Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Congressman Troy Balderson (R-OH) is leading bipartisan legislation introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives that would promote the use of local aggregate resources such as stone, sand, and gravel in construction projects, reducing costs and bolstering local producers.

“Supporting Central Ohio businesses and producers supports our greater community by reducing costs, creating jobs, and cutting down unnecessary red tape,” said Congressman Troy Balderson. “When goods and raw materials such as construction aggregates can be sourced locally, why look anywhere else? Let’s get this set in stone.”

The Rebuilding Our Communities by Keeping Aggregates Sustainable (ROCKS) Act, H.R. 5117, would require the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to establish a working group of federal, state, and local stakeholders to examine the use of aggregates and develop a federal framework to ensure continued access to this critical resource.

“The infrastructure around us contributes to the quality of life enjoyed by those in Central Ohio and across the nation, but the planning and construction of it is a long and complicated process,” said Thea Walsh, director of transportation & infrastructure development at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. “Having and using locally sourced aggregates can serve as another tool for capital projects to be built in an efficient, timely way. We’re pleased that Congressman Balderson is inviting regional planning organizations like MORPC to the table to discuss this topic.”

This bill was introduced with Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ).

BACKGROUND

Stone, sand, and gravel are essential raw materials found in every home, building, road, bridge, and public works project. Every year, the United States extracts more than 22,000 pounds of aggregates per person.

Eliminating or constraining local access to aggregates has a variety of unintended consequences, including increased construction costs and negative environmental impacts.

Under the ROCKS Act, the established working group will:

• Study the use of aggregates resources in federally funded transportation and construction projects and how the proximity of aggregates resources impacts cost and the environments;
  
  
• Examine how state and local transportation and planning agencies may consider aggregates resources when developing projects;

• Identify measures the federal government, state, and local transportation and planning agencies may take to preserve currently identified aggregates resources for future development.