Geosynthetics October/November 2020 - 36

INDUSTRY NEWS
GEO NEWS AND NOTES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

IFAI Expo going virtual
for 2020
Given the continuing uncertainty with
the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic
and the importance of the health and
safety of the entire textile community, IFAI has made the difficult, yet
unavoidable, decision to transition IFAI
Expo 2020, set for Nov. 3-6, 2020, in
Indianapolis, Ind., to an online-only
virtual event.
IFAI Virtual Expo will take place
November 2-12 in a robust platform
designed to provide many exciting
opportunities for attendees, exhibitors and sponsors to discover, network
and help grow their businesses. Going
virtual allows attendees-both domestic and international-to experience
IFAI Expo in a new way. Attendees will
explore the knowledge-packed educational sessions from the comfort of their
home or office. Textile professionals
from anywhere in the world can discover new products, chat, network and
meet with exhibitors; communicate with
colleagues; and learn from world-class
educators and presenters.
For more information and answers
to "Frequently Asked Questions" on IFAI
Virtual Expo, please visit www.ifaiexpo.com.

GMA announces 2021-
2023 Koerner Awardee
and Lecturer
The Geosynthetic Materials Association
(GMA) has announced the 2021-2023
Koerner Awardee and Lecturer, Dr. Jie
Han, Ph.D., PE, F.ASCE. Dr. Han is the
Glenn L. Parker Professor of Geotechnical
Engineering at the University of Kansas
in Lawrence, Kan., and has been an active
36

member of the geosynthetics community
for many years.
He becomes the third recipient of the
award named in honor of Dr. Robert M.
Koerner. Dr. Han will follow the 2017
inaugural winner, Dr. George Koerner,
and the second awardee, Dr. Barry
Christopher, in 2019. As the award winner, Dr. Han will present the keynote
lecture at the Geosynthetics Conference
2021, taking place Feb. 21-24, 2021, in
Kansas City, Mo., and will repeat the
lecture at three additional geosynthetic
conferences during 2021-2023.

International Geosynthetics
Society releases 2020
election results
The International Geosynthetics Society
(IGS) has announced seven new council
positions. Seventeen candidates applied
for the positions from twelve countries.
The newly elected council members will
stand for the term that concludes in 2024.
The incoming IGS council members
will be Dr. Laura Carbone (Germany),
Francesco Fontana (Italy), Dr. Jacek
Kawalec (Poland), Dr. Yoshihisa Miyata
(Japan), Jabulile Msiza (South Africa),
Dr. Timothy Stark (USA) and Helmut
Zanzinger (Germany).
The IGS expresses its deep appreciation to IGS Council Members who
are completing their service and will
be leaving the IGS Council: Erol Guler
(Turkey), Boyd Ramsey (USA), Kent von
Maubeuge (Germany), Martin Ziegler
(Germany), Hong Kwan Kim (Korea)
and Dr. Junichi Koseki (Japan).

EPA finalizes revisions
to the coal ash closure
regulations, increases
public access to information
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) finalized several changes
to the regulations for coal combustion
residuals, known as CCR or coal ash, to
implement the court's vacatur of certain
closure requirements as well as adding provisions that enhance the public's
access to information about the management of coal ash at electric utilities.
"Today's action makes changes to
the closure regulations for coal ash
storage that enhance protections for
public health while giving electric
utilities enough time to retrofit or
replace unlined impoundment ponds,"
s ai d E PA Ad m i n ist r ator And re w
Wheeler. "The public will also be better informed as EPA makes facility
groundwater monitoring data more
accessible and understandable."
In response to court rulings, this
final rule specifies that all unlined
surface impoundments are required
to retrofit or close, not just those that
have detected groundwater contamination above regulatory levels. The
rule also changes the classification of
compacted-soil lined or "clay-lined"
surface impoundments from "lined" to
"unlined," which means that formerly
defined clay-lined surface impoundments are no longer considered lined
surface impoundments and need to be
retrofitted or closed.
For more information on these revisions, visit https://www.epa.gov/coalash.

Geosynthetics | October November 2020

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9/22/20 1:52 AM
http://www.ifaiexpo.com https://www.epa.gov/coalash
Geosynthetics October/November 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Geosynthetics October/November 2020
