Keep Making NUCA Yours

Tom Butler

Being NUCA Chairman is an honor, but it has one drawback: it’s only a year long. And at the end of every term, those of us entrusted with this honor write this final column in our association’s membership magazine. It’s the last chance I have to share with you as Chairman my thoughts about our industry and NUCA’s achievements completed for all of us to share.

Looking back over the last 11 months, I can write that many of you took my slogan to heart and “Made NUCA Yours.”

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This year, we finally achieved 2,000 members on our national rolls. Over 83% of NUCA members renewed their memberships, showing our industry that NUCA continues to fill several responsibilities that other organizations just can’t fulfill.

It’s been a busy year for NUCA. We’ve added two new chapters—NUCA Austin and NUCA of Oklahoma. We added two new safety courses—Advanced Crew Leader Course and the Damage Prevention Train-the-Trainer—and continue to expand industry use of our existing Train-the-Trainer and Crew Leader programs. NUCA-STAR continues to evaluate more member’s safety programs. We added two new business insurance benefits—NUCA Assurance and NUCA Choice—and are in the final stages of securing more business benefits in 2024 for our members to use for their operations.

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On the advocacy front, NUCA worked with Congress to pass the first real steps of permitting reform, including streamlining the National Environmental Policy Act review process, and designating a single lead federal agency to supervise the permitting process. We fought to ensure “Build America, Buy America” regulations are administered fairly. We pushed back against several harmful Biden Administration regulations, including their distorted interpretation of the “Waters of the U.S.” regs. And while the FY2024 State Revolving Fund appropriations issue remains unresolved as of today, NUCA and other stakeholders took to the fight early and worked with friendly U.S. Senators to restore almost all SRF funding in their version of the appropriations legislation. We’re not giving up on Congress doing the right thing to fully support water and wastewater infrastructure projects in every U.S. state.

“Making NUCA Yours” encouraged many of you to explore what NUCA National and your NUCA Chapter can do for your operations and your employees. NUCA CEO Doug Carlson and I were glad we could talk to many of you in 2023 and hear first-hand your experience with your NUCA membership, using all of these association resources to gain benefits for your company that far outweigh your dues investments. That’s what I wanted to achieve with my work over the last year: helping you make NUCA yours.

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I leave our fine industry association in great hands and know Tony Privitera’s year ahead as Chairman will continue to deliver this association’s high level of excellence to our members. I would like to thank you, my fellow NUCA members, our volunteer leadership, and NUCA and Chapter staff for all of the tireless work you’ve done over the past year to make NUCA a better experience for us all.

Thank you for the honor and opportunity to serve as NUCA’s Chairman during the last year. I wish each of you much personal and professional success in the years ahead, as we work to build America’s subsurface infrastructure.

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Sincerely yours,

Thomas P. Butler
NUCA Chairman of the Board / Kimmins Contracting

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