Kickstart: Dollars for composites

In the Plastics in Politics Live webcast on Aug. 9, PN's Steve Toloken noted that the Inflation Reduction Act didn't include language related to taxing or limiting plastics, despite some discussion earlier about the potential.

But it turns out plastics did get a mention in another big bill signed by President Joe Biden this week.

The CHIPS and Science Act, centered around providing government funds to support the growth of computer chip production in the U.S. and other technology programs, "includes composites-specific language as part of the NASA authorization" in the bill, the American Composites Manufacturers Association says in a news release.

ACMA pointed out its support for the bill, which includes wording favoring NASA investigate "new technologies and materials," that the space administration should collaborate with industry and academia on research and that the U.S. should maintain leadership in "advanced materials and manufacturing processes."

Sometimes the news hits close to home. It involves someone you knew or a company you've worked with.

For me, the news in suburban Detroit these past 10 days or so have involved the lakes I swim in and a local injection molding auto supplier.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has been investigating an incident at Tribar Manufacturing after the company notified local and state officials of a charge of an estimated 10,000 gallons of an acid etching liquid containing the carcinogen hexavalent chromium into the Huron River northwest of Detroit.

The discharge prompted warnings to residents to avoid contact with the river and lakes nearby.

One of those lakes, Kent Lake, happens to be the location of a monthly triathlon series I participate in during the summer, including a race just a few days before the release.

In the latest update to the story, Kurt Nagl at our sister paper Crain's Detroit Business writes that an unsupervised company wastewater operator overrode waste treatment alarms 460 times during the July 29 incident. The state has issued five violations to the company while the incident continues to be investigated. The warning to stay out of the water remains.

For its part, the company has told CDB that it takes the matter "extremely seriously" and that it is working with city and state officials.

As for me? There's another race scheduled in two weeks. I'm just hoping there's better news on water conditions by then.

As expected, sales of recreational vehicles in the U.S. dropped as fuel prices climbed.

But as our sister paper Crain's Chicago Business points out, the sales slump follows some extraordinary sales years. The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association forecasts that RV shipments will fall 8.4 percent for 2022, but that follows a record 48 percent expansion between 2019 and 2021 as families invested in motor homes and trailers so they could travel while maintaining COVID-related distances compared with hotels and airplanes.

If you're selling parts for luxury RVs, however, changes in gas prices may not impact you at all.

"If you have $200,000 to put into a vehicle, the cost of fuel isn't affecting you," Greg Dzozd of custom RV converter EpicVans said.