In case you missed it: NEMWI and the U .S. Geological Survey yesterday  r eleased a new study on water quality monitoring in the Susquehanna River Basin. The study found that current water quality monitoring is inadequate for detecting potential surface water or groundwater impacts of shale gas development activities in the Susquehanna River Basin. NEMWI will present the study findings in a webinar at 11:00 AM (EST) this Thursday, February 11. Register here. More information is available here on our website.

Last Thursday, stakeholders from around the Great Lakes region convened in the Dirksen Senate Office Building for NEMWI's annual Great Lakes Environmental Summit. The objective of the Summit, an event of NEMWI's Great Lakes Washington Program, was to bring together stakeholders and discuss legislative opportunities in the second session of the 114th Congress to advance the environmental health of the Great Lakes. Participants at the Summit included Members of Congress, non-governmental organizations, federal agencies, states, industry, and Congressional staff involved with Great Lakes federal policy issues. Kicking off the Summit were Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) and David Joyce (R-OH), who serve on the House Appropriations Committee and are key leaders in Washington on Great Lakes issues. In her remarks, Representative Kaptur stressed the importance of federal investment in Great Lakes infrastructure and the need to look at the Great Lakes region as a single interconnected system. Representative Joyce discussed the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act (H.R. 223), which would authorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for five years. Later in the program, Representative Dan Kildee (D-MI) provided an update on the Flint drinking water crisis and the work that he is doing in Congress to help his constituents as they try to move forward.