March 12, 2021

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: I was in primary school, watching a show at Parker Playhouse when the whispers came down the row, “the Challenger exploded.” When we got back to school, the news was nonstop, made even harder because a teacher was on board. This past week, Allan J. McDonald, a rocket scientist and whistleblower who refused to sign off on the launch of the Challenger space shuttle over safety concerns and, after its explosion, argued that the tragedy could have been averted had officials heeded warnings from engineers like himself, died. Thirty-five years later, this is still a lesson on how ethics matter.

Looking ahead: This coming week, the Florida House Civil Justice and Property Rights Subcommittee will hear House Bill 891, intended to limit the liability of engineers that work with urban search and rescue teams. Most people don’t even know that for every 40 people deployed as part of disaster recovery, typically 10% of that team are structural engineers that crawl into the pile to shore the rubble so that first responders can safely search for survivors or recover casualties. Over the last five years, we’ve lost 80% of those engineers as they and their companies worry about lawsuits. We need their help.

March 5, 2021

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: What would you do with an extra $3,300 a year? That’s the cost of poor infrastructure in our country. This past week, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released its 2021 Report Card on America’s Infrastructure. This was the eighth release since the original 1988 report, and the overall grade raised to a C- for the country. The grades range from a B in rail to a D- in transit. Overall, 11 category grades were stuck in the D range, a clear signal that our overdue bill on infrastructure is a long way from being paid off.

Looking ahead: I’ve spent the last two weeks doing a number of mock interviews with engineering students as they are preparing for potential internships this summer – for internships that they aren’t 100% sure will actually happen. Last year, we had eight interns, but most other engineering companies cancelled their programs. The ability for a student to intern is so critical in their career path and it isn’t really something that can be done virtually because (particularly first-time interns) have no idea what they are doing. In order for us to build the infrastructure we need, we need safe work environments.

February 27, 2021

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: This past week was the 70th anniversary of National Engineer’s Week. Most readers probably don’t care about that, until you start to realize that everything you do, from your first drink of water until your last alarm setting in the night, wouldn’t have happened without an engineer. In this pandemic, the technology we use has become even more important and we rely even more upon our incredible infrastructure in this country. I’ve been an engineer for more than 20 years, and I know that we work without expectation of appreciation. Just once, though, it would be nice to hear thanks.

Looking ahead: On March 3, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) will release its quadrennial “Report Card on America’s Infrastructure,” giving a comprehensive assessment of our nation’s infrastructure and recommending solutions we need to improve Americans’ quality of life. Broken into 17 categories, ASCE breaks down the country’s most outstanding needs through research and coordination with many governmental agencies. Not to just point out that there is a problem without a solution, though, the “Call to Action” report will quickly follow the release of the report card to give budget-level estimates and policy ideas to legislators.

February 19, 2021

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: If you are like me, you looked at the weather across the country the past week and said, thank goodness I’m in Florida. What you really should have said is thank goodness we have the infrastructure that we do in Florida. With the failure of the unregulated Texan electrical grid, I think more of us should have appreciated the robustness of the Floridian grid and post-storm activities that we’ve had. Even at that, the operators of the nine electric grids saved the day, implementing rolling blackouts that were unpopular but stopped a catastrophic failure.

Looking ahead: Mars rover Perseverance landed last week, but its quest to find life on another planet is one of the greatest things that we can hope to find in the coming weeks. SpaceX, Blue Origin and an assortment of other companies have gotten the credit recently for excellence in space flight, but for the Mars rover, NASA deserves all the credit. We’ve all looked to the sky and thought “what if.” Thank NASA for answering with what is possible. Even Elon Musk owes them that.

February 5, 2021

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Recently, the American Council of Engineering Companies released the 2020 Engineering Industry Contribution report. This was significant because it finally identified the contribution that architects and engineers have on the economy separately from construction dollars. With an over $600 Billion contribution to the economy and generating $1.55 of GDP for every dollar spent on design, it was found that 1 in 33 Americans owe their jobs to this profession and over $120 Billion in taxes are contributed from these businesses. Enabling $2.2 Trillion in construction activity annually, this accounts for 11% of annual GDP in the US.

Looking ahead: Next week, I’ll be heading to Tallahassee for a series of meetings. While COVID is preventing the typical face to face interactions at the Capitol, it is important that everyone keeps their eyes on the ball with respect to key legislation. As the chair of the “engineers,” an affectionate term given to us when legislators can’t remember our alphabet soup of organizational acronyms, we’re pushing for more resiliency oversight and funding, funding dedicated to water projects like the dedicated transportation funding, smart energy planning, liability relief for engineers that volunteer in disasters and more. Make sure you advocate!

January 22, 2021

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: With all eyes turned to President Joe Biden‘s inauguration, Gov. DeSantis made a number of overdue appointments to a variety of boards. DeSantis’ appointments include posts to the University of Central Florida and Florida Atlantic University boards of trustees, the Florida Housing Finance Corporation Board of Directors, the Real Estate Appraisal Board, and the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority Governing Board. It is well documented that there are hundreds of empty posts in local and statewide boards that are getting close to not being able to make quorum, so I hope this is a good first start!

Looking ahead: I won’t know if what I’m doing next week will be newsworthy for some time. I’m participating in a virtual CEO Forum. That unto itself isn’t very interesting, but the format of the meeting is. The entire meeting will be held in virtual reality. What I find most amazing is that something I previously thought of as only applicable to games with some application to visualizing abstract things – like looking at building systems which previously were only on blueprints – is being applied to a meeting among CEOs. It will be educational at least, hopefully transformational.

January 15, 2021

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Last week was the 11th anniversary of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti. It was an event that obviously changed the face of that country but also heavily impacted South Florida. When people don’t have jobs, much less homes, it is the responsibility of the successful neighbor to help in some way. I know that immigration is always a tricky subject, but this country was built on immigrants. Just days after Haitians celebrated their independence, they were put flat on their backs. The problems still exist today, but I’m hopeful for the future.

Looking ahead: Next week, you are going to “spend” $63 dollars that you didn’t budget for. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently released the report “Failure to Act: Economic Impacts of Status Quo Investment Across Infrastructure Systems,” which quantifies how the persistent failure to invest in our aging infrastructure will cost the average American household $3,300 a year in disposable income over the next 20 years. Major sectors like manufacturing and health care are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of under investment, and these negative consequences will cascade over time. It’s high time to rebuild.

January 9, 2021

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: With all the craziness going on in Washington D.C., it is impressive to think it has been nearly 30 years since term limits went into effect for state legislators. The 1992 vote actually imposed term limits on federal offices as well, but in 1995, the Supreme Court ruled that states could not impose limits on Congress. For over 20 years, Florida has seen the benefits of the rotation of ideas and leadership in creating policies that match the dynamic changes in Florida. Maybe it is time for the voters to speak again and consider applying limits in D.C.

Looking ahead: Next week is the first week of committee meetings as the Florida Legislature begins preparing for the start of session in March. Currently, the House and Senate have different rules about making visits to their offices and social distancing will be required (for anyone that has ever ridden an elevator in the Capitol, you wonder how that is even possible), so committee weeks and session will be difficult for both legislators and constituents alike. If you want to speak with your legislator, they’ll be home the following week and one more time before session starts.