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EPA Delays Controversial Evidentiary Disclosure Rule Change
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Wednesday of last week that it is delaying a final announcement for its controversial "Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science" rule for at least a year. The proposal would change how the agency evaluates science by requiring scientists to disclose more information about the details of individual cases involving public health studies. Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt proposed the rule in April, making it a high priority item until he resigned in July due to spending and ethics scandals.
The stated motive behind the rule is to create more transparency for the public to understand the science behind EPA regulations. Critics, however, see the rule as an opportunity for EPA regulators to ignore the findings of high quality public health studies because much of the individual details are confidential and cannot be released due to privacy rules. The EPA expects to make the final rule around January 2020; the rule is still under development and the agency is sorting through nearly 600,000 comments it received on the proposal.
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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NRCS Selects Eight Iowa Watersheds for Prioritized Conservation Funding
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service recently chose a number of watersheds, including eight from the state of Iowa, for prioritized funding through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative.
The watersheds were chosen "based on potential for avoiding, controlling, and trapping nutrients and improving water quality in selected watersheds within the Mississippi River Basin," according to NRCS.
The Iowa watersheds selected are:
* Cedar Creek (Wapello, Jefferson, and Keokuk Counties)
* Deep Creek (Plymouth, Cherokee, O'Brien, and Sioux Counties)
* Eagle Creek-Prairie Creek (Kossuth, Humboldt, Wright, and Hancock Counties)
* Lower Skunk (Jefferson, Henry, Van Buren, and Lee Counties)
* Roberts Creek (Clayton County)
* Walnut Creek (Pottawattamie, Montgomery, Page, and Fremont Counties)
* West Branch Floyd River (Sioux County)
* West Fork Crooked Creek (Washington and Keokuk Counties)
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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Proposed New NAFTA Agreement Faces Challenging Start
Despite finalizing proposed text for an overhaul to the North American Free Trade Agreement (what the Trump Administration is calling the USMCA), the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are still at odds over the U.S's steel and aluminum tariffs.
President Trump is attempting to hold a symbolic signing ceremony and political event somewhere in the Midwest to stimulate his electoral base before the midterm elections next month. Canadian Ambassador David MacNaughton, however, has stated that Canada will not participate so long as the U.S. imposes national security tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada. Meanwhile, President Trump has threatened to scrap the entire proposed deal with Mexico over immigration issues.
Ultimately, even if the three countries work through these issues, the agreement must still be ratified by the legislatures in all three countries to enter into force. In the U.S., the proposed text would have to pass both the House and the Senate in a streamlined procedure outlined in the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, also known as "fast track" or "trade promotion" authority. This will not take place until the 116th Congress is sworn, which could complicate matters for President Trump if Democrats regain control of one or both chambers.
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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This Week in Washington
The House and Senate are currently in recess until after the November midterms.
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NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
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