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POWDER COATING, March 2018 5 Celplast Metallized Products Ltd., Toronto, Ont. For more info about the event, visit www.aimcal.org. AIMCAL represents converters of metallized, coated, and laminated flexible substrates and their suppliers. SPE is the largest, most well- known plastics professional society in the world. Texas unveils rebuilding plan AUSTIN, Tex.—The state of Texas submitted a $61 billion rebuilding plan to Congress that detailed how it will re- build after Hurricane Harvey made landfall last summer. According to the plan, the lion's share (60 percent) of the funding would go to building up flood- prone areas while the remaining money would pay for thousands of property buyouts and other work. Texas leaders also pushed up the official damage esti- mate from $150 billion to $180 billion, meaning the request from the federal government won't even cover half of estimated expenses. Within the request is a plan to build up infrastructure more so than rebuilding what has been damaged. Future-proof- ing the coast will include building de- tention lakes, dredging canals, and the construction of the "Ike Dike," a $12 billion series of coastal spines. Those three barriers are proposed to prevent incoming storm surges and help water to be pumped out more easily. The billion-dollar buyout portion of the plan takes a page out of Super Storm Sandy recovery, when New York bought out and destroyed residential areas that were the most vulnerable and turned them into flood buffers. Atten- tion has also been called to the amount of historically designated areas that were also damaged. A specific plan for those areas has yet to be released. Saint-Gobain receives award for work with youths STAMFORD, Conn.—Saint-Gobain North America, a global building mate- rials manufacturer, was given the Cor- porate Citizenship Award by Chief Ex- ecutive Group for its partnership with YouthBuild USA and its efforts in help- ing to educate and train disadvantaged youths. For the last seven years, Saint- Gobain and YouthBuild have provided young adults with the training and skills needed to secure careers in the manu- facturing and construction industries following graduation from the pro- gram, providing them with a produc- tive path forward while helping Saint- Gobain find skilled workers who are trained to install and work with their building materials In addition to funding, the partnership includes a commitment to providing energy-efficient products, building sci- ence and technical expertise, and em- ployee volunteer support. Through this partnership, thousands of students' lives have been transformed and more than a dozen sustainable renovation projects have been completed. The program has also expanded internationally. Polychem launches new coating collection GAINESVILLE, Tex.—Polychem Powder Coatings has launched a new