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4 POWDER COATING, November 2016 Institute formally judges the submissions from among scores of nominated tech- nologies. Winners of the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award re- duce the use of energy, hazardous chem- icals, and water while cutting manufac- turing costs and sparking investments. Southern Fluid Systems expands ATLANTA, Ga.—Southern Fluid Sys- tems Inc., a provider of powder coating and liquid coating systems and service in the southeast, has announced its ex- pansion into a new 31,000-square-foot facility. The new facility, located in the Gateway Industrial Park in Atlanta, Ga., will be renovated and ready for a November opening date. OSHA awards $10.5 million in workplace safety and health training grants WASHINGTON, D.C.—The US De- partment of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has awarded $10.5 million in 1-year federal safety and health training grants to 77 nonprofit organizations nationwide. The grants will provide training and ed- ucation for workers and employers on the recognition, avoidance, and preven- tion of safety and health hazards in their workplaces. They will also inform work- ers of their rights and employers of their responsibilities under the OSH Act. The Susan Harwood Training Grants Program funds grants to nonprofit or- ganizations, including community or faith-based groups, employer associa- tions, labor unions, joint labor and management associations, colleges, and universities. Target trainees include small-business employers and under- served vulnerable workers in high-haz- ard industries. The program has pro- vided training for approximately 2.1 million workers since 1978. The train- ing grant program's name honors Susan Harwood, a former director of the Of- fice of Risk Assessment in OSHA's for- mer Directorate of Health Standards, who passed away in 1996. OSHA is awarding approximately $3.6 million in new targeted topic training grants to 28 organizations to develop materials and programs addressing workplace hazards and prevention strategies. These grant types require re- cipients to address occupational safety and health topics designated by OSHA, including silica, confined spaces, work- place violence, and other workplace hazards. In addition, 11 organizations will receive approximately $1.5 million in new capacity building grants to pro- vide occupational safety and health training, education, and related assis- tance to workers and employers in tar- geted populations. One of the 11 orga- nizations will receive a capacity-build- ing pilot grant designed to assist organi- zations in assessing their needs and for- mulating a capacity-building plan be- fore launching a full-scale safety and health education program. OSHA also awarded approximately $4 million in follow-on grants to 26 capac- ity-building developmental grantees and $1.4 million in follow-on grants to 12 targeted topic grantees that per- formed satisfactorily during the fiscal year 2015 grant year. Dow, DuPont deal hits regulatory snag WILMINGTON, Dela.—The pro- posed merger of two chemical giants has hit a roadblock as the European Union's antitrust authority halted its review of the transaction, citing missing informa- tion. The European Commission had initiated a Phase II review in August to determine whether the proposed merger-of-equals between The Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont is in line with the EU Merger Regulation. Just about a month later, the EC announced it was halting its review process because the companies had failed to submit re- quired data. Extensions during EU merger reviews are not uncommon. At the time the deal was announced, the companies forecast completion of the transaction by the second half of 2016, if federal antitrust regulatory commis- sioners approved the deal. The timeline later shifted to early 2017 when the EC announced a revised review deadline. With the current postponement of the investigation, the review deadline is likely to be pushed back further. Once the missing information is supplied by the parties, the clock is restarted and the deadline for the commission's decision is then adjusted accordingly. Upon completion of the $130 billion deal, the companies plan to form a new entity, DowDuPont Inc., that would later split into three separate indepen- dent, publicly traded companies focused on material science, agriculture, and spe- cialty products. The paints and coatings industry has focused on the side of the deal that will combine the two chemical and coatings titans into powerful inno- vation and material science leaders. The EC's concerns, however, lay on the agri- cultural side of the business, saying the proposed merger would create the world's largest integrated crop protec- tion and seeds company. The merger is currently undergoing related reviews in the US, Canada and Brazil. PPG backs its hometown team PITTSBURGH, Pa.—With its global headquarters in town and 2,300 em- ployees in the region, PPG says it's proud to call Pittsburgh home. The coatings giant took that pride one step further by acquiring the naming rights of the National Hockey League's Pitts- burgh Penguins arena. The facility will now be known as PPG Paints Arena. Previously known as the Consol Energy Center, the facility, which opened in 2010, has hosted more than 150 events each year as well as serving as the home ice for the Stanley Cup champions. Fi- nancial terms of PPG's agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins were not dis- closed. The agreement calls for the building to be renamed immediately and to remain so named for 20 years. PPG also says it has become the team's official paint supplier and that signage both inside and outside the arena will soon bear the new name and logo. The company's paints and protective coat- ings products were used throughout the facility at the time of construction. In addition to the new brand presence at the arena, PPG says it will also have name recognition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Lemieux Sports Complex in nearby Cranberry, Pa., which serves as the primary practice and training facility for the NHL team as well as an outpatient facility for UPMC Sports Medicine.