Career and Internship Fair

On October 19th I attended the Career and Internship Fair that was held at the A.E. England Building. I arrived at just as the event was getting started and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of students in attendance.The event featured forty five employers from a variety of industries from non-profits organizations to hotels. The reason for my attendance was to see if there were any employers from the world of policy making and I was relieved to find a several. The most recognizable being the Sierra Club - Grand Canyon Chapter. I spent several minutes speaking with the representatives at the booth, however, the only positions that they had available at this time are unpaid internships. I also visited with the representative from the Internal Revenue Service. Since I do not have any accounting experience the only IRS position that I am qualified for is a Tax Compliance Officer. In this position, the Compliance Officer would conduct audits and investigations of individuals and business taxpayers. I really can not envision myself working for the IRS!

This event offered students an outstanding opportunity to meet with prospective employers and to discuss the type of employment positions that are available to them for either an internship or as a career once they graduate. This was a relatively small Career Fair, but as the Downtown Campus continues to grow so will the size of this event. 

Environmental Policy

One of the many benefits of membership in the Arizona Rock Producers Association is access to developing information regarding policy changes that could affect a member's business. I recently had the opportunity to attend a presentation by the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the Rapanos Decision. The presentation took place in the ARPA offices and was a part of the ARPA Environmental Committee's monthly meeting. This group is made up of representatives from member companies and is tasked with monitoring environmental legislative and policy changes that might impact the manner in which a company conducts its business.

The Rapanos Decision was a Supreme Court ruling regarding the regulation of wetlands and navigable waterways. The case was brought before the Supreme Court by a Michigan land developer who was fined by the Environmental Protection Agency for destroying a wetland area to facilitate the construction of a shopping mall. The ruling went against the developer and established precedence about what constituted a wetlands and a navigable waterway. The ruling established the framework that is used by the Army Corps of Engineers, the government agency that is tasked with regulating and maintenance of all waterways in the United States, to classify all washes, streams and tributaries.

The classification system is important because it will be used to determine the type and more importantly the cost of  the permit ARPA member companies will be required to obtain in order to mine aggregates from the riverbeds and the surrounding areas. This policy adds another layer of governmental regulation to an already heavily regulated industry. The costs associated with obtaining the permit can be substantial and could impact a company's decision on whether to establish mining operations in an area or not.   

The Army Corps of Engineers presentation focused on how the policy changes would be implemented and the criteria that will be used to classify an area for permitting. The presentation also included a video that provided visual examples of the types of mining methodologies that will be impacted by the policy changes. Despite not being too excited about the changes, the ARPA members in attendance agreed the presentation was professional and very informative.

Occupy Wall Street

In early September a few dozen people began a protest in front of the New Stock Exchange to demonstrate against corporate greed and income inequality. In the beginning the demonstrators were dismissed by the mainstream media as a bunch malcontents and hippies. However, fueled by a growing number of protesters and the support of several labor unions, this grassroots demonstration has gained mainstream appeal and has forced the national news outlets to take them seriously. The group is primarily using Twitter to recruit new members to join their demonstration and to keep supporters around the country updated on the protest activities. If you are interested you can follow their tweets at #occupywallstreet. The group has three main slogans, "Rebuild America", "Tax Wall Street" and "Make Jobs Not Cuts".

Not since the 1960s Civil Rights demonstrations and the 1970s demonstrations against the Vietnam War has our country witnessed this type of growing mass demonstration. There are currently several videos posted on YouTube showing confrontations between protesters and police officers. As the number of protesters has increased, so too has the number of arrests. As a person who can recall the sometimes violent demonstrations against the Vietnam War, it is my hope that the protests remain peaceful and that there is no further escalation of violence.

More about ARPA

As I continue my internship, I have learned some interesting things about the aggregate industry and the organization that employs me. The Arizona Rock Producers Association, also known as ARPA, represents a coalition of companies that produce aggregates used in all phases of the construction industry. In the open market, ARPA members compete with each to sell their products to the companies involved in virtually every construction project in the state. The role of ARPA is to bring the member companies together in a non-competitive environment. ARPA provides its members with a forum to gain education about and to discuss common issues and concerns that affect the companies and the industry in which they work. ARPA also serves as an advocate for the aggregate industry at the municipal, county, state and even national levels. As a coalition ARPA's  member companies have infinitely more strength than they would have as individual companies. Collectively, the companies that form this organization contributed nearly $2.8 billion to the Arizona economy. That's a lot of rocks!

As a person who was raised in a family owned construction company I find this stuff fascinating. However, some you (my wife included!) may wonder - How does all this affect me? I thought I would share with you a some interesting facts about aggregate usage in order to illustrate just what an important role aggregates play in our everyday lives.

• It takes over 400 tons of aggregates to construct a 2000 square foot house. 
• Every mile of freeway that you drive on contains over 400,000 tons of aggregates.
• Sky Harbor International Airport consists of over 2,500,000 tons of aggregates.
• It took over 13,500 tons of aggregates to construct the UCENT Building.
• Throughout their lifetime every American will use 1.55 million pounds of sand and gravel.

These figures were provided to me by the Arizona Rock Producers Association.