New Weekly Update from NEMWI

NEMWI Weekly

Update

April 20th, 2026

Environment and Public Works Committee Holds Hearing on Great Lakes Restoration

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) held a hearing on Wednesday, April 15th, to discuss restoration efforts in the Great Lakes and the demonstrated successes of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) in advancing environmental and economic development priorities across the region. Providing witness testimony were Mary Mertz, Director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and former chair of the Great Lakes Commission; Dr. Christopher Winslow, Director of the Ohio Sea Grant Program and Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory; and Dr. Holly Bamford, Chief Conservation Officer at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF).

The Great Lakes support a $6 trillion regional economy, supply 90% of U.S. surface freshwater, and provide clean drinking water to more than 40 million people. Senator Jon Husted (R-OH) described them as a vital “environmental and economic asset,” providing 1.5 million jobs that generate $62 billion in wages annually. Central to preserving and enhancing the health of the Great Lakes is the Great Lakes Restoration Program (GLRI), a nonregulatory, bipartisan federal program that brings together federal and state leadership, scientific expertise, and local voices to deliver measurable results for the region’s environmental, public health, and economic development objectives. The GLRI addresses five priorities: toxic substances and areas of concern (AOCs), invasive species, non-point source pollution, wildlife habitat, and capacity building for future restoration efforts.

Senators and witnesses alike highlighted the central role of interagency collaboration in advancing Great Lakes restoration, particularly through the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, established by executive order in 2004. Chaired by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Task Force coordinates strategies and projects across sixteen federal agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). These agencies work closely with the eight Great Lakes states, 35 Great Lakes tribes, regional bodies, universities, local communities, Canadian federal and provincial partners, and other nonfederal project implementers to advance long-term management and restoration. According to Dr. Winslow, such partnership is essential to the initiative’s success: “GLRI works because it aligns people, resources, and expertise towards solutions” and leverages “truly multi-agency coordination, not siloed funding,” he remarked.

In her opening statement, Dr. Mertz shared how Ohio has leveraged federal GLRI dollars to amplify the impact of state investments aimed at addressing harmful algal blooms and invasive species. For example, $5.9 million in GLRI funding, combined with $8 million from the H2Ohio water quality initiative, enabled the ODNR, in partnership with the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, to restore two islands in the Maumee River—an effort that has measurably reduced phosphorus loading into Lake Erie. Phosphorus runoff in the Maumee River watershed is the largest contributor to harmful algal blooms in the Western Lake Erie Basin. Through H2Ohio, over 20,000 acres of wetlands have been created or restored, absorbing 60,000 pounds of phosphorus per year. ODNR has also utilized GLRI funding to proactively sever waterway connections through which invasive carp could enter the Great Lakes Basin, identified in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as to remove grass carp already in Lake Erie in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, and federal agencies like FWS and USGS.

Dr. Winslow further testified to the tangible benefits of restoration projects funded by the GLRI, especially those remediating environmentally-degraded sites in the Great Lakes Basin. He cited the delisting of eight out of 26 U.S. AOCs as the product of “years of coordination and collaboration between federal agencies, state agencies, tribal governments, researchers, and communities on the ground.” He emphasized the direct impact of this work in helping local economies thrive. “Waters are now fishable. Shorelines see increased recreation…and waterfronts are accessible. We see increased economic activity. The communities see vibrant growth…These are not symbolic wins, these are places the people can use again.”

In Toledo, GLRI-supported monitoring and forecasting of harmful algal blooms have better prepared resource managers to respond to drinking water threats. “This is what success looks like. It’s not just restoring ecosystems, but protecting people,” Dr. Winslow urged.

Responding to Chair Shelley Moore Capito’s concern about whether competing priorities interfere with state-federal agency partnerships or coordination among the Great Lakes states and Canada, Dr. Mertz assured that work is “far more collaborative than it’s ever competitive.” Sen. Husted affirmed this sentiment: “All the Great Lakes systems get along because we’re all connected.”

As the only member of the EPW Committee that represents a Great Lakes state, Sen. Husted underscored the necessarily-interconnected nature of restoration efforts. He highlighted, for example, the importance of USDA’s involvement, noting that “the interaction with agriculture in the Great Lakes basin is a huge issue.” Indeed, the majority of the nutrients driving harmful algal blooms originate from agricultural landscapes. Dr. Winslow likewise remarked how administering GLRI investments in non-point source pollution reduction through the USDA is critical to linking water-based and agricultural communities. “You need USDA to get that funding because they have that relationship with the farmers,” he stressed. The GLRI supports this systems-level approach, engaging affected communities, sea and land grant extension educators, farmers, and crop advisors in “collaborative planning and implementation and monitoring.”

