something that financial experts are predicting for the course of this year<\/a>. That would increase construction and release pent-up demand in the housing market.<\/p>\nInfrastructure<\/p>\n
On the other side of the ledger, the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 provided a significant boost for projects involving roads, bridges, and water systems.<\/p>\n
There too, though, record construction inflation has somewhat eroded the \u201cpurchasing power\u201d of that federal funding, Schmidt said.<\/p>\n
Industry representatives are working to get the act reauthorized by Congress before it expires in September.<\/p>\n
\u201cAround a third of our production and our product goes into some form of infrastructure project,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cThe Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act is going to expire and a big priority for us broadly as an industry is to get that reauthorization.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really looking forward to and advocating for an infrastructure bill that\u2019s kind of the same, similar in size and scope to [the IIJA],\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n
Promoting and protecting domestic production<\/p>\n
According to Schmidt, about 80% of cement is produced domestically, with the remaining imported, primarily from Vietnam and Canada.<\/p>\n
Looking to boost a key industry in his Lehigh Valley district, U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie recently sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking for an executive order to designate cement as a critical national security material. That would require federal agencies to prioritize the use of domestically produced cement in federal procurement and federally assisted infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time to unleash the full economic potential of one of our nation\u2019s most critical building materials,\u201d said Mackenzie, R-7th District.<\/p>\n
According to the cement association, Pennsylvania is the sixth-largest cement producer in the U.S. with more than 6,000 jobs and contributing about $5 billion to the state\u2019s economy. The average salary in the state for a cement worker is $106,000.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson from Mackenzie\u2019s office said Monday that it has submitted the letter and is waiting for word from the White House.<\/p>\n
Data centers and regulations<\/p>\n
While housing projects are being held up by interest rates, other types of building plans are still being developed, such as warehouses and data centers.<\/p>\n
Other industries have been onshoring or expanding in the U.S. and are building from the ground up. A local example is the $3.5 billion Eli Lilly and Co. pharmaceutical plant that will be built in Upper Macungie Township.<\/p>\n
\u201cData centers, obviously, have been on fire over the past few years and there\u2019s still a lot of growth trajectory there,\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n
However, there is concern about keeping up with increased demand. Schmidt said there has not been a new greenfield cement plant built in the U.S. in at least 15 years because of regulatory hurdles.<\/p>\n
Heidelberg Materials\u2019 Perkins said projects in the U.S. demand 110 million-115 million tons of cement annually but the country only has the capacity to produce about 90 million tons, leading to a heavy reliance on imports.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last several years it has become increasingly difficult to expand and to add additional production capacity in the U.S.,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cPermitting has been a significant inhibitor for additional capacity investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sean O\u2019Neill, the cement association\u2019s senior vice president for government affairs, said the executive order could help clear some regulatory hurdles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis executive order calls for federal agencies to review their rules and regulations that hinder domestic cement production, such as those preventing the industry from using more alternative fuels, investing in energy and carbon reduction technologies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The industry will also be looking at ways to innovate, such as using blended cements with materials such as fly ash and slag, and increasing the use of artificial intelligence at plants.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a resource that will be mandatory in any development for years to come, Perkins said.<\/p>\n
\u201cConcrete is the second most utilized building material in the world behind water,\u201d he said. \u201cIt goes into virtually every type of construction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cement industry has roots in the Lehigh Valley back to the 1870s. And while it continues to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10565,119,121,120,60,63700,2121,433,157,182,16167,139,434,28,432,1653,1654],"class_list":{"0":"post-163178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allen-township","9":"tag-allentown","10":"tag-allentown-headlines","11":"tag-allentown-news","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-east-allen-township","14":"tag-hanover-township","15":"tag-lehigh-county","16":"tag-lehigh-valley","17":"tag-local-news","18":"tag-lower-nazareth-township","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-northampton-county","21":"tag-pennsylvania","22":"tag-top-stories-tmc","23":"tag-whitehall-area","24":"tag-whitehall-township"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}