Our September Milwaukee Member of the Month is Joe Smith, with Knife River.
Joe Smith has been the point person (chair) leading the AGC DEQ Task Force. The task force's lofty goal was to streamline the permit process for new concrete batch and hot mix asphalt plant approval from its current timeline of over a year to less than a few months. This change would save contractors huge amounts of time and thousands of dollars per permit. In order to do this, the objective was to create a "fast lane" where plants that meet certain pre-determined criteria can be approved through a permit by rule process.
In order to have a permit by rule process, industry (AGC) and DEQ had to agree on a wide range of criteria including setbacks, stack height, engine type, and many more. The criteria had to work for industry while also following federal guidelines that Idaho DEQ must enforce.
While it might sound easy, this is an incredibly complex area with few people that truly understand the nuances. Joe Smith used his expertise in this area to lead AGC's efforts in negotiating with DEQ and developed a list of preset scenarios that work for both industry and DEQ. For the past several months they have been meeting for multiple hours every other week.
Now that we have agreed on what the scenarios will be, DEQ can start the formal rulemaking process which will take us through the rest of this year and next for implementation in early 2027.
We applaud Joe Smith and his dedication to finding real solutions to real problems and giving generously of his time and expertise to raise the industry.
Congratulations to Joe Smith on being our September Milwaukee Member of the Month.