Dr. Winslow also observed that the GLRI has “created a synergy and a relationship between agencies and academics that’s never happened before.” Collaboration between universities and agencies to monitor progress on investments ensures that “every wetland…and nature-based shoreline we do in the future will be better.” Dr. Mertz spoke to the practical importance of coordinating with applied researchers and water quality experts to determine whether natural infrastructure projects are generating their intended benefits. “I’ve got to prove to our state legislature and to [Congress] that we’ve got that ROI on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative,” she stressed.

Dr. Bamford pointed to the GLRI as “one of the nation’s strongest examples of how sustained federal leadership can deliver measurable results at a regional scale” and urged the Committee to strengthen its funding. “Funding stability through GLRI allows partners to plan restoration efforts, coordinate across jurisdictions, and tackle conservation challenges at the watershed scale,” she stated. The NFWF has been a core implementing partner of the GLRI since its inception, awarding $140 million across 530 projects, resulting in the restoration of nearly 60,000 acres of wetlands and upland habitats and the reconnection of over 2,600 miles of streams for fish passage. The NFWF also works closely with NOAA and other federal agencies to administer the National Coastal Resilience Fund (NCRF), established in 2018 and championed by Ranking Member Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) to invest in nature-based solutions for reducing flooding and protecting communities, including those in the Great Lakes region. Dr. Bamford testified that the NCRF has received over $3.8 billion in funding requests from coastal communities across the country, yet has met less than 20% of that demand due to constrained funding resources. “The gap between what communities need and what is available is substantial and growing, and it reflects a national demand for exactly the kind of nature-based solutions that programs like GLRI and the National Coastal Resilience Fund make possible.”

She concluded by stating that, “through GLRI and the National Coastal Resilience Fund, NFWF’s partnership with EPA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and NOAA, we have a proven model: invest in natural systems that work, leverage federal dollars for greater impact, and hold ourselves accountable for measurable results.”

Find the full hearing here.

Reported by NEMWI Intern Samantha Malcolm, University of Michigan

House Appropriations Subcommittee Holds Budget Hearing on Army Corps of Engineers and

Bureau of Reclamation

The House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies held a hearing on Thursday, April 16 to discuss the fiscal year 2027 budget request for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation.

Chairman Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), began his opening statement by highlighting the Subcommittee’s “long history of supporting the water infrastructure needs that our nation relies upon to ensure America maintains its competitive advantage in transporting goods, protecting life and property, and supplying water to our farmers and citizens.” He added that the President’s Budget “provided a budget request for the Corps that totals $6.7 billion,” which is even with the request from last year, but “a reduction of over $3 billion from our fiscal 26 enacted level.”

Ranking Member Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) expressed that she is unhappy with “the President's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget [because] its cuts for the Corps and the Bureau are not just misguided, they are dangerous. Slashing the Corps budget by $3.8 billion, a 36% decrease, and cutting reclamations budget by $358 million will erode our infrastructure, and ultimately raise costs on everyday Americans and make their lives worse.” The Corps performs a lot of critical work in the Great Lakes basin. “We know we’ve needed the Corps to modernize projects like the Soo Locks to turbocharge our economy and keep maritime shipping lanes competitive and open,” Rep. Kaptur said, and “we need to advance without further delay the construction of the Brandon Road Project to stop invasive carp from devastating the Great Lakes fishing industry and recreational boating industries.”

Lieutenant General William H. Graham Jr, Chief of Engineers and Commanding General for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asserted in his opening statement that “we’re a great investment for the American people.” He brought up the significance of the Corps in the Great Lakes region through “the navigation program, which consists of our coastal Great Lakes channels, as well as the inland rivers and our key intercoastal waterways. It underpins much of this nation’s economy, ensuring that commodities can move reliably and efficiently."

Ranking Member Kaptur’s first question was in regard to funding for the Soo Locks. “When do you expect the Department to respond to the pending request for an appropriate, needed adjustment to the salary rate for Soo Lock operators to maintain critical operations there?”, she asked Adam R. Telle, Assistant Secretary of the Army, Civil Works, “and what are you doing to specifically prompt that response?”

