The NPCA and its California Paint Council are "intensely engaged" in an effort to scale back the state of California's "Environmentally Preferable Products" Database initiative.
The major suppliers of titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigments, citing strong economic growth rates and rising demand, recently announced the latest of several price-increase moves taken since the start of the year. Price hikes of 6¢/lb. were announced for the United States, effective Oct. 1, with comparable increases announced for other regions of the world.
Kerr-McGee Chemical L.L.C. announced plans to shut down sulfate titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigment production at the company's Savannah, GA, site in a move the company said would take effect by the end of September.
ASTM International, the U.S.-based standards-development organization, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the national standards body of China, the Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China (SAC).
In a significant development for the coatings industry in the state with the nation's toughest environmental regulations on coatings, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the appointment of Ellis Paint Co. President and CEO Sandra (Sandy) Berg to the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo announced that Dunn-Edwards Corp. and company owner Ken Edwards are contributing $600,000 to the College of Science and Mathematics' Western Coatings Technology Center at the university.
The Cleveland Society for Coatings Technology announced preliminary plans for the 48th annual Technical Symposium of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Societies for Coatings Technology, scheduled for May 2005.
Testimony began last week in a $1.4 billion asbestos trial in Angleton, TX, in which Kelly-Moore Paint Co. is seeking a verdict against Union Carbide Corp., now a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Co. Kelly-Moore is the target of thousands of asbestos claims filed by individuals who say they were harmed by asbestos-containing products formerly made by the San Carlos, CA, coatings manufacturer and retailer.
The fortunes of major coatings manufacturers continued to improve in the second quarter, building on the momentum of late 2003 and the first quarter of 2004.
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