Jul. 27, 2010 (Business Wire) -- Bill Schneider, president and CEO of Knife River Corporation testified today in Washington, D.C., before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee regarding the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus money on his company and the industry. Schneider also urged the committee members to pass a long-term highway funding bill to provide safer transportation routes and put thousands of construction workers back on the job.
Schneider, who is also the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association’s board chairman, credits ARRA stimulus funding for keeping dozens of Knife River employees at work.
“The construction industry currently has a 20 percent unemployment rate, the highest for any business sector nationally,” Schneider said. “In early 2010, more than 27 percent of the construction workforce was on the unemployment lines.”
America’s deplorable road and bridge conditions are in desperate need of long-term funding bill. The American Society of Civil Engineers reports that one-third of America’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
“As an unbelievable example of road conditions and correlated lack of funding, Stutsman County, N.D., started turning nearly 50 miles of paved roads back to gravel surfaces this summer because it no longer has the money to maintain the existing asphalt surfaces,” Schneider said. “This is equivalent to turning the clock back 75 years. Each of the other 49 states has a similar story to tell about road conditions and the dire need for long-term funding to coincide with long-term planning.”
Many states are operating with deficit spending and cannot keep up with transportation funding on their own.
“Our states cannot plan for maintenance and new construction projects without knowing if the federal government has a long-term budget plan,” Schneider said. “Continued short-term funding will lead to an even faster decline in our nation’s roads and bridges. This is something we cannot continue to put on the back burner.”
Schneider urged committee members to garner support and pass a new six-year funding bill immediately.
Knife River Corporation mines aggregates and markets crushed stone, sand, gravel and related construction materials, including ready-mixed concrete, cement, asphalt, liquid asphalt and other value-added products. It also performs integrated construction services. Knife River operates in the central, southern and western United States and Alaska and Hawaii. Knife River is an indirect subsidiary of MDU Resources Group, Inc., a Fortune 500 natural resource enterprise traded on the New York Stock Exchange as “MDU.” For more information about Knife River, visit the company’s website at www.kniferiver.com.
