NEMWI to Hold Briefing on Great Lakes Compact

On Thursday, July 17^th, from 12:00-1:00 pm in Cannon 156, NEMWI will host a briefing with the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers’ David Naftzger and Peter Johnson, two of the principal architects behind the development and ongoing implementation of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (Great Lakes Compact).

The Great Lakes Compact came into force in 2008. It was enacted by all eight Great Lakes State legislatures, approved by Congress, and signed into law by the President. Since then, the Great Lakes Governors have worked together to fulfill the commitments made through this historic agreement—collaborating to address critical water-related issues across the region. Through the Compact, the region has cooperatively addressed a wide range of issues including, most recently, understanding the impact of data centers and growing energy demands on water resources.

The briefing will provide an overview of:

• The history of water management in the Great Lakes region
• How the Compact was developed and its legal framework
• How the Compact has successfully prevented long-range, large-scale diversions
• Improvements in data collection and water resource management across the eight Great Lakes States

Panelists will include:

• David Naftzger, Executive Director, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers
• Peter Johnson, Deputy Director, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers

NEMWI Holds Great Lakes Shipping Briefing

On Wednesday, July 9, NEMWI hosted a briefing on shipping in the Great Lakes. Panelists included Anthony Fisher, Deputy Administrator of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS); Debra DiCianna, Director of Environmental and Regulatory Affairs of the Lake Carriers’ Association; and Brian Oszakiewski, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Ports Association. Mike McCoshen, the new Administrator of the GLS, was also in attendance.

Deputy Administrator Fisher began by discussing the national importance of the Great Lakes region and the lack of awareness it gains from those living outside the region. He noted the Great Lakes’ $6 trillion regional economy, of which shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway, allowing travel between the Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, is a major piece. The GLS, as an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation, operates the Eisenhower and Snell locks along the seaway. The organization’s mission in supporting maritime industry within the region grants them varied responsibilities from coordinating shipping routes to enforcing ballast discharge standards. Serving one of the most agriculturally productive regions in the world, Great Lakes shipping is crucial for the export of these goods. The Great Lakes are “essential to soybean, wheat, and corn production and processing, all of which are centered in the region,” Fisher said. Fisher concluded his presentation with a discussion of containerization which the Great Lakes currently lacks, and highlighted the efforts being conducted across different avenues to make that possible, including infrastructure development at the port of Burns Harbor. He emphasized coordination with other transportation networks and communication between the various stakeholders to bolster the domestic shipping industry.

Where Fisher primarily focused on shipping infrastructure, Debra DiCianna of the Lake Carriers’ Association discussed the ships themselves, known as lakers, and the kinds of marine traffic the Great Lakes contains. She described the operations shippers conduct and the hardships the industry faces at the hands of nature. From December through April, the Great Lakes experience an ice season which can slow shipping and reduce consumer stocks. Ice-related delays have cost $2 billion and 10,000 jobs within the last decade alone. Overcoming these obstacles requires U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) icebreaking assets. The benefits of icebreaking reach beyond the industry itself. DiCianna also showed that, without icebreaking, local communities could suffer, such as in the case of severe flooding along the St. Clair River in February 2021. DiCianna conveyed the need for more shipping support, especially in the case of icebreakers. The Great Lakes, with 4,500 miles of coastline has just one heavy icebreaker and nine total USCG ice assets, dwarfed by the 25 along the Atlantic coast with just half as much coastline. Funding for a Great Lakes heavy icebreaker was included in the House version of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” but was left out of the final version.

