Upcoming Briefing on September 5th to Address Great Lakes Regional Green Infrastructure
Please join the Great Lakes Commission and Northeast-Midwest Institute for a briefing and report launch for: Great Lakes Regional Green Infrastructure Policy Analysis: Addressing Barriers to Implementation Wednesday, September 5, 2018 2:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. EDT Cannon House Office Building Room 122 27 Independence Avenue Southeast Washington, D.C. 20003 Please RSVP by August 31.
Throughout the Great Lakes basin, communities are faced with growing stormwater management challenges. Green infrastructure (GI) can serve as a key aspect of local stormwater solutions by decreasing the volume of water running into sewers and streams and improving water quality by trapping sediment and nutrients. GI includes a broad variety of stormwater management tactics like natural features and rain gardens, green roofs, and porous pavement, that mimic nature and increase infiltration of stormwater.
Local communities are generally at the forefront of stormwater management, challenges, and innovation, but municipalities' capacity to develop GI is heavily influenced by federal, state, and provincial policy. Many policies and funding programs can foster GI implementation, while others either do little to incentivize GI or amplify unnecessary barriers. This report is targeted to federal, state, and provincial policymakers that can help create enabling conditions for local GI progress. The key policy recommendations identified are designed to reduce barriers and provide a stronger foundation for communities to advance GI.
Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Obama Era Clean Water Rule
On Thursday, August 16th, a federal judge in South Carolina issued an injunction against the Trump Administration's delayed implementation of the Obama Administration's Waters of the U.S. Rule, also known as WOTUS or the Clean Water Rule.
The Trump administration had suspended WOTUS since February while the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers worked to develop a replacement rule with a narrower scope.
The injunction was the result of litigation initiated by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of multiple environmental organizations. The lawsuit claimed that the delayed implementation of WOTUS failed to follow the Administrative Procedure Act's requirements, and the court agreed.
WOTUS now applies to 26 states, including Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota.
When the Trump administration proposed the repeal of WOTUS in 2017, the Northeast-Midwest Institute submitted public comments in opposition. Those comments are available
here.
For more information, please contact Eric Heath, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
EPA Receives 62 Loan Requests for WIFIA
The Environmental Protection Agency received 62 submissions for loan requests through WIFIA, a water financing program for FY 2018. The loan requests totaled $9.1 billion, up from the $6 billion requested last year from 43 submissions. Seven of the 62 requests came from the Northeast-Midwest states. More details are available here.
For more information, please contact Dr. Sri Vedachalam, Director of the Safe Drinking Water Research and Policy Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
This Week in Washington
The House is not in session this week.
The following are Senate hearings and markups of interest to the region.
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources' Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Legislative Hearing will hold a legislative hearing on Wednesday, August 22, at 10:00 a.m. EDT in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. During the hearing, the Subcommittee will receive testimony on a number of bills, which are listed here.
NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
