Duvall Studios

07/22/2026

The administration has given a regulatory green light to miners, oil drillers, and Trump himself.

07/22/2026

🚨 Important Preservation Policy Update

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) is considering sweeping revisions to the regulations that implement Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the federal review process that helps ensure the effects of federally funded, permitted, and licensed projects on historic and cultural resources are considered.

If adopted, the proposed changes could:
❗️Give federal agencies greater authority over preservation decisions and sole discretion to determine when competing priorities (e.g., budget and schedule) outweigh historic preservation concerns.
❗️Exempt certain types of federally involved projects subject to Section 106 review.
❗️Narrow the definition of historic properties by excluding certain cultural landscapes, including mountains, valleys, and ethnographic landscapes, reducing protections for Tribal sacred sites and Traditional Cultural Properties.
❗️Diminish and potentially eliminate the role and influence of State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs), Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs), local governments (including Certified Local Governments), consulting parties, and the public.
❗️Replace collaborative consultation and negotiated solutions with agency-directed decision-making without public input.

For nearly 60 years, Section 106 has helped communities work together to protect places that tell our nation's story. NAPC believes local voices must continue to have a meaningful role in that process.

What can you do?
📢 Contact your Members of Congress and express your concerns about advancing significant changes to the Section 106 regulations without adequate public review and stakeholder engagement.
📖 If you've seen Section 106 lead to a positive preservation outcome in your community, we'd love to hear your story. Share it with us here: https://forms.gle/i8HSR9nc13oKEeJT9

We'll continue to provide updates, analysis, and resources as more information becomes available.

Attending FORUM 2026? Join the NAPC Advisory Group on Thursday, July 23, for a discussion about these proposed changes and what they could mean for preservation at the local level. Your perspective will help inform NAPC's advocacy and ensure local voices are part of the national conversation.

07/20/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=122306970944023150&id=61550694509985

France is transforming parking lots into clean energy generators, and it may be one of the most practical climate policies introduced in recent years.

Since July 2023, French law has required parking lots with 80 or more spaces to cover at least half of their surface area with solar canopies. Parking lots with more than 400 spaces must meet the requirement by 2026, while smaller qualifying lots have until 2028 to comply.

The idea is remarkably simple.

Instead of clearing farmland or natural habitats for new solar farms, use land that has already been paved. Parking lots spend most of the day exposed to direct sunlight, making them ideal locations for generating electricity without changing how the land is already used.

The potential is significant. Estimates suggest that if half of France's parking lots were equipped with solar canopies, they could provide between 6.75 and 11.25 gigawatts of installed solar capacity—roughly comparable to the generating capacity of around ten nuclear reactors.

The advantages extend well beyond electricity.

Solar canopies provide shade, reducing temperatures in large paved areas and helping to ease the urban heat island effect. They keep parked vehicles cooler during hot weather, protect them from intense sunlight, rain, and hail, and make parking more comfortable for drivers. Electric vehicle owners benefit as well, since cooler cars require less energy to run their air conditioning after being parked.

France is not the only country moving in this direction. South Korea has also introduced policies requiring solar installations on large public parking lots beginning in late 2025.

The opportunity is even greater elsewhere. With an estimated 800 million parking spaces, the United States has enormous untapped potential to generate clean electricity by making use of infrastructure that already exists, reducing the need to develop additional land for renewable energy projects.

Sometimes the most effective climate solutions are not the most complicated.

They simply make better use of the space we already have.

Source: Chester, M., Horvath, A., & Madanat, S. (2010). Environmental Research Letters.

07/19/2026

Pardon my belch.

07/16/2026

Rhino coatings (not RINO), famous for the “never paint again” ceramic house paint.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2026/07/16/reflecting-pool-peeling-likely-caused-by-application-flaws-experts-say/?

President Donald Trump has blamed vandals, but a Washington Post analysis finds that the peeling tracks closely with stages of the renovation process.

07/15/2026

No TV, but the promised radio was there. Can you spot the elusive replacement tiles?

07/10/2026

The Port acquired a major property portfolio, once owned by notorious landlord John Klosterman, out of receivership at the request of the city

Story link below ⬇️

07/10/2026

Our Dear Leader does not understand the value of patina.

Restoration work began after the president saw “door dings in the pillars” and ordered up repairs, the interior secretary said.

07/09/2026

“Structural foam”, what a hoot!