Mississippi River Basin News-June 17, 2016

Week of June 13, 2016

Mississippi River Basin News

Northeast-Midwest Institute to Host Congressional Briefing on Efforts to Control Asian Carp in the Mississippi River Basin

Congressional briefing on efforts to control the spread of Asian carp in the Mississippi River basin, Wednesday, June 22, 1 PM to 2 PM-Dirksen Senate office building, room 562

The Northeast-Midwest Institute (NEMW), in conjunction with the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA), will hold a Congressional briefing on actions to address the threat of Asian carp in the Upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins, from 1 PM to 2 PM in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room SD-562. Participants at the briefing will include:

Aaron Woldt, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Asian Carp Coordinator--Asian carp management and control in the Upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins
Greg Conover, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and MICRA Coordinator--Current state of Asian carp threat in the Mississippi River basin
Ron Brooks, Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources and MICRA chairman--Current actions to address the Asian carp threat in the Ohio River basin
Nick Frohnauer, Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources--Current actions to address the Asian carp threat in the Upper Mississippi River basin
Thomas Crump, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers--Army Corps Asian carp activities in the upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins
Rip Shively, U.S. Geological Survey--Asian carp control tools and technologies
Mike Weimer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Co-Chair of the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee(ACRCC)--Coordinating and leveraging with the ACRCC Asian carp prevention and control efforts

This Week in Washington

Both the House and Senate moved toward an Interior and Environment appropriations package, passing bills out of committee this week. However, both chambers will have to deal with riders that could derail any chances of passage. Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees advanced the spending bills along party line votes, without a single Democrat voting to move forward with the legislation. While many of the policy riders attached to either bill would draw a veto should they ever come close to the President's desk, a few stand out. Both bills would block the EPA's Waters of the United States rule and the House went on to block the administration's Clean Power Plan as well. While the Senate did not specifically target the Clean Power Plan, many of the EPA accounts related to the plan were limited in the Senate's bill. Both the House and the Senate cut chunks from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, with House appropriating $322 million and the Senate coming in at $400 million. Last year's budget omnibus funded LWCF at $450 million. Timing for a vote on the floor of the House is still unclear, after the Energy and Water Appropriations bill failed several weeks ago and Senate Democrats are vowing to block any consideration on the floor of their Interior and Environment package. Click here for a more detailed breakdown of spending levels.

Chances of an Energy Bill conference continue to grow ever dimmer after another week in which the Senate refused to vote on proceeding to conference. Talks between Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell with House Energy and Commerce Chair Fred Upton and Ranking Member Frank Pallone took place this week, but failed to produce any meaningful progress towards a conferencing of the competing bills produced by both chambers. Cantwell continues to express serious reservations with several parts of the House bill she has called, "veto bait." The Senate's bill enjoyed broad bipartisan support during its passage. Murkowski has acknowledged that chances for going to conference and sending a bill to President Obama before the summer recess are now fairly slim.