Mr. Telle responded with the numbers. “There was $176 million in the FY 26 work plan, and there’s $78 million in the President’s FY 27 budget,” he stated. “This is important to the nation. It’s important to the entire Upper Midwest. We all share that, and we want to see this project complete.”

Ranking Member Kaptur’s second question regarded dredge material, and was posed to General Graham. She asked: “Do you share General [former Chief Engineer Scott] Spellmon’s goal of a 70% use of dredged material for beneficial use by 2030? And can you commit to me that you will continue to prioritize the development of dredge material management plans in Ohio?” Graham agreed with the goal, and was optimistic that it would be met, as “when we checked earlier, we’re at almost 40 some percent. We’re not going to stop here,” he promised. “Redoing the dredge material management plans for all those seven harbors with the Buffalo district is ongoing. That’s a great step in the right direction.”

During Representative Frank J. Mrvan’s (D-IN) questioning, there was some contention with Mr. Telle. Mrvan first asked about the Army Corps’ Chicago district, of critical importance to the Great Lakes. “My question is simple,” Rep. Mrvan asked. “Can you assure me that there are adequate resources provided for operating in the maintenance and salaries and overhead to ensure that the Corps is fulfilling its navigational mission in the Great Lakes?”

“Congressman, sir, absolutely,” Telle responded. “The President’s budget adequately funds those operation and maintenance activities.” Then, Mrvan claimed that in the aftermath of a memo sent by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last year, it has become difficult for his office to communicate with the Corps. The memo imposed a requirement that DoD officials get permission from the Department’s Legislative Affairs office before communicating with Congress. Mr. Telle denied that there had been an intentional breakdown in communications, saying that it had only taken time for Corps’ personnel to understand the new rule. “For you to say there’s been no cutoff of communications is inaccurate,” Rep. Mrvan retorted. “There has been. And I’m not blaming you, but let’s just call it what it is.” Rep. Mrvan pressed, “Your testimony is that I can call my district office, ask a communicative question about how we should do projects in the future and how projects are going, and they will answer me?” Telle was adamant that statement was true, except “where it violates an administration rule.”

Reported by NEMWI Intern Asia Simms, Northeastern University graduate

House Appropriations Subcommittee Holds U.S. Forest Service Budget Hearing

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies held a hearing on the Fiscal Year 2027 President’s Budget for the U.S. Forest Service on April 16. The budget proposes dramatic cuts to the Forest Service’s budget and movement of the Wildland Fire Management Account to the Department of Interior. Tom Schultz, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, stated that “The ‘27 budget request reduces or eliminates some aspects of federal funding from the Forest Service budget to ensure stewardship of the American taxpayer dollars and to better balance appropriate roles of federal and state governments.”

Chief Schultz emphasized the role that states will now have to take in funding, staff, and expertise in order to manage the National Forest Service following these budget cuts. However, the FY27 budget request also eliminates funding for all state, private, and tribal forestry programs. This includes state fire assistance, volunteer fire assistance, forest stewardship, and urban and community forestry.

Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN) expressed concern over the Forest Service’s proposed reorganization that would close several of the Service’s facilities and move their headquarters from Washington D.C. to Salt Lake City, UT. Fifty-seven research stations have been preliminarily identified for closure, two of which would be in northern Minnesota by the Superior Chippewa National Forest. In response to this concern, Chief Schultz assured her that many of the facilities being closed have very few employees, with some even having zero. He also claimed that there is not going to be a reduction of scientists or research under the proposed reorganization. Under the proposed budget, however, the Forest and Rangeland Research account would be reduced to zero.

The reorganization proposal for the U.S. Forest Service would include moving their headquarters from D.C. to Salt Lake City, UT and closing some of the Service’s facilities. Preliminary counts have identified 57 research stations that could be shut down due to low staffing numbers or the potential to combine them with nearby stations. The goal of this reorganization is to continue managing forests while also saving taxpayer dollars and increasing employee recruitment. This reorganization is distinct from the FY27 President’s Budget and is being conducted independent of Congressional authorization, though it is certain to face legal challenges, especially as Congress has passed language in the FY26 appropriations bills to restrict these kinds of reorganizations and office closures.

On the offloading of the Wildland Fire Management account, Committee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-ID) expressed some doubts. “This might be the best idea since sliced bread, I don’t know,” Simpson said. “But there are just a whole bunch of questions I need answered.”

