House Bill Introduced To Prevent

Great Lakes Funding Impoundment

Responding to funding freezes and delays for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-NY) has introduced H.R. 2856, the Great Lakes and National Weather Service Funding Protection Act. The bill would prevent the impoundment, transfer, or reprogramming of Congressionally-appropriated funding for the Great Lakes Region and the National Weather Service. Additionally, it would require the NOAA Administrator to report to Congress that NOAA is fulfilling the requirements of the bill.

NOAA has been hit hard over the last few months, especially in the Great Lakes region. Layoffs, freezes, and cuts imperil NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and its partners. Programs that forecast and research harmful algal blooms, ice cover, and weather events, which are vital for public health, environmental quality, and the regional economy of the Great Lakes region, are threatened. The National Weather Service, the weather forecasting and data-collection agency that supports weather reports and extreme weather warnings, is also facing cuts. The NWS costs the average taxpayer $4, an investment that is estimated to generate a 50-1 return.

The bill has ten co-sponsors, all Democrats: Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI), Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH), Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

The bill has been referred to the Science, Space, and Technology Committee and the Natural Resources Committee. For more on the Great Lakes and National Weather Service Funding Protection Act and other pieces of Great Lakes legislation, view NEMWI’s Great Lakes and Water Legislation Tracker here.

Reported by NEMWI Intern Luis Flores, Dominican University

Fired NOAA Probationary Employee Testifies on Agency’s Value

Nicole Rice, who was fired along with hundreds of other probationary employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration earlier this year, testified in front of the Michigan Senate Labor Committee last week. Rice emphasized the critical importance of NOAA, especially to the Great Lakes region through the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

Rice began by telling her own story. She had worked at NOAA for about a decade, but was placed on probationary status upon her promotion last year, leaving her without the same civil service protections afforded to employees tenured longer in their current role, and making her “an easy target who seemingly lacked the rights to appeal,” she said. On February 27^th, she was fired with just 90 minutes notice and stripped of her healthcare immediately. She, like all other probationary employees caught up in the mass firings, was put back on payroll on court orders, but was terminated again two weeks ago. “The whirlwind of joblessness, unknown status, lack of communication, not to mention the influx of media and social media describing civil servants as ‘government waste, bureaucrats, and frauds,’ and worse, has taken a toll on our mental health and wellbeing,” she said.

Between the layoffs that have already happened, the departure of employees through the deferred resignation program, and an upcoming reduction in force, NOAA is expected to lose 1,700 employees, about 14% of its workforce. “These federal jobs don’t just represent paychecks, they represent public value,” Rice said. “They safeguard our environment, ensure accurate weather forecasting, protect our food supply, and support emergency response. When these employees are silenced or fired, when their mission is derailed, Michigan suffers.”

At GLERL, the attrition could be even higher. Rice said that GLERL has lost 35% of its staff since February. On top of that, funding freezes, cuts, and delays are impacting critical programs including harmful algal bloom and ice forecasting.

A draft “passback” version of the President’s Budget would, if proposed by the President and enacted by Congress, cut NOAA funding by $1.6 billion, eliminate the Office of Atmospheric Research as a line office, and shut down GLERL. “This lab is not replaceable,” Rice said. “Eliminating this lab would result in no more forecasts for harmful algal blooms, no more real-time models for coast guard rescue missions, a shutdown of science that protects the $6 billion Great Lakes fishery, end of support for binational water agreements with Canada, and the loss of vital data needed for weather predictions, drinking water safety, and economic development in this region.” It would be massive loss to the Great Lakes region, and the savings from such a decision would be miniscule: the average American household pays just seven cents to fund GLERL.

There was discussion of what actions Michigan could take to support fired employees. Other states have launched hiring campaigns targeting fired federal employees in an attempt to keep expertise in the state or attract new talent from out-of-state. Lawmakers also mused that perhaps the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy would have to take on additional responsibility if the federal government leaves a void, and senators said they would consider that as they work on the state budget. The costs would be too great if the work NOAA GLERL does were to stop. “This work is not optional,” Rice concluded. “It’s essential to public safety, economic vitality, and environmental stewardship.”



You can watch Nicole Rice’s testimony here, which begins around the 22:30 mark.

GLFC Begins Sea Lamprey Control

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is set to begin its sea lamprey control program in late April after pauses and delays, helping protect the $5 billion Great Lakes fishery from its most notorious threat.

Each spring, the Fishery Commission treats Great Lakes tributaries with lampricide, a chemical that kills sea lamprey larvae without detrimental effects to other wildlife or the surrounding environment. This is a key invasive species control action, and lampricide treatments have kept at bay a species that a half-century ago threatened to destroy the entire Great Lakes fishery. Sea lamprey are much bigger than native lamprey, meaning that they lack natural predators and do much more damage to native fish. One sea lamprey can kill 40 pounds of fish, and at their peak, lamprey killed 100 million pounds of fish per year. Because of lampricide treatment, however, lamprey are down 90% from their historical peak population.

Earlier this year, layoffs and hiring freezes at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put the program in jeopardy, but policy reversals will allow it to go on. FWS probationary employees who work on the lamprey program full-time were fired in February, but they were hired back. Likewise, while a hiring freeze would have prevented the hiring of 25 seasonal workers, this too has been reversed, and the employees will be hired. This year’s program will start later than usual, but it will be able to occur, which was not a guarantee.

“Staffing challenges at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have impacted our ability to launch the 2025 field season as planned,” Marc Gaden, the GLFC’s executive secretary, said in a press release. “Many concerned people in the region reached out to their representatives in Congress and expressed their strong support for sea lamprey control, and the response from the members was overwhelmingly positive. We are extremely grateful for the support, and we are cautiously optimistic that, because of that, the field season can commence.”

A recent study highlights the damage that can occur with a diminished program. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when travel restrictions led to reduced control efforts, lamprey took advantage. With less treatment, lamprey populations exploded, in some areas by as much as tenfold, with fish attacks rising a corresponding amount. Despite the successes of sea lamprey control, the study shows that the battle is ongoing, and populations will rebound in the absence of this critical work.

Follow the Northeast-Midwest Institute on Bluesky

The Northeast-Midwest Institute is officially on Bluesky! Follow us at @nemwinstitute.bsky.social for the latest updates and information on our policy research, as well as upcoming events, briefings, and webinars. 

NEMWI has also launched a Great Lakes Feed so you can easily see content from Great Lakes organizations and other environmental groups. Find it on our profile, or by searching "NEMW Great Lakes Feed" in the "Feeds" tab. Click the plus sign to save it to your account!

Also, 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!

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, and our Facebook here. Be sure to like and follow us to keep up to date with NEMWI!