Construction News:

American - Workers - Health - Safety - Lawsuit - KBR Halliburton - Corporation - Government - History - Texas - Oil - Construction - Science - Iraq - Cayman Islands - Politics - "Iraq contractor fights suit over toxic exposure: Tax loophole may subject construction firm to damages." ... "When the American team arrived in Iraq in the summer of 2003 to repair the Qarmat Ali water injection plant, supervisors told them the orange, sand-like substance strewn around the looted facility was just a "mild irritant," workers recall." ... "The workers got it on their hands and clothing every day while racing for 2 1/2 months to meet a deadline to get the plant, a crucial part of Iraq's oil infrastructure, up and running." ... "But the chemical turned out to be sodium dichromate, a substance so dangerous that even limited exposure greatly increases the risk of cancer. Soon, many of the 22 Americans and 100-plus Iraqis began to complain of nosebleeds, ulcers, and shortness of breath. Within weeks, nearly 60 percent exhibited symptoms of exposure, according to the minutes of a meeting of project managers from KBR, the Houston[Texas]-based construction company in charge of the repairs." ... "Now, nine Americans are accusing KBR, then a subsidiary of the oil conglomerate Halliburton, of knowingly exposing them to the deadly substance and failing to provide them with the protective equipment needed to keep them safe." ... "But the workers, like all employees injured in Iraq, face an uphill struggle in their quest for damages. Under a World War II-era federal workers compensation law, employers are generally protected from employee lawsuits, except in rare cases in which it can be proven that the company intentionally harmed its employees or committed outright fraud." ... "KBR is citing the law, called the Defense Base Act, as grounds to reject the workers' request for damages." ... "But the company's own actions have undermined its case: To avoid payroll taxes for its American employees, KBR hired the workers through two subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands, part of a strategy that has allowed KBR to dodge hundreds of millions of dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes." ... "That gives the workers' lawyer, Mike Doyle of Houston, a chance to argue to an arbitration board that KBR is not an employer protected by federal law, but a third-party that can be sued." -By Farah Stockman -Boston/Globe 

---

Dick Cheney - Corporate - Military - Government - KBR-Halliburton - Cayman Islands - United Arab Emirates (Dubai) - Secret - Iraq - Oil - Infrastructure - History - American - Workers - Health - Security - Legislation - Massachusetts - "Top Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore: Shell companies in Cayman Islands allow KBR to avoid Medicare, Social Security deductions." ... "Kellogg Brown & Root, the nation's top Iraq war contractor and until last year a subsidiary of Halliburton Corp. [Corporation], has avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies based in this tropical tax haven [Cayman Islands]." ... "More than 21,000 people working for KBR in Iraq - including about 10,500 Americans - are listed as employees of two companies that exist in a computer file on the fourth floor of a building on a palm-studded boulevard here in the Caribbean. Neither company has an office or phone number in the Cayman Islands." ... "The Defense Department has known since at least 2004 that KBR was avoiding taxes by declaring its American workers as employees of Cayman Islands shell companies, and officials said the move allowed KBR to perform the work more cheaply, saving Defense dollars." ... "But the use of the loophole results in a significantly greater loss of revenue to the government as a whole, particularly to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds." ... ""Failing to contribute to Social Security and Medicare thousands of times over isn't shielding the taxpayers they claim to protect, it's costing our citizens in the name of short-term corporate greed," said [Massachusetts Democratic] Senator John F. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee who has introduced legislation to close loopholes for companies registering overseas." ... "With an estimated $16 billion in contracts, KBR is by far the largest contractor in Iraq, with eight times the work of its nearest competitor." ... "The [secret] no-bid contract it received in 2002 to rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure and a multibillion-dollar contract to provide support services to troops have long drawn scrutiny because [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive from 1995 until he joined the Republican ticket with [Republican] President Bush in 2000." ... "The largest of the Cayman Islands shell companies - called [SEII] Service Employees International Inc. [Incorporated, which is not associated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)], which is now listed as having more than 20,000 workers in Iraq, according to KBR - was created two years before Cheney became Halliburton's chief executive. But a second Cayman Islands company called Overseas Administrative Services, which now is listed as the employer of 1,020 mostly managerial workers in Iraq, was established two months after Cheney's appointment." ... "If KBR's American workers averaged even as much as $63,000 per year, they and KBR would have owed more than $100 million per year in Social Security and Medicare taxes, split evenly between them. Over the course of the five-year war, their tax bill would have been more than $500 million." ... "The real managers of Service Employees International work out of KBR's office in Dubai. KBR and Halliburton, which also moved to Dubai [an emirate of the United Arab Emirates], severed ties last year." -By Farah Stockman with contributions by Stephanie Vallejo and Matt Negrin -Boston/Globe 

