The following transcript was edited for brevity and clarity from one of two concurrent Jan. 31 discussions at the 2025 Pit & Quarry Roundtable & Conference at The Wigwam Resort. Part 2 can be found here.
KEVIN YANIK (PIT & QUARRY): President Trump has been vocal about imposing tariffs on goods from foreign nations. How might this impact the aggregate industry? Do you have a sense of the potential impacts related to equipment, parts and raw materials?
GAGE WANDLER (L&H INDUSTRIAL): As a 60-year-old North American company, we actually see it as a benefit to have some tariffs attached to start building back the American economy and American infrastructure. Most of our parts are still sourced locally, and 1 or 2 percent are sourced [externally].
KEVIN YANIK (PIT & QUARRY): The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law under the Biden administration in 2021 as a $1.2 trillion measure providing about $350 billion for federal highway programs. With IIJA expiring in 2026, do you expect another meaningful bill to be pursued by the Trump administration and passed by the new Congress? What are your expectations for what’s ahead?
GEORGE REDDIN (FMI CAPITAL ADVISORS): IIJA was unique relative to what we’ve seen in nearly 30 years with federal highway bills. The controversy was some people were a little frustrated with what was considered an ‘infrastructure’ bill.
What I’m hopeful for is that it has some bipartisan support. It’s the ‘infrastructure’ bill that drives the aggregate business. I think there’s a possibility that it looks very different next time, because some of the pieces of the IIJA, if coming up for reauthorization, will be under attack. Some of the core that impacts this industry may actually get a benefit from that.
DAMIAN MURPHY (PECKHAM INDUSTRIES): I’m optimistic like George. I think it will change. I think the Republican Party will look at more public-private partnerships as we go forward. Generally, I think all politicians at this point recognize the value of infrastructure and what it does for the economy.
SCOTT ALEXANDER (SUMMIT MATERIALS): I think we need to be mindful that the current administration – specifically President Trump – is very pro-construction. He’s very much motivated to create jobs and improve the economy – and what better way than our industry to do that?
We know there’s pent-up demand. We’ve got significant demand for our products and for infrastructure building. I think [the president] is trying to turn around a lot of the money that was earmarked for the ‘green’ side of things through executive orders and other means.
I think it’s going to be very, very positive to get legislation and overall favorable policy to create more demand for our products. I just really think [the president] is very strong on that.
TRACY SLIEFF (LJ INC.): My only question is I don’t know if we have the workforce to support all that. With tariffs, [the president] is going to force more work back to the states. But how are we going to support it?
KEVIN YANIK (PIT & QUARRY): Many of this year’s Roundtable attendees are members of the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA). NSSGA is currently searching for its next president following the departure of Michael Johnson last fall.
For those of you who are members, how would you characterize the value NSSGA provided over the last 11 years under Johnson? How would you describe the association’s standing in Washington today, as well as the influence it has in the nation’s capital?
MATTHEW FREISSLE (POLYDECK): I’m part of the NSSGA’s Young Leaders. For me, that one is really beneficial for networking purposes and for getting to know the industry and up-and-comers. I find a lot of value in there not only for the sales side, but just having connections and knowing names, faces and who to go to.
MURPHY: I went to my first ‘NSSGA’ meeting in 1996, and I still know people from back then. This industry is terrific in its trade networking. NSSGA really facilitates that networking piece across the country. It’s been great.
They also do a great job with stewarding for the governmental issues. How they handle the regulatory issues has been a big bonus for the industry.
CHAD GREENFIELD (SYNTRON MATERIAL HANDLING): I’ve been a part of a lot of different industry organizations throughout my career in industries other than this one. I have found more value in NSSGA than I have in most of the other industry associations I’ve been a part of.
A lot of that does come from the legislative side of it with the LPF (NSSGA Legislative & Policy Forum) and the constant activity they have on the legislative front.
DOMINIC NASSO (BUFFALO): We’re longtime members. We enjoy the association. We get approached by a lot of associations. If you join one, you get approached by others, so we choose carefully. We find NSSGA to be a very valuable association.
CHRIS WILLIAMS (CAPITAL AGGREGATES): From an individual interaction standpoint with NSSGA, I would echo what everyone else has said. The collection of colleagues who become friends – the same way that this event is – is valuable.
At every NSSGA event, you meet more people who become industry sources or friends. I’m very appreciative of that.
From a company perspective, the proactivity of NSSGA on our behalf continues to exceed my expectations. I know there’s Mike Johnson and turnover, and we recently lost Libby [Pritchard], who was amazing – especially on the safety and health front. But the amount of content and communication that comes out of the association for the benefit of all of us to run our business better is second to none.
RYAN MORALES (GULF COAST SAND): I echo that. It seems these days, especially on the Washington, D.C. front, that the loudest voice is normally the one that wins. It seems NSSGA has done a great job of being the ‘loudest’ voice.
Based on some other associations I’ve been a part of, it’s a refreshing and energizing position for us to be in because we’re in a very evolving industry. I feel like we’re on an upward slope, and I think the association has done a great job of representing us on those issues, as well as a great job of responding to us when needed.
KEVIN YANIK (PIT & QUARRY): Securing aggregate reserves is no easy task in some markets. Producers: What has your experience been like of late to establish a new operation or expand an existing one?
MURPHY: We’re in New York and New England. It’s very, very difficult to expand current operations, let alone greenfield. Local municipalities and activists are all operating against you, so you have to be very forthright in how you develop your community relations to prepare. You have to think decades out to get your plans in place.
WILLIAMS: In most of our core footprint, state-level permitting is pretty manageable. We can get a new quarry permitted pretty quickly.
However, in the last two years we’ve run into cities and counties where we’re trying to expand existing operations. Echoing what Damian said, it is on the verge of impossible.
The undertaking to expand an operation when elected or appointed officials are hearing a very emotional plea from a neighbor versus a very data-driven set of facts from the producer is immense. They just seem to routinely side with the emotional appeal from neighborhoods.
We’ve got to get ahead of this as an industry. We’ve got to stop hiding.
At the state level in Missouri, our trade association is developing a strategy around how we change our public image. I’m sure the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association is doing some of the same work trying to figure out how to highlight what we do and how important we are. But it’s a reality that if we don’t change perception and truly educate about our value, we’re going to end up in a lot of places where we can’t expand.
KRISTIN SWEENEY (US AGGREGATES): I’ll echo a lot of what Chris said. The environment in the Midwest, specifically in Indiana, is quite favorable to mining – in some ways, maybe a little too favorable. I think it’s too easy to enter the market.
But with that, depending on the community and how active they want to be, it can create challenges. There are some pretty loud communities.
RAYMOND SLAUGHTER (LUCK STONE): We’ve been doing our expansion down in the South Carolina market. I would say we’re definitely investing a lot of energy and resources around communicating what Luck is. We’re doing a lot of outreach to make sure people understand mining is good.
I think we’ve had really good success with that in trying to get the message across. It’s not that it’s easy, but I think we’ve been pretty successful recently getting some of our greenfields up and running. It’s no short task.
Related: Expectations for the 2025 aggregate market (Part 2)
