Briefing Update: Efficiently Funding the Soo Locks

The Great Lakes Governors & Premiers and the Northeast-Midwest Institute co-hosted a briefing on Thursday, October 17, focusing on the importance of the construction of a new Soo Lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. In 2018, Congress authorized the construction of a new "Poe-sized" Lock at full federal expense after the US Army Corps of Engineers completed a benefit-cost analysis that favorably rated the construction of a new Lock. The Great Lakes Governors & Premiers, along with a large coalition of regional stakeholders, continue to support this important project, and have called on Congress to provide the necessary funds for this critical project in FY 2020 and in future budget and appropriations cycles.

Both the House and Senate FY 2020 Energy and Water Appropriations bills include $75.3 million for the construction of a new Lock, which is what was included in the President's FY 2020 budget request. The bill has been approved by the full House and the Senate Appropriations Committee, but has yet to be considered by the full Senate. Additionally, if Congress provides additional funds in the FY 2020 E&W Appropriations bill for the US Army Corps' FY 2020 Work Plan, the Corps could allocate up to $48.5 million in additional funds for the new Lock in addition to the $75.3 that's included the House and Senate bills. 

Presenters at the briefing included Mike Piskur, Program Manager, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers; Vanta Coda, CEO, Ports of Indiana; Larry Karnes,Freight Policy Specialist, Michigan Department of Transportation; and Tom Rayburn, Director of Environmental & Regulatory Affairs, Lake Carriers Association. More information about the briefing will be posted on NEMWI's website. 

Please contact Matt McKenna, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program, if you have any questions.

EPA Announces New Updates to Lead and Copper Rule

Last week the Trump administration's EPA proposed an update to the nearly three-decade old Lead and Copper Rule in an effort to reduce drinking water contamination. While the EPA has touted the revisions as a clear improvement to the rule, environmental groups and health officials point to a few glaring omissions and rollbacks that they say threaten to slow down the nation's replacement of aging lead service lines.

The core criticism with the overhaul is the lack of a requirement for communities to steadily remove lead service lines (there are an estimated 6 million remaining throughout the USA). In addition, the new rule actively rolls-back a key standard. Communities that exceed the 15 parts per billion federal action level for lead would only be required to replace 3% of their lead service lines each year, a reduction from the previous requirement of 7% per year. This could potentially double the time it takes for a community to replace all of their lead service lines, threatening the health of those communities in the interim.

The overhaul is not all bad news. Under the new rule, utilities are required to test for lead at all schools and child-care facilities, as well as set up a publicly accessible inventory of all lead service lines. Additionally, if a resident decides to replace their portion of a lead service line, the local utility would be required to do the same with the utility-owned remainder.

While this update makes some key improvements to the Lead and Copper Rule, it falls short of the goal expressed by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, "to ensure all Americans have access to clean drinking water."

The EPA's announcement can be found here. Please contact Senior Policy Analyst, Chris Askew-Merwin, for more information.

Minnesota Report Finds Climate Change Mitigation Potential from State's Nutrient Reduction Strategy for Water Quality

A report released this month from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency outlines the potential for the state's nutrient reduction strategy to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in addition to its intended impacts on water quality. The nutrient reduction strategy is comprised of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) including planting cover crops during off-seasons, reducing tilling and planting shelterbelt trees to reduce nutrient run-off. By reducing run-off, these practices reduce the build-up of excess nutrients in waterways which have harmful impacts on water quality downstream such as harmful algal blooms (HABs) or hypoxia (extremely low dissolved oxygen in water). While the benefit of these BMPs on water quality has been long understood, this report examined each of the 21 BMPs to estimate their greenhouse gas reductions.

From the report, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency estimated that if BMPs were implemented across Minnesota's 20 million acres of agricultural land then the emissions produced by the agricultural sector could be reduced by 5-10%. As agriculture accounts for roughly 25% of Minnesota's total greenhouse gas emissions, this could be a significant incentive to expand the state's nutrient reduction strategy. With this report, Minnesota has shown the country how win-win strategies are possible for both water and climate.

For more information on Minnesota's nutrient reduction strategy click here. To read the full report from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency click here. Please contact Senior Policy Analyst Chris Askew-Merwin for more information.

This Week in Washington

NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation