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W E E K L Y  U P D A T E  October 10, 2017
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NEMWI Submits Comment on the
2017 Draft U.S. Action Plan for Lake Erie

NEMWI has provided a comment on the 2017 Draft U.S. Action Plan for Lake Erie ("Plan") to the Environmental Protection Agency. The Plan presents a summary of efforts to reduce nutrient loading and minimize problems of excessive algal growth in Lake Erie by each of the five Great Lakes states within the Lake Erie watershed, as well as federal agencies. The goal of the Plan is to enable the Lake Erie state and federal agencies to track their progress toward meeting phosphorus reduction goals in Lake Erie, working toward binational phosphorus reduction targets set under Annex 4 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
 
In its comment,  NEMWI reviewed the Strategy and made several suggestions regarding more detailed and definite descriptions of planned actions and how they are linked to phosphorus reduction, among other items. In addition, NEMWI reminded the Great Lakes state and federal agencies that an effective monitoring plan for Lake Erie tributaries should target a variety of watershed scales and loading sources, and occur at significant frequencies over a period of time such that an adequate number of samples are obtained to detect trends in nutrient concentrations.
 
NEMWI's comment also recognized that the U.S. Action Plan for Lake Erie is a major step toward reducing nutrients in Lake Erie, and commended the Great Lakes state and federal agencies on its creation.
 
For more information, contact Ankita Mandelia, Policy Analyst for the Towards Sustainable Water Information Program, Dr. Sridhar Vedachalam, Director of the Safe Drinking Water Policy and Research Program, or Matthew McKenna, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program.
Harmful Algal Bloom
Legislation Passes U.S. Senate

On September 26 the U.S. Senate approved S.1057, the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 2017, a bipartisan bill to combat harmful algal blooms in both fresh and coastal waters. Senators Portman (OH) and Peters (MI) were original cosponsors, and Senators Schumer (NY), Baldwin (WI), and Brown (OH) also cosponsored the bill.

The bill reauthorizes the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998--which governs federal inter-agency efforts to research and respond to hypoxia and harmful algal bloom events--all the way through FY 2022. Additionally, t he bill also adds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia and requires the Task Force to submit to Congress a scientific assessment of harmful algal blooms in U.S. waters at least every five years.

In August 2014, a harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie led to water use bans affecting hundreds of thousands in Ohio and Michigan.

For more information, contact  Matthew McKenna, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
Upcoming Summit: Manufacturing
a Better Paying Pennsylvania

October 17, 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM
60 Boulevard of the Allies, Floor 13
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222

The Century Foundation's High Wage America Project will be co-sponsoring a summit featuring addresses by United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard and Pennsylvania State Senator Kim Ward.

Two panels, featuring leaders from government, business, workforce and community development, and labor, will lay the groundwork for a bold agenda to build an advanced and inclusive manufacturing economy--showcasing examples of economic growth already underway in Pennsylvania and other similar communities across the country.

For more information and to register, please click here .
EPA Releases Draft Strategic Plan, Invites Public Comments

Last week the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it had released its draft strategic plan for 2018-2022. The plan, which is 38 pages long, lays out the agency's strategic vision for the next five years. The announcement accompanying the plan summarized the goals of the agency as:
  • Core Mission: Deliver real results to provide Americans with clean air, land, and water.
  • Cooperative Federalism: Rebalance the power between Washington and the states to create tangible environmental results for the American people.
  • Rule of Law and Process: Administer the law, as Congress intended, to refocus the Agency on its statutory obligations under the law.
Members of the public interested in commenting on the proposed strategic plan may do so here. The deadline is October 31, 2017.

For more information, contact Joe Vukovich, Senior Policy Analyst for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
This Week on Capitol Hill

The House will vote on a supplemental spending bill for disaster relief in response to the devastating hurricanes that have hit Florida, Texas, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. The current bill provides an additional  $13 billion to FEMA and includes $16 billion for debt relief for the federal flood insurance program . The House also plans to take up the Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act (S.585), a bill that provides government whistle-blowers more protections under the law.

The Senate will be in recess all of this week. It will reconvene on Monday, October 16.

A full list of key Congressional committee activity that impacts the region can be viewed below:

Wednesday, October 11
  • The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a markup session of H.R.3990, a bill to amend title 54, United States Code, to reform the Antiquities Act of 1906. The markup session will be at 4:00 PM in 1334 Longworth House Office Building. 
Thursday, October 12
For more information, please email staff@nemw.org

NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation