The Economic Perspective 11/06/2026
The Latest Trending Economic, Environmental and Infrastructure News Curated for You by The Balmoral Group
The Balmoral Group provides practical, professional and precise Economics, Data Analytics, and Engineering Consulting services and is part of a globally integrated team.
Happy Friday!
Welcome back to the newest edition of the Economic Perspective! This week’s election brought encouraging news for conservation in Florida, with voters showing strong support for investments in land and water protection. In Brevard County, more than 75% of voters approved renewing the Save Our Indian River Lagoon (SOIRL) half-cent sales tax for another ten years, supporting projects to improve water quality and restore wildlife habitat. Marion County voters also overwhelmingly approved a measure to fund parks, farms, and springs protection. These results highlight the value Floridians place on protecting the natural resources that support our communities and local economies. Read more here and here!
In exciting TBG news, Andres Monsalve, P.E., was named the 2027 recipient of the WTS Central Florida Honorable Ray LaHood Award, which recognizes an outstanding male leader who has contributed to the advancement of women and minorities in the transportation industry. See LinkedIn post here. WTS Central Florida also announced its 2027 board, naming Cortney Cortez, TBG senior economist, as president. Congratulations, Andres and Cortney!
Our articles this week cover transportation measures on the ballot, the roadway construction safety conference, refinery expansions in the Americas, and more. Our Data Visualization explores bilateral development aid allocated to climate and environmental projects.
Transportation Measures on the Ballot
According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, there are roughly 300 measures in 22 states that were on the ballot on election day. While it is unclear how many were passed, $30 billion worth of new or renewed funding is ‘up for election’. Primarily, these measures renew votes for expiring funding streams, 86 are for new funding sources. Most of these funding streams are in the form of property, income, or sales taxes, though in Arizona, a ballot measure to determine whether the state is permitted to enact a vehicle miles traveled tax is on the docket. Read more about the election reports here and here.
SS United to be Turned into Artificial Reef
The SS United States will soon be scuttled in the Gulf to become the world’s largest artificial reef. The ship was purchased by Okaloosa County to be sunk as a reef back in 2024, but was held up in court decisions. A viewing party will be held on November 12th in Destin, Florida and the event will be livestreamed. The ship will hopefully create reef environments for ocean life in the Gulf and support growing restoration efforts for coral reefs. A museum and diving tours for the ship will be opened up in Okaloosa County as well. Read more here.
Roadway Construction Safety Conference
The National Work Zone Management Conference was held October 27th-29th in Reston, Virginia and members of the conference discussed best practices for keeping roadway workers safe on job sites. Speakers included David Keeling who is the assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Mark Kehrli who is the Director of the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Transportation Operations, and various representatives from private firms. An estimated 113,000 work zone crashes occurred in 2024 in the US resulting in 850 fatalities, 100 of which were construction workers. The hope is to continue to reduce these numbers to the lowest possible incident rates. Read more here and here
White House Plans to Roll-back Methane Rules
The White House announced last Tuesday that it plans to ease regulations on methane, which is the second largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide. The EPA had previously previewed changes this month to loosen regulations on methane leaks at lower-production oil wells and other changes as well. The EPA and the White House both are signaling wanting to lower regulations on natural gas production to ease increased fuel and transportation costs associated with elevated oil prices. Critics are arguing the highly potent effect methane has on climate change is too much of a cost - about one third of all global warming can be attributed to methane. Read more here
Refinery Expansions in the Americas
To combat rising gas and diesel prices and meet demand, various refineries across the country have been completed, restarted, expanded, or opened. Valero has acquired a refinery in Houston from LyondellBasel which is in the process of being restarted. This will provide 165,000 barrels per day of production. PBF Energy has also restarted refineries in California and New Jersey after making repairs to them. Phillips 66 reported a 98% utilization rate at its refineries with a strong focus toward distillates at 41% of total outputs. Brazil is also increasing crude output as production rates rise by 12% over this past year at their state-owned Petrobras’ locations. American refineries, drilling, and other oil and gas production sites continue to see increased production rates over this year to meet current supply issues driven by the Iran War. Read more here and here
Microplastics Changing the Color of the Ocean
In the Pacific Ocean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has accumulated enough microplastic material that the color of the water is changing. Becoming significantly bluer and greener, this collected mass of microplastics has altered not just the color but the biology of this area of the ocean as well. Researchers used 20 years of satellite data to see the color change and combined with ongoing tests of ocean water and how microplastics affect ocean water color. The hope is that this data can be used to see how ocean environments respond to microplastic pollution. Besides known plastic accumulation in the food chain and the impact this has on the health of larger animals, total impacts are still unclear and being researched. Read more here.
Data Visualization of the Week
Foreign Aid Spent on Climate Change in 2024
Developmental aid going to nations can often have climate and/or environmental related stipulations. Of the bilateral aid that is directed toward developing nations roughly $50 billion went toward climate-related projects or with climate-related stipulations. $17 billion was toward mitigation, $16 billion was toward adaptation, and $17 billion went to projects covering both. This represents nearly 25% of all the $210 billion in bilateral aid given out in 2024. About $31 billion were for projects with climate related objectives as a secondary goal, while about $19 billion climate and environmental support was a main objective. Read more here.
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