also think that we have a change in leadership, not just at the staff level, but also on the volunteer level. Cary Cohrs is our chairman now; he's a third-generation cement industry executive. He has a lot of great ideas about energizing our meetings and message, and I'm looking forward to working with him. Steven Prokopy is a Chicago-based freelancer, and the former editor of Cement Americas. www.cementamericas.com • Spring 2013 • CEMENT AMERICAS 17

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