wednesday, march 03, 2010
The Inambari Hydroelectric Project
The momentum behind a proposed 2,000MW hydroelectric facility in the Peruvian Amazon is gaining as Brazilian interests continue to back the effort.The Brazilian consortium behind the project, Empresa de Generacion Electrica Amazonas Sur S.A.C. (EGASUR), says construction of the dam on the Inambari river could begin by the end of this year and be completed by 2014.
If approved by Peru's Ministry of Mines and Energy the consortium would be required to replace more than 100 kilometers of the InterOceanic highqway slated for completion later this year.
My story, Brazil Backs $4-Billion Peruvian Hydropower Project, is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record.
wednesday, february 03, 2010
Ruta del Sol
In 2005, Colombia undertook a massive $770 million infrastructure renewal program aimed at paving more than 3,000 kilometers of the country's roadways.That effort was bolstered even further recently by the awarding of contracts to build a 1,000-kilometer highway connecting the capital of Bogota and the Caribbean coast.
Two of the three sections for the $2.6 billion Ruta del Sol (Highway of the Sun, in Spanish) were awarded to a pair of multinational consortiums who will build and operate the highway. The final contract is scheduled to be awarded this summer.
My story on the road effort, Highway Goal: Colombia's Gem to the Ocean, is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record.
friday, january 22, 2010
Nightwatching
The particular epiphany that opened the doors of understanding about cinema to me seems almost prosaic to the point of insignificance when articulated directly: everything in a film is there for a reason.Well, isn't it obvious? Yes, of course it is. Which might be why I overlooked it for so very long. The import of this simple idea is transformed into something breathtakingly profound when it is unshackled from the stultifying inertia of plot and allowed to blossom in the vast fields of possibility the medium can lay claim to.
Peter Greenaway's 2007 film Nightwatching takes this conceit and runs with it. On one level it is a retelling of the story of behind the creation of Rembrandt van Rijn's masterpiece, The Night Watch. On another it's a dissertation on how a work of art must be understood within the context it was created in. read more
thursday, january 21, 2010
The Nicaragua Canal
The Panama Canal has become cemented in the public mind as the trans-oceanic waterway across the Central American isthmus. But the route chosen for the historic canal almost went through nearby Nicaragua.In fact, a stamp depicting a smoking volcano is believed to have been the deciding factor swaying the US Senate to vote for the route through Panama in 1902. The success of that enterprise quelled calls for the northern alternate for almost a century.
Recently, Nicaragua renewed the push for a canal route through it's territory as a plausible alternative to the Panamanian waterway. Officials have redoubled efforts to find financing for the ambitious $18 billion proposal.
My most recent post for my ENR.com blog, A man, a plan, a canal... Nicaragua? looks at the interesting history of this alternate canal route and the recent efforts to renew it.
wednesday, january 20, 2010
The Panama Canal
The construction of new locks on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal required for the $5.2 billion Third Lane Expansion project will make vehicular traffic across the isthmus on the existing roadway impossible.To address the situation, the Panama Canal Authority has begun the process to find a solution - either a bridge or tunnel - that will permit traffic to pass across the waterway. When completed it will be the only permanent vehicular crossing connecting the North and South American land masses on the Atlantic side of the isthmus.
The ACP is currently soliciting bids for a feasibility contract to examine possible alternatives. My story, Panama Canal Authority Seeks New Canal Crossing, is in this week's Engineering News-Record.
friday, january 08, 2010
Yea Alabama National Championship Edition
Last night my beloved Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Texas Longhorns in the BCS National Championship game in Pasadena, California's Rose Bowl stadium. The victory marks the 13th national title in the 117-year history of football at The Capstone as well as the first time Bama has defeated UT in eight tries stretching back to 1902.Me and my fellow writers over at Roll Bama Roll - a website covering Alabama football - have spent the past few weeks working on a commemorative magazine in the event of a Crimson Tide national championship. And it is with the greatest pleasure that I announce the Maple Street Press has begun printing the Yea Alabama National Championship Edition. read more
thursday, december 31, 2009
Five Years in Peru
For the first two months of 2010, a collection of my photographs will be on display at The Bunna Coffee Tea & Market in Chandler, Arizona. The exhibition, Five Years in Peru, will feature a dozen or so of my photographs taken between 2003 and 2008 at locations across the Andean nation.In 2003, I arrived in Peru with the intention of spending a few months digging up a freelance story or two to try and sell when I got back to the states. Instead, I ended up staying semi-permanently and creating a freelance journalism career pretty much from scratch. In conjunction with that, I became a photojournalist somewhat by accident.