The FY27 President’s Budget request maintains funding for the Forest Service Minerals and Geology Program, which oversees the use of mineral and geologic resources on National Forests and Grasslands. The request also reauthorizes the Great American Outdoors Act, which invests in protecting public lands, and in Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools. Chief Schultz stated that the “FY27 President’s Budget focuses on the Forest Service’s efforts to actively manage the forest, rangeland and critical minerals permitting, and energy development” and “firmly supports the President’s goal by significantly increasing funding for active forest management.”

Reported by NEMWI Intern Olivia Peter, Lake Superior State University

House Appropriations and Energy Subcommittees Hold Hearings on Department of Energy Budget Priorities for FY2027

Energy Secretary Chris Wright was on Capitol Hill last week to defend the Trump administration’s budget for the Department of Energy. Hearings with the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development on April 15th and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy on April 16th highlighted key issues, including domestic energy production, energy affordability, grid reliability, and technological innovation.

During the April 15th hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) emphasized the need to expand domestic energy production and strengthen national security through energy policy. He highlighted the Department’s continued focus on research areas such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and on nuclear energy, which he described as “foundational” to ensuring long-term energy security. Rep. Fleischmann also discussed the Administration’s focus on advancing American energy dominance and maintaining U.S. competitiveness.

Ranking Member Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) addressed concerns related to rising energy costs and their impact on American households. “Energy security is national security,” she said, pointing to increases in gas, diesel, and electricity prices. Kaptur also raised concerns about proposed budget cuts to energy programs, including reductions to innovation funding and the elimination of the Weatherization Assistance Program, arguing that such changes could increase costs for working families and weaken long-term energy resilience. These concerns were echoed by full Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who took aim at the proposed 17% cut to non-defense funding across the Department of Energy. She noted that these reductions could increase energy costs for households and weaken investments in energy efficiency, clean energy development, and supply chain security. DeLauro also criticized the cancellation of energy projects and workforce reductions within the Department, noting the potential impact on national security and program effectiveness.

In his testimony, Secretary Wright emphasized the Administration’s focus on restoring grid reliability and expanding domestic energy production. He stated that the Department is working to deliver “affordable, reliable, and secure energy for the American people,” and highlighted efforts to maintain critical generation capacity, expand nuclear energy, and advance technological innovation. Wright also discussed initiatives such as the Genesis mission and investments in critical minerals and energy infrastructure to support long-term energy security.

During the April 16th hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (R-OH) emphasized the importance of maintaining reliable and affordable energy systems to combat and prevent rising electricity costs in the face of growing energy demand from sectors such as manufacturing and data centers. He noted recent energy price increases that have placed additional pressure on American households and said that developing stable and dispatchable energy sources is the solution. Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) emphasized the impact of global conflicts on energy markets, particularly the role of geopolitical tensions in driving higher fuel prices. He stressed the importance of domestic energy production and long-term energy security in stabilizing markets and supporting economic growth.

Subcommittee Ranking Member Kathy Castor (D-FL) also raised affordability concerns, stating that “electric bills are way up.” She and Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) both criticized federal energy policies and proposed budget changes, arguing that they could increase costs and reduce access to affordable and clean energy for American families. Rep. Pallone (D-NJ) also spoke to rising gas prices and the broader economic impact on households, emphasizing the need for policies that prioritize affordability and stability in the energy sector.

Find the full Member Day hearings here and here.

Reported by NEMWI Intern Suyeon Ahn, Earlham College

Connect With the Northeast-Midwest Institute

on Social Media

The Northeast-Midwest Institute is on social media with new updates and information on its regional research and policy education program and with announcements for upcoming briefings and events. NEMWI is posting our research reports on current regional issues and ongoing policy education on the page to make keeping up with our policy work easier than ever. The Institute also is updating the page with announcements of upcoming policy briefings and webinars. NEMWI is excited for the opportunity to connect with as many people as possible.

Please check out our LinkedIn here, our Twitter/X here, our Facebook here, and our Bluesky here. Be sure to like and follow us to keep up to date with NEMWI!

On Bluesky, also check out our Great Lakes feed at "NEMW Great Lakes Feed" and if you are a Great Lakes organization on Bluesky, contact Great Lakes Program Manager Alex Eastman at aeastman@nemw.org so that we can add your posts to the feed!