Underground Construction - September 2021 - 9

Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne,
the governor's chief budget adviser, said his department
will make recommendations to lawmakers
about which ones they should approve by Nov. 8.
The administration will grade its applications based
on severity of need, willingness to consolidate with
other systems, readiness to proceed, among other
criteria, he said.
The joint House and Senate budget committee
will decide which projects actually get fi nancing.
" There's a huge interest in this program, "
Dardenne said. " There's not going to be enough
money to address everything. "
Louisiana has nearly 1,300 water systems statewide.
About half are operating off structures that
are more than 50 years old, according to reports
documenting their vulnerabilities. Needed repairs
and improvements are estimated to cost billions.
Sewage Plants Hit by
Ransomware Attacks in Maine
A pair of ransomware attacks on sewage treatment
plants in rural Maine communities demonstrates
that small towns need to be just as vigilant as
larger communities in protecting against hackers,
local offi cials said.
The attacks occurred in Mount Desert
Limestone, and no money was paid and no
customer data was compromised, offi cials said.
" It's like an arms race between the good guys
and the bad guys, " said Mount Desert Town
Manager Durlin Lunt Jr. " Fortunately, in this case,
they didn't get anything. "
Limestone Water and Sewer District
Superintendent Jim Leighton said the control
computer was hit with the ransomware attack.
The hackers couldn't cause harm but the computer
shutdown did take offl ine alarms to alert workers if
pumps overheat or tanks are overfi lled, he said.
Deere, Hitachi Construction to
Bore_Spacer-Ad_UC_2020.pdf 1 2/24/2020 10:40:27 AM
End Joint Manufacturing and
Marketing Agreements
John Deere and Hitachi Construction Machinery
announced that they have agreed to end their
Deere-Hitachi joint venture manufacturing and marketing
agreements and will enter into new license
and supply agreements enabling Deere to continue
sourcing, manufacturing and distributing the current
lineup of Deere-branded excavators in the Americas.
The changes will go into eff ect on Feb. 28, 2022,
pending regulatory approval. Hitachi Construction
Machinery will assume all product and service
operations for the Americas in Spring 2022 and
plans to add more than 60 new local positions in
North America.
John Deere will acquire the Deere-Hitachi
joint-venture factories in Kernersville, NC; Indaiatuba,
Brazil; and Langley, British Columbia, Canada.
Deere will continue to manufacture Deere-branded
construction and forestry excavators currently
produced at the three Deere-Hitachi factories.
These locations will discontinue production of
Hitachi-branded excavators, but John Deere will
continue to off er a full portfolio of excavators
through a supply agreement with Hitachi.
John Deere and Hitachi began a supply relationship
in the early 1960s; then in 1988 the compaC
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Underground Construction - September 2021

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