Letter From the 2010 CSSGA President: Denny Fields
Posted on 22. Jan, 2010 by admin in CSSGA News, Letter from the President
I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the CSSGA through this next year and into the hands of Jerry Schnabel in 2011. I’m approaching 2010 with a cautiously optimistic attitude coupled with great enthusiasm.
Last year was a very successful year for the CSSGA. Our ex officio President Pete Siegmund and Managing Director Pete Jacobson did an excellent job guiding us through a tough reces- sionary period. In 2009 we increased our producer membership by 27% and increased our associate membership by 18%! Our mission statement embodies the core of what we will be focused on in the coming year.
CSSGA has an excellent three-committee structure which is directed by Pete Jacobson:
• The Legislative Committee is guided by our lobbyist Totsy Rees and Ben Frei of Albert Frei & Sons.
• The Land, Use & Environmental Committee (our Regulatory Committee) is guided by Corey Hansen of Lafarge.
• The Safety Committee is directed by Jerry Glynn of TXI.
All three of these committees will be challenged this coming year. The Legislative Committee will be moni- toring the Colorado state budget to make certain bud- get constraints do not adversely affect the dollars dedi- cated to Colorado’s roads and bridges.
The Regulatory Committee will work to protect our in- dustry from the new regulations being formed by the SEO, CDPHE, DRMS and the WQCD. The Prebles Mead- ow Jumping Mouse is once again being recognized as a species, I mean as an “endangered species”. CSSGA will also be engaged with the selenium issue, an extremely controversial water issue in western Colorado.
In order to fight regulatory battles, CSSGA has joined a new coalition called the Construction Industry Coali- tion (CIC). With strength in numbers, especially when it comes to lobbying legislators or regulators, we are pleased to be working with other CIC associations in- cluding CAPA, CCA, CRMCA and the Portland Cement Association as we work collectively to protect the mu- tual interests of the construction industry.
The Safety Committee will keep us abreast of all MSHA, OSHA and DOT regulations. Fines that are being lev- ied by these agencies are huge and have the potential to impose a financial hardship on any size company.
CSSGA members must be attentive to the importance of having an effective public awareness campaign for our industry. For this reason I encourage your support of the Teachers Tour. Although we have not scheduled a Teachers Tour for 2010, it has proven to be a valu- able tool for us in previous years. It is imperative that we continue to educate the public about our industry’s impact on the economy of Colorado. The Teachers Tour will be a start to accomplishing this goal.
As members of the CSSGA, it is our responsibility to guide the industry from this generation to the next; the decisions and actions of today will have a long-term effect on our industry. To that end, I would like to thank all of the members that have supported the as- sociation in 2009 and continue to support us in 2010. It is vital that we continue to show the value of our association to other operators that are mining in the State of Colorado who are not presently active in our association. Non-members of CSSGA that mine mate- rial in the State of Colorado also need encouragement in supporting the industry that provides all of us with our livelihoods.
I would like to also thank our associate members for your support in 2009 and for your continued support in 2010. We are excited to announce that we are cur- rently working on four networking events in 2010.
Without the support of our producer members and our associate members we would not be able to continue defending the common concerns of our industry.
Let’s work together on having a great 2010!
Denny Fields
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