During his presentation, Brian Oszakiewski from the American Great Lakes Ports Association placed great emphasis on the strategic importance of the Great Lakes as the “transportation hub of our country,” talking about the vital role that cargo movement through the 16 commercial ports plays for local communities and the national economy as a whole. He highlighted that port directors in the US all come from different backgrounds– ranging from mariners to business leaders– and form “a very dynamic and vocal group” that unites in its aim to create a better future for the ports in the region. Oszakiewski also stressed the significance of the binational relationship with Canada when it comes to shipping in the Great Lakes, noting that much of the region’s grain exports depend on access to the Seaway, the control of which lies largely in Canadian hands. He then went on to celebrate recent progress in federal support, including an increase in Port Infrastructure Development Program funding for Great Lakes ports. Historically, Great Lakes ports have received just 2–3% of PIDP funding, but that number jumped to 14% this past year. The FY26 President’s Budget requests $550 million for the PIDP, which combined with $450 million in IIJA funding would total $1 billion for the program, the highest ever appropriation. These two factors in tandem could mean that Great Lakes ports get a larger piece of a larger pie. Oszakiewski also pointed to the new Soo Lock, which he described as a project of national significance for commerce and security, as a critical investment. The Locks employ 87,000 Americans, and a lock failure would be catastrophic for the Great Lakes economy. Oszakiewski also discussed various challenges that are currently faced, including recent conversations about port fees, harbor maintenance funding, and environmental concerns. Oszakiewski called for continued collaboration with the Congress and federal partners like the Coast Guard and advocated for breaking down barriers to entry that currently limit the competitiveness of Great Lakes shipping.

Reported by NEMWI Interns Nicholas Clampitt and Anhat Makkar, Brown University

Administration Releases More Information on Disastrous NOAA Budget Request 

The Trump Administration recently released the Congressional Justification for the FY26 NOAA President’s Budget request, providing more information that NEMWI has used to update our President’s Budget report here. 

NOAA’s budget would be cut by $1.8 billion, 27% of its $6.7 billion budget. If enacted, that would be the biggest year-over-year percentage decrease to NOAA’s funding in history and the lowest appropriated level, adjusted for inflation, in 20 years. The budget eliminates the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), which would lead to severe cuts to harmful algal bloom research. The budget would also slash the budgets of the National Ocean Service by over 30% and NOAA Fisheries by 27%. 

The budget would entirely eliminate six of the seven NOAA accounts that NEMWI tracks. The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) would not be funded. The Coastal Zone Management program would be zeroed-out, as would the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Regional Observations account, a nationwide network that includes the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS). The Sea Grant College Program and the Sea Grant Aquaculture Program as well as the competitive research account, which in 2024 put $14 million toward harmful algal bloom research, would all be eliminated under the budget. The National Center for Coastal Ocean Science, which leads monitoring, control, and prevention of harmful algal blooms and is currently funded at $54.5 million, would also not be funded, though the document notes that “NOAA will continue to provide $4.3 million to support critical operational Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) forecasts that will be carried out by other NOS [National Ocean Service] programs.” 

The President’s Budget is not the final word on government funding. Congress will need to pass yearly appropriations bills that will ultimately set enacted spending levels. The Senate has not released text for the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bills that would cover NOAA but it will likely not stray far from current appropriated levels. "I would describe this bill, I don't know what normal is around here, but if something's normal, this is as close to being normal as what this committee would do and what this subcommittee has done in the past," CJS Subcommittee Chair Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) told Axios. The Senate bill garnered bipartisan support before last week’s markup was derailed by an amendment concerning the relocation of the FBI headquarters. 

The House released CJS text (see below) that would fund NOAA at $5.75 billion, between the President's Budget and the enacted level.

NEMWI will continue to monitor the appropriations process. 

Subcommittee Appropriations Markups This Week 

The House Appropriations Committee is set for subcommittee markups of five appropriations bills this week: Energy and Water, which contains funding for Army Corps projects such as Brandon Road and the Soo Locks; Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, which includes the Port Infrastructure Development Program; State and Foreign Operations, which includes funding for international commissions like the International Joint Commission and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission; Interior and Environment, which encompasses the Department of the Interior and the EPA; and Commerce, Justice, and Science, which NOAA falls under. More in-depth analysis will be available if and when these bills are reported by the Appropriations Committee. 

The Interior-Environment bill would fund the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds at $1.21 billion and $894.7 million, respectively. These levels, in line with those in last year’s House bill, represent an increase over the President’s Budget, which would have funded the CWSRF at $155 million and the DWSRF at $150 million, but a decrease from the current enacted levels that fund the CWSRF at $1.64 billion and the DWSRF at $1.13 billion.  

The Commerce, Justice, and Science bill would fund NOAA at $5.75 billion, down from the current enacted level of $6.72 billion, but above the President’s Budget request number of $4.96 billion. 

A full Committee markup of the Energy and Water and THUD bills is scheduled for Thursday morning.

NEMWI will continue to monitor the appropriations process. 

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