NEMWI Weekly Update
July 19th, 2021
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NEMWI To Host Webinar on Monday, July 26, on
“Watershed Conservation Primer and Orientation:
Policy-Makers and Stakeholders”

Please join the Northeast-Midwest Institute (NEMWI) for a webinar on “Watershed Conservation Primer and Orientation: Policy-Makers and Stakeholders” on Monday, July 26th, at 2:00 PM (EDT). To register for the webinar, please visit HERE. This virtual webinar launches NEMWI’s Watershed Conservation Primer and Orientation Program for Congressional staff.
 
Watershed conservation and its significant impact on water quality and soil health are major areas of environmental policy with which many Members of Congress and their Congressional staff are highly engaged. This webinar begins a Watershed Conservation Primer and Orientation Program that is designed to introduce Congressional staff who are engaged in this major policy area to the Congressional policy-making process as well as the work of critical environmental stakeholder organizations.
 
Participating on behalf of Senate and House committees engaged in watershed conservation will be:
 
  • Adam Tarr (Office of Senator Debbie Stabenow), Senior Professional Staff Member, Senate Agriculture Committee.
  • Felix Muniz (Office of Congressman David Scott), Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee Staff Director, House Agriculture Committee.

Participating on behalf of major stakeholder organizations engaged in watershed conservation will be:

  • Raj Shukla, Midwest Director of Freshwater Policy, The Nature Conservancy.
  • Kelly McGinnis, Executive Director, Mississippi River Network.
  • Eric Deeble, Policy Director, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
U.S. House To Consider PFAS Action Act

The U.S. House of Representatives will take up H.R. 2467, the “PFAS Action Act,” this week under a closed rule. The bill, which has bi-partisan support, and is sponsored by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), would increase pressures on EPA to instill greater regulations on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS/PFOA), which have been dubbed the “forever chemicals.”

PFAS/PFOA have continually posed a threat to safe drinking water throughout the country, but especially in the Northeast and Midwest region. The bill would regulate both PFAS and PFOA under the Safe Drinking Water Act, while designating them as hazardous substances under federal Superfund law. The bill also gives EPA a five-year window in which to decide whether to extend regulations to the entire PFAS family.
House Committee Approves FY 2022
Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill

The House Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2022 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill last week, which funds the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, the Department of Energy, and related agencies. The bill, which was authored by the Subcommittee Chairwoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), provides a total of $53.226 billion, an increase of $1.474 billion over the FY 2021 total.

The bill provides the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with a total of $8.66 billion, an increase of $1.9 billion above the President’s FY 2022 budget request. This includes an estimated $2.05 billion for Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund projects; $155 million for the Corps Investigation account; $2.6 billion for the Corps Construction account; and $4.8 billion for the Corps Operations & Maintenance account.

Other key funding items that impact the Great Lakes include (but not limited to):

  • $4.94 million for the Brandon Road preconstruction, engineering, and design (PED) phase.
  • $500,000 for the Great Lakes Resiliency Study.
  • $480 million for the continued construction of a new Soo Lock.
  • $12.95 million for the operation of the electric fish barrier at the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal. 
ELPC Pursues Lawsuit Against Company Polluting
Lake Michigan
 
A mining company, Cleveland Cliffs, continues to face a lawsuit, filed in December 2019, from the Environmental Law and Policy Center (EPLC) and Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) after one of their Indiana steel mills spilled ammonia and cyanide in Burns Harbor in August 2019, especially affecting Lake Michigan. 

ELPC’s Executive Director Howard Learner says that the lawsuit was filed against the company because “its toxic spill and permit violations harm the environment, kill fish, and threaten safe drinking water.”

According to the EPLC, the company has been polluting the East Arm of the Little Calumet River for years and broken its Clean Water Act pollution permit over 100 times in the last four years. This means that their pollution has been impacting the Great Lakes, specifically Lake Michigan. The EPLC states that Cleveland Cliffs has not corrected its behavior a year after the toxic spill. They have no recent news on the state of the lawsuit but the legal action is still occurring.

“In the face of this repeated, illegal damage to Lake Michigan, we can no longer just stand by and wait for the state and federal government to act,” said HEC Environmental Health and Water Policy Director Indra Frank. “The damage has to stop for the sake of everyone who gets their drinking water from the Lake; everyone who swims, fishes, or boats in the Lake; and the wildlife that make their home in the Lake.”
Follow the Northeast-Midwest Institute on Twitter
 
Follow us on Twitter! The Northeast-Midwest Institute is on Twitter 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 on our Twitter page.
 
Please check out our Twitter page here or by searching @NEMWInstitute. And be sure to FOLLOW us to keep up to date with NEMWI on Twitter!
FOLLOW the Northeast-Midwest Institute on Facebook
 
LIKE us on Facebook! The Northeast-Midwest Institute is on Facebook 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 on our Facebook page.
 
Please check out our Facebook page here. And be sure to LIKE us to begin following NEMWI on Facebook!
This Week in Washington
In the House:


Tuesday, July 20, 2021 12:00 PM Host: Committee on Natural Resources | Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples of the United States

Hearing: Examining the Presidents Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Proposal for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Wednesday, July 21, 2021 10:00 AM | 1324 Longworth HOB Host: Committee on Natural Resources | Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife
In the Senate:

Tuesday, July 20, 2021 10:00 AM – SD-538 Host: Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

Thursday, July 22, 2021 10:00 AM – SD-406 | Host: Environment and Public Works
Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight
Notheast-Midwest Institute | nemw.org