---

Home - Building - History - "Property at heart of financial storm." ... "Real estate is at the very centre of the financial storm that has dragged the US economy close, if not into, recession." ... "The median price of an existing single family home fell 1.8 per cent last year, the first decline since records began 40 years ago, and probably the first since the Great Depression, the National Association of Realtors has said." ... "A large part of the problem has been the overbuilding of homes. In December the supply of new homes hit its highest level since 1981, while sales of new homes hit their slowest pace since 1994, according to the US Census Bureau." ... "Unsurprisingly, the homebuilding industry has been hit hard. Public homebuilders have chalked up more than $20bn in losses on land and buildings they own, based on data from Standard & Poor’s." -By Daniel Pimlott -FT.com 

---

Jobs - History - Manufacturers - Construction - Housing - Government - "U.S. Economy Suffers Another Body Blow." ... "Nervous employers cut 17,000 jobs in January - the first such reduction in more than four years and a fresh trouble sign that the U.S. [United States] economy is in danger of stalling." ... ""It's very unusual for the economy to lose jobs, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's economy.com. "It only happens during recession," he told CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. "So the fact that we lost jobs is very symbolic and suggests that the economy is in recession."" ... "Job losses were widespread. Manufacturers, construction firms and a variety of professional and business services eliminated jobs in January - reflecting the toll of the housing and credit debacles. The government cut jobs, too." ... "Although the unemployment rate declined a notch, from 5 percent in December to 4.9 percent in January, the jobless rate - calculated from a different statistical survey than the payroll figures - dipped as people left the labor force for any number of reasons. " -AP via -CBSNews 

---

Construction - Business - History - "Housing Starts at 16-Year Low." ... "New home construction fell again in December as builders scramble to cut back in the face of rising inventories and fewer orders. The drop-off is likely to hurt businesses that serve the housing industry, which economists do not expect to bottom out until the middle of the year." ... "Groundbreakings remain at the lowest level in more than 16 years, and permits for new residential construction projects recorded their slowest month since the housing recession of the early 1990s, the Commerce Department said on Thursday." ... "Housing starts fell by 14 percent last month, to an annual rate of 1.006 million, seasonally adjusted. Residential construction dropped nearly 40 percent in 2007 as a whole." ... "Permits for new buildings, a leading indicator of housing construction, dropped by 34 percent last year." -By Michael M. Grynbaum -NYTimes

---

US - Iraq - Charles E Williams - Military - Construction- Fire-Fighting - Safety - Politics - "New Baghdad embassy's fire-fighting system is defective." ... "The fire-fighting system in the mammoth new $740 million U.S. [United States] Embassy in Baghdad is defective, according to documents obtained by McClatchy and U.S. officials, who said that their concerns were ignored or overruled in a rush to declare the complex completed." ... ""As far as I know, nothing's been fixed," said one State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation for speaking to the news media. "The lives of the people who are working in that building are going to be at stake" if the complex doesn't meet building codes, he said." ... "The 104-acre embassy complex, which has been hit at least once by mortar fire, will house more than 1,000 U.S. diplomats, coalition military officials and associated personnel. U.S. diplomats in Iraq are still headquartered in a former palace of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad's Green Zone and haven't moved into the new embassy complex." ... "Last month, 19 days before he retired, State Department buildings chief Charles E. Williams certified key elements of the embassy's fire-fighting system as ready for operation, according to the documents McClatchy obtained." ... "His own fire-safety specialists and an outside consultant, however, had warned Williams and his aides repeatedly about numerous fire safety violations." ... "Moreover, Williams' thumbs-up was based on tests run by another contractor that was hired, not by the State Department, but by the company building the embassy, First Kuwaiti General Contracting and Trading Co. State Department officials, members of Congress and others have accused First Kuwaiti of shoddy construction and questionable labor practices." -By Warren P. Strobel -McClatchyDC.com

---

Military - Legislation - Politics - US - Iraq - Reconstruction - "Bonus payments frozen." ... "The Army has temporarily halted bonus payments for more than 20 enlistment, re-enlistment and service extension programs pending enactment of authorizing legislation." ... "[Republican] President Bush, to the surprise of Congress and the Defense Department, vetoed the fiscal 2008 Defense Authorization Act on Dec. 29 after months bargaining with House and Senate leaders." ... "In announcing the pocket veto, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the president objected to a single provision of the legislation that would delay the reconstruction of Iraq, and expose the Iraqi government to unwarranted law suits in U.S. courts." -By Jim Tice -ArmyTimes.com 

---

Economic - Construction - History - "Sales of New Homes in U.S. Dropped 9% to 12-Year Low (Update3)." ... "Sales of new homes in the U.S. fell to a 12-year low in November, pointing to bigger declines in construction that will hobble economic growth throughout 2008." ... "Purchases dropped 9 percent to an annual pace of 647,000 and October sales were revised down to a 711,000 rate, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Last month's sales were weaker than the lowest forecast in a Bloomberg survey. " ... "A Bloomberg survey of 68 economists forecast sales would fall to an annual pace of 717,000 from a previously reported 728,000 rate in October, according to the median estimate. Economists' forecasts ranged from a low of 685,000 to a high of 750,000." ... "Sales of new homes were down 34 percent from the same time last year, the biggest 12-month drop since January 1991." ... "The housing recession has deepened since the August turmoil in subprime mortgages led to a worldwide credit shortage. Stricter borrowing standards and a freeze on lending to borrowers with poor credit put mortgages out of reach for more potential buyers. That's driving home prices lower, weakening sales as people hold out for even bigger reductions." -By Bob Willis -Bloomberg 

