NEMWI Holds Great Lakes Environmental Summit

The Northeast-Midwest Institute held its 2024 Great Lakes Environmental Summit last Wednesday. The Summit, which has been held annually for over a quarter-century, serves as a premier gathering of Great Lakes stakeholder organizations to discuss the upcoming federal legislative agenda. The Nature Conservancy served as the Summit’s primary sponsor, and the Great Lakes Commission and GEI Consultants co-sponsored the event. Over 80 people were in attendance.

Michael Reuter, Midwest Division Director for The Nature Conservancy, opened the Summit with remarks. He highlighted the cooperative nature of Great Lakes work, that collaboration among the network of Great Lakes organizations has been critical to policy successes. He also balanced the celebration of these successes with the acknowledgment of the challenges yet to come, challenges that will need to be overcome together.

Members of Congress also addressed the Summit. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) spoke about his work as a Co-Chair of the Great Lakes Task Force (GLTF), especially the recent introduction of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Act of 2024 (see news article below). He also stressed the need to work bi-nationally with Canada, and talked about the recent progress their government has made. GLTF Co-Chair Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) discussed the Mapping the Great Lakes Act, which she recently introduced alongside Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI). She also discussed her work on the House Natural Resources and Energy and Commerce Committees, and what those Committees are working on to begin this year. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), GLTF Co-Chair, and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) both addressed their Healthy Farms, Healthy Watersheds bill that would direct the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to focus their Harmful Algal Bloom mitigation strategies on priority watersheds in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay regions. Rep. Kaptur also spoke on other issues of interest for the Great Lakes, including lakebed mapping, contaminants, and the Soo Locks.

Discussion at the Summit also revolved around FY2024 and FY2025 Appropriations, the upcoming Farm Bill, HABHRCA reauthorization, and WRDA. Congressional Committee staff updated attendees on what Congress is doing on these and other pieces of legislation, and the challenges and opportunities for policy in the upcoming year. NRCS provided an overview of their conservation programs and the work they are doing to achieve better environmental outcomes and limit phosphorus loads. The Great Lakes National Program Office of the EPA (GLNPO) also gave an update on the GLRI, including progress on Areas of Concern and the state of the upcoming Action Plan IV.

NEMWI is grateful to the Summit sponsor, The Nature Conservancy, and our co-sponsors, the Great Lakes Commission and GEI Consultants, for making this event possible. For over 65 years, The Nature Conservancy has protected more than 100 sites throughout the Great Lakes, including forests, wetlands, and rivers throughout the region. The Great Lakes Commission, a binational government agency established in 1955, continues to promote policies that protect the Great Lakes and the economies and ecosystems they support. GEI Consultants is a leading consulting engineering and environmental firm that delivers value by providing professional services to improve our world’s built environments.

GLRI Reauthorization Introduced in Congress

Members of the U.S. Congress, led by Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Rep. David Joyce (R-OH), and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) in the House, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Sen. J.D. Vance in the Senate, introduced legislation last week to reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2024 would reauthorize the GLRI for five more years, from 2027-2031, at $500 million per year.

House co-sponsors include Reps. Gwen Moore (D-WI), Jack Bergman (R-MI), John Moolenaar (R-MI), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Bryan Steil (R-WI), Haley Stevens (D-MI), John James (R-MI), Max Miller (R-OH), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Lisa McClain (R-MI), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Joseph Morelle (D-NY), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Hillary Scholten (D-MI), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). Senate co-sponsors include Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Todd Young (R-IN), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tina Smith (D-MN), Gary Peters (D-MI), John Fetterman (D-PA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Bob Casey (D-PA).

NEMWI will continue to monitor this legislation as it progresses.

House Homeland Security Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Water Infrastructure Security

The House Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Cyber Security and Infrastructure Protection held a hearing last Tuesday on the threat that malicious actors could pose to the nation's water infrastructure through cyber-attacks.

Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) and Ranking Member Eric Swalwell (D-CA) opened the hearing by emphasizing the importance of securing the nation's water utilities. Garbarino highlighted a recent attempt by Iranian hackers to disrupt a water supplier in Israel. Swalwell mentioned how American backing of Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan “puts an even greater target on the back of the United States and our infrastructure.” They then introduced the four witnesses present at the hearing: Robert M. Lee of Dragos, Charles Clancy of MITRE Labs, Kevin Morley of the American Water Works Association, and Marty Edwards of Tenable.

The witnesses explained why water is such an important area of concern for cyber-attacks. With all of the witnesses being from the private sector, they outlined their experiences working with the federal government on this issue. Mr. Lee stated that his organization has been getting mixed signals from the government on this issue, and asked that the government standardize requirements and speak with “one voice.” Mr. Lee also spoke to the scale of the problem. He noted that with 50,000 water agencies in the country, one-size-fits-all measures and resource intensive solutions are difficult to implement. 

Dr. Clancy and Dr. Morley discussed the interdependencies between various critical infrastructure systems. To this point, Dr. Morley said: “If you hit energy, water goes down shortly thereafter, same thing with energy. They’re all interlinked.” The witnesses' discussion drove home the importance, diversity, and rapid pace of change characteristic of the threats facing American water suppliers.  

Reported by NEMWI Intern William Glarum, University of Michigan

House and Senate Committees Hold Hearings

on Biden Administration's LNG Exports Pause

The House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held hearings on February 6 and 8 respectively on the Biden Administration’s pause on pending approvals on liquified natural gas (LNG) exports. The Department of Energy is reviewing approval regulations to examine potential cost increases on American citizens as well as climate impacts due to methane emissions.

House Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Chairman Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) opened the House hearing by saying that U.S. natural gas exports “will strengthen security, add jobs, and $73 billion to the US economy by 2040.” Many representatives spoke of the bill introduced by Rep. August Pfleuger (R-TX), H.R. 7176, which would immediately stop the pause on new LNG exports. The main topics of discussion during the hearing were the cost for American consumers, climate implications, and potential profits. There were four witnesses who spoke to those points.

The first witness was Toby Rice, President and Chief Executive of EQT, who stated that “two-thirds of the world’s natural gas is in four countries - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Russia, and the United States,” and “instead of pausing energy, let’s unleash it.” Another witness was Gillian Giannetti, a senior natural resources attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, who argued that “this pause has no effect on any current or future exports already authorized by the Department of Energy” and that “the guidelines need revision” to avoid unsound decisions. She also brought up the point that while the United States’s gas might be cleaner than Russia’s or Iran’s, there are still potent environmental impacts of its extraction, transportation, and burning due to it being a potent fossil fuel. The hearing extended for over three hours and presented many different viopoints

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing began with opening statements from Chairman Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Ranking Member John Barrasso (R-WY) before the committee began questioning DOE Deputy Secretary David Turk, who sought to clarify the Administration’s decisions regarding the pause. The second panel brought in two LNG stakeholders, Executive Director of the Center for LNG Charlie Riedl, and Secretary General of Eurogas James Watson, who advocated for the pause to end.

Climate impacts were a key area of disagreement throughout the hearing, with Turk highlighting methane leakage concerns as a “big, big deal,” in contrast with Riedl’s characterization of LNG as “pivotal for reducing global emissions.” Concerning energy security, Senator Barrasso asked if we were giving allies, “an excuse to do business with our enemies” with the pause, a sentiment commonly expressed by Republicans in both the House and Senate hearings. Turk responded by claiming that European demand for LNG is expected to decrease over time and responded to another question from Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) by citing a European Commission statement that the pause will not have an impact on Europe’s security of supply.

The House and Senate hearings exhibited clear divides on this issue in Congress. These divisions on climate and energy policy will likely continue to influence future Congressional actions on this matter, which NEMWI will cover as they occur.

A recording of the House hearing can be found here, and a recording of the Senate hearing can be found here.

Reported by NEMWI Interns Molly Lienemann, Augustana University, and Owen Macdonald, Gettysburg College.

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