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Congressional
Briefing on
Asian Carp Today at 2:00 PM
What: Congressional Briefing on the ACRCC's 2017 Asian Carp Monitoring and Response Plan and the Upper Illinois Waterway Contingency Response Plan
When: Monday, July 24 at 2:00 PM
Where: Rayburn House Office Building 2253
The Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ACRCC) will host a Congressional Briefing today on the 2017 Asian Carp Monitoring
and Response Plan and the Upper Illinois Waterway Contingency Response Plan.
With the recent finding of a silver carp below the T.J. O'Brien Lock and Dam in June, the briefing will focus on the ACRCC's two week intensive sampling of the Illinois waterway, as outlined in the Contingency Response Plan.
Participants at the briefing will include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Environmental and Protection Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMWI Releases New
Appropriations Fact Sheet
As part of its work tracking funding levels for programs key to the Northeast-Midwest region, NEMWI is preparing fact sheets on appropriations bills as they exit House and Senate markup sessions.
The continued funding of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) at $300 million is highlighted by the
Interior and Environment fact sheet. The President's FY18 budget request zeroed out GLRI, resulting in bipartisan
House and
Senate letters urging continued funding for this key regional program. Additionally, $30 million is included for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program, with $25 million of that being provided for direct loan subsidization which may translate into a potential loan capacity in excess of $3 billion to eligible entities for water infrastructure projects.
More NEMWI analysis and appropriations tracking can be found on the NEMWI website
here.
More fact sheets will be released as appropriations markups progress this week.
Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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Senators Peters and Young Introduce ESI Map Legislation
Last week, Senators Gary Peters (MI) and Todd Young (IN) introduced
S.1586, a bipartisan bill updating the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration's (NOAA) Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps and products in the Great Lakes. ESI maps are an essential tool for oil spill responders and coastal zone managers to prepare and respond to potential spills, while protecting the habitat, species, and structures that are most vulnerable to them.
ESI maps provide a critical overview of at-risk coastal resources such as endangered species, sensitive shoreline habitats, beaches, and parks. While ESI maps in the East, West, and Gulf coasts have all been updated over the last five years, it has been more than two decades since the Great Lakes ESI maps have been revisited.
Senator Peters serves on the Senate Great Lakes Task Force and is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmospheres, Fisheries, and Coast Guard. Senator Young is the Republican Vice-Chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force and also a member of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmospheres, Fisheries, and Coast Guard. More details about the bill can be found
here.
Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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Growing Body of Evidence Suggests Renewables Are Not Threats to Grid Reliability
Critics of the growing use of renewable energy sources have repeatedly argued that they pose a threat to the stability of the electrical grid and that pro-renewable policies are a threat to non-renewable plants. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that these concerns may be overstated.
In June, the Natural Resources Defense Council released a
report that concluded that renewables like solar and wind do not threaten grid reliability. The study, commissioned by NRDC but conducted by the global economics consulting firm Brattle, concluded that no one power source is necessary to protect a reliable grid. In other words, nuclear and coal plants do not occupy a special position as "baseload" sources.
A
report by Analysis Group made a related conclusion-coal and nuclear plants are retiring because of cheap natural gas and lack of growth in electricity demand, not as a result of policies encouraging renewable energy.
Joining these reports is a draft of a Department of Energy
study that concluded renewables do not threaten the reliability of the grid. In addition, at a
hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy last week, most witnesses' testimony concluded that renewables do not threaten grid reliability nor have pro-renewable policies forced the closure of non-renewable plants.
While there are many options for energy policy going forward, a growing body of evidence suggests that concerns about threats posed by renewable energy, either to grid stability or to older power plants, should not be significant concerns.
For more information, contact
Joe Vukovich, Senior Policy Analyst for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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This Week on Capitol Hill
As of July 19, the House Committee on Appropriations has finished marking up appropriations bills. The Senate Committee on Appropriations will be marking up appropriations bills all this week and into August.
This week, the full Senate Appropriations Committee will markup the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill and the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill.
A full list of key Congressional committee activity that impacts the region can be viewed below:
Wednesday, July 26th
Thursday, July 27th
Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
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