---

US - Iraq - Afghanistan - Military - Money - Legislation - Reconstruction - "Bush rejects defense bill by pocket veto." ... "[Republican] President Bush on Friday used a "pocket veto" to reject a sweeping defense bill because he dislikes a provision that would expose the Iraqi government to expensive lawsuits seeking damages from the Saddam Hussein era." ... "In a statement, Bush said the legislation "would imperil billions of dollars of Iraqi assets at a crucial juncture in that nation's reconstruction efforts."" ... "The president's objections were focused on a provision deep within legislation that sets defense policy for the coming year and approves $696 billion in spending, including $189 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also in the legislation were improved veterans benefits and tighter oversight of contractors and weapons programs." ... "The pocket veto means that troops will get a 3 percent raise Jan. 1 instead of the 3.5 percent authorized by the bill." -By Ben Feller -AP via -Yahoo 

---

Iran - Russia - Fuel - Business - Construction - US - International - Military - Politics - "Russia starts nuclear fuel deliveries to Iran." ... "Iran passed a significant milestone in its quest for nuclear power status yesterday when it received a first delivery of enriched uranium from Russia, allowing for the completion of a long-delayed reactor at Bushehr [Iran]." ... "The head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, announced that 80 tonnes of fuel had been received, with further consignments expected in the next two months." ... "The delivery appeared to signal a weakening of the international coalition opposing Iranian nuclear ambitions which the US and its allies suspect are aimed at building an atomic bomb." ... "It also means Iran is just months away from having its first nuclear power station, after years of delays. The Russian contractors building the Bushehr plant, which will be used to generate electricity, say it could be operational within six months." -By Robert Tait -Guardian.co.uk

---

Home - Building - Markets - "Home prices: Worst drop since '70: New home prices were down 13% in October, yet sales pace still falls well short of forecasts. August and September sales reading cut." ... "The biggest plunge in new home prices in 37 years was not enough to revive October sales, according to the government's latest reading on the battered housing and home building markets." ... "Also depressing sales and prices was a record 191,000 completed new homes on the market that have not yet been sold." ... "The report showed that the median price of a new home sold in October plunged 13 percent from year-earlier levels to $217,800. It was most severe year-over-year drop since September 1970, when the median price was only $22,600, or less than the cost of a typical new car purchase today." ... "And the price figure may actually be underestimating how the bottom has fallen out of prices in recent months." -By Chris Isidore -CNN 

---

Don Young - Criminal - Transportation - Construction - Real Estate - Jet - Travel - Money - Politics - Alaska - New York - Florida - "Alaska lawmaker promoted earmarks, raked in cash." ... "As chairman of the House transportation committee, Alaska Congressman Don Young flew at least three times to upstate New York aboard a sleek jet owned by Robert Congel, an ambitious shopping mall developer seeking federal highway dollars." ... "With Young’s help, Congel got millions of dollars to boost his dream of building the largest mall in North America. The veteran Republican congressman got something, too: more than $33,000 in political donations from Congel, his family and his associates." ... "For Young, the Congel story was hardly unusual. Time after time, Young approved millions of dollars for highway projects for people who in turn fattened his campaign coffers." ... "With money pouring in from transportation interests, Young amassed $6.5 million in political contributions from 2001 to 2005. Facing weak political opposition at home, he didn’t need much for his campaign. Instead, Young tapped his campaign fund to travel the country, often lavishly and in corporate jets, to meet with more developers and view their proposed highway projects." ... "Now, though, Young’s campaign donations are going for another purpose. He’s spent nearly $450,000 on criminal defense lawyers after he learned of an FBI investigation into his relationships with political donors, who include a Florida real estate developer seeking a highway ramp near his undeveloped land." -By Greg Gordon and Erika Bolstad-McClatchyDC.com

---

CONSTRUCTION News covered above and in the Construction Archives:
BUILDING News. BUILDERS News. INFRASTRUCTURE News. CONSTRUCTION News.
ROAD CONSTRUCTION News. HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION News.
INFRASTRUCTURE BUILDING News. INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE News.
TRANSPORTATION CONSTRUCTION News. See also: Transportation News.
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION News.  RECONSTRUCTION News. CONSTRUCTING News.
HOMEBUILDING News. HOUSE CONSTRUCTION News. HOUSE BUILDING News.
HOME CONSTRUCTION News. HOME BUILDING News. See also: Home News.
CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS News. See also: Business News.
See also: Architecture News.