Five Years in Peru is an opportunity to show my work for the first time but it is also a deliberate attempt to educate people about the mysterious and often misunderstood Andean country. read more
wednesday, december 30, 2009
Alabama & the Rose Bowl
The foundation of Alabama's football tradition was laid in Pasadena, California. For more than eight decades, The Rose Bowl has been synonymous with the Crimson Tide's legacy of gridiron excellence and National Championships.Alabama was the first team from the South invited to play in the Tournament of Roses invitational football game on New Year's Day 1926. The appearance was the first of six in the bowl game that has come to be known as "The Grand Daddy of Them All."
On Jan. 7, 2010, the Crimson Tide will return to play a post-seasons contest in the storied Rose Bowl Stadium for the first time in 64 years. Alabama will face The University of Texas Longhorns in the BCS National Championship game.
In anticipation of this contest, I am looking back at each of Alabama's Rose Bowl games over at Roll Bama Roll. A list of the entries including direct links is after the jump.
read more
thursday, december 24, 2009
The Brazil Energy Handbook
For the past several months I've been working on a project examining the Brazil Energy sector. The result is the Brazil Energy Handbook which is going to print this month.The handbook is a sweeping overview of Brazil's diverse energy production sectors from the impact of the vast new offshore oil discoveries to the dependence on hydroelectric dams in the Amazon Basin.
Brazil's recent economic prosperity has proven resilient against the global economic downturn, but that has also mean the country's energy demand continues to grow as well. The government has balanced the need to increase the Brazil's energy production with controlling the trend of privatizing the key industries overseeing those sectors.
The Brazil Energy Handbook is one of a series of magazines published by PSI Media of Las Vegas, Nevada. The company's flagship publication is the Combined Cycle Journal, a quarterly magazine aimed at the gas turbine-based power generation sector.
wednesday, december 23, 2009
The Panama Canal
Bids for the second-largest contract required as part of the massive $5.2 billion Panama Canal Third Lane Expansion Project have been submitted to the governing authority of the historic waterway.Four groups submitted bids for the work completing a 6.7-kilometer-long access channel on the canal's Pacific side. The $268 million offer by an international consortium comprised of the firms FCC, MECO and ICA was the lowest. The job will be awarded early next year.
The work involves the excavation of 26 million cubic meters of material and the construction of a a 1.7 kilometer-long clay core dam between the access channel and the Miraflores Lake. In addition, 80 hectacres of a former US Army firing range must be cleared of unexploded ordinance.
My story on the bidding, Spanish-Mexican-Costa Rican Team Submits Low Bid for Second Biggest Panama Canal Contract, is at ENR.com.
friday, december 18, 2009
Alabama vs Texas
In the long history of both Alabama and Texas football there have only been eight meetings between the two teams - three regular season matchups and five bowl games.The first game was held in Tuscaloosa 1902 and the most recent was the 1982 Cotton Bowl. Alabama has never won against the Longhorns.
The Crimson Tide hopes to bring that streak to an end on Jan. 7, 2010 when the two teams will go head-to-head in the BCS National Championship game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
In anticipation of that event I am taking a look back over the historical matchups between the two teams over at Roll Bama Roll. A list of the entries including direct links is after the jump.
Alabama vs Texas: 1902 - posted 12/10/09 read more
thursday, august 13, 2009
An Interview with Andy Staples
The College Football Preview issue of Sports Illustrated for the 2009 season hit newsstands this week and it pretty much follows the pre-season script. Ole Miss is the new hotness and will represent the SEC West come the conference Championship in December.Whatever.
I got a chance to chat with the magazine's SEC writer, Andy Staples and he explained there is a lot more uncertainty in the conference this year than most people seem to think. Ole Miss has some advantages going in but Alabama, LSU and Florida are hitting their stride as powers on the national scale. We also discussed the progress Nick Saban has made stocking the talent cupboard that was pretty bare when he arrived in Tuscaloosa.
My interview can be found over at the SB Nation website covering all things Alabama, Roll 'Bama Roll.