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Briefing on September 5th to Address Great Lakes Regional Green Infrastructure
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U.S. and Mexico Reach Preliminary Trade Agreement That Could Replace NAFTA
The Trump administration announced a preliminary agreement with Mexico in the renegotiation of the two countries' trade obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The pact has not been finalized, a number of details are yet to be publicized (though a fact sheet is available
here), and it is unclear how Canada, the third member of NAFTA, will react to the preliminary agreement.
Mexico's foreign minister
indicated that it would be willing to proceed without Canada in the NAFTA renegotiation as Mexico and Canada's trade relationship would be addressed in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the U.S. pulled out of shortly after the Trump presidency began.
The purview of President Trump's trade promotion authority is to renegotiate a NAFTA trilateral agreement, however, not a U.S.-Mexico bilateral trade agreement. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer stated that he will notify Congress of the new deal by Friday so that it could be signed by the end of November. For this to occur, however, Canada would have to be included in the deal.
It remains to be seen exactly how the three countries will address these complexities.
The outcome of any deal or the failure to reach any deal could have major economic, environmental, and political impacts of the Northeast and Midwest. Accordingly, the Northeast-Midwest Institute will continue to monitor the negotiations as they progress.
For more information, please contact Eric Heath, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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USDA Announces the Specifics of Farmer Aid Package
To address the increasing harm to the U.S. agricultural sector from the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and some of its major trading partners, primarily China, the U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the details of its impending aid package.
Totaling $4.7 billion in direct aid to farmers, the package includes $3.6 billion for soybeans, $290
million for pork, $277
million for cotton, $156
million for sorghum, $127
million for dairy, $119
million for wheat, and $96 million for corn according to
Bloomberg BNA.
The direct aid is part of a larger, $12 billion aid package that will also include other provisions, like $1.2 billion to purchase crop surpluses.
With no end in sight for the trade hostilities with China, the USDA has indicated that it will continue to evaluate further payments and relief in the coming months.
For more information, please contact Eric Heath, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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EPA Announces New Coal Plan That Rolls Back Emissions Restrictions and Raises Health Concerns
On Tuesday, August 21st, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a
new plan
to roll back restrictions on emissions from coal -fired power plants.
The proposal would shift authority for setting emissions standards from the federal government to individual states to establish their own individual standards.
The EPA's
own analysis of the proposal indicates that "
implementing the proposed rule is expected to increase emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and increase the level of emissions of certain pollutants in the atmosphere that adversely affect human health."
In defense of the proposed change, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said that the proposal would clarify compliance issues for businesses. It is unclear, though, how shifting a unified federal standard to a collection of balkanized, state-administered standards would ease compliance costs for businesses.
For more information, please contact Eric Heath, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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PFAS Legislation Introduced by Sen. Stabenow
Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan introduced two pieces of legislation last week to address water contamination by perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). S.3381 PFAS Accountability Act encourages federal agencies to enter into cooperative agreements with states for PFAS removal and remedial actions. S.3382 PFAS Detection Act requires the U.S. Geological Survey to conduct a nationwide survey of PFAS, establish a performance standard for its detection, and report its findings to Congress, authorizing $45 million over five years to the USGS for this effort. Both bills were introduced with bipartisan cosponsors.
For more information, please contact Dr. Sri Vedachalam, Director of the Safe Drinking Water Research and Policy Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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This Week in Washington
The House is not in session this week.
The following are Senate hearings and markups of interest to the region.
Tuesday
The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation's Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard will hold a hearing entitled
Harmful Algal Blooms: The Impact on Our Nation's Waters on Tuesday, August 28th, at 2:30 p.m. EDT in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.
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NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
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