Cobb EMC serves a member base of more than 177,000 residential and commercial members, making it one of the largest electric membership corporations in the state of Georgia and in the nation. Even though the nonprofit electric cooperative serves a large area with a technology-forward approach, President and CEO Chip Nelson says the co-op has never lost sight of what truly makes its power possible for its members: its people.
“They’re enthusiastic, they’re motivated and just a great group of people,” Nelson says. Nelson knows the heart of the co-op and the strength of its people first-hand, having started with Cobb EMC in 1973 as a field engineer and working his way up through the engineering side of the organization before becoming COO and eventually president and CEO. He says the core of long-tenured, dedicated professionals Cobb EMC has on staff are one of its greatest attributes, and a major contributor to the co-op’s reputation as one of the most reliable electric co-ops in the nation with some of the lowest rates in the region.
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The 52-acre peninsula in Connecticut’s Bridgeport Harbor has been home to some of the mightiest manufacturing companies in the country, dating all the way back to the Industrial Revolution. But for more than 20 years, the city of Bridgeport has envisioned converting the antiquated industrial area into a waterfront destination for the public, and this fall the anchor store of the long-awaited transformation will be open to the public.
“It’s an exciting project, and when we complete the harbor walk along the waterfront, it will give people access to the water they haven’t had for a century,” Bridgeport Landing Development LLC Development Administrator Steve Tyliszczak says. “This project is part of the city and Mayor Bill Finch’s strategy to return the former industrial waterfront along Long Island Sound and our rivers to the people. It’s a good strategy, but it takes a long time.”
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After nearly 130 years, Citizens Energy Group has set itself apart through diversity. “I don’t believe you’ll ever find another utility that’s set up like us that has the diversity of the utilities and is a public charitable trust,” Vice President Mark C. Jacob declares.
Indianapolis-based Citizens Energy Group provides natural gas, thermal energy, water and wastewater services to approximately 800,000 people and thousands of businesses in its home city. “Our mission is to provide affordable quality services for the beneficiaries of the trust, [be] safe and reliable, [and offer] long-term, good utility management,” Jacob says. “That combination is pretty unique.”
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Buckeye Partners, L.P. oversaw 1,500 capital projects last year – both maintenance and revenue producing – expanding up to more than $200 million. Over the past four years it has spent $1 billion on capital improvements, says Steve White, vice president of engineering.
As part of its expansion into marine terminals, Buckeye acquired the Bahamas Oil Refining Company International (BORCO) in 2010 for approximately $1.7 billion. Located 80 miles from the Florida coast along the Northwest Providence Channel of The Grand Bahama Island, BORCO is the one of the largest crude oil and petroleum products storage terminal in the world and the largest petroleum products facility in the Caribbean.
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As a leading energy logistics firm Buckeye Partners L.P. focuses on improving the integrity of its infrastructure and expanding it to take on new marketing projects. “Buckeye is a different brand of company and I was attracted to them because of the entrepreneur-type of approach it has to building projects,” Senior Director of Engineering Services Craig Brown says.
The Houston-based company provides mid-stream energy logistics services. Buckeye owns and operates one of the nation’s largest independent petroleum products common carrier pipeline networks, providing refiners, wholesalers, marketers, airlines, railroads and other commercial end-users with dependable, all-weather transportation of refined petroleum products. The company transports refined products by pipeline mostly in the Northeast and upper Midwest.
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The Olentangy and Scioto rivers lend scenic beauty to an urban landscape as they flow through Columbus, Ohio, but when substantial rains occur, the city’s sewer system can overflow into them. That eventuality will be eliminated when the Olentangy Scioto Interceptor Sewer (OSIS) Augmentation and Relief Sewer (OARS) project becomes operational in 2016.
Organized into two phases, the first phase will be completed in late 2016 or early 2017. That phase includes boring a tunnel along the Scioto River 20 feet in diameter and 170 feet under downtown, Scioto Audubon Metro Park and the Berliner Sports Park, along with residential neighborhoods. The $77 million Phase 2 – building many of the structures underground that will connect the tunnel to the city sewer system and prevent overflows – will be completed in late summer 2017.
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Bizzack Construction knows its way around the rough, hilly terrain of the southeastern United States. For more than 55 years, the Lexington, Ky.-based civil contractor has specialized in civil construction projects in its home state as well as in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee.
“We consider ourselves a leader in heavy highway construction; that’s what we’ve done for all of the company’s existence,” Project Manager Eric Sidebottom explains. “We work closely with owners to provide solutions to their problems in a safe manner and deliver the best possible project for them, as well as the residents in the areas we work in, that we can.”
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Some construction companies keep their customers at arms’ length, but Bird Construction is staying close to client Interior Health (IH) Authority as it builds the Royal Inland Hospital’s Clinical Services Building. “The last thing we want is to be adversarial,” Design Manager Andris Ozols says.
This approach has paid off for Bird Construction, he reports. “So far, they are very pleased with what we have achieved from the design and construction side of things,” Ozols states.
Bird was named the design/builder for the building in March 2014 and started construction two months later. The project will add a four-story parkade for 350 stalls, plus two levels of clinical outpatient services, which will total 55,500 square feet.
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