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NEMWI to Hold Asian Carp
Briefing
on April 30
The Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Asian Carp Regional Coordination Committee are hosting a briefing on
Tuesday, April 30, to discuss Asian Carp mitigation in the Great Lakes region. Details about the briefing are below:
What: Congressional Briefing on Asian Carp and the Great Lakes
Who: Cohosted by the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ACRCC) and the Northeast-Midwest Institute
(NEMWI)
When:
Tuesday, April 30, 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Topics to be Covered (Tentative):
- 2019 Action Plan: Addressing the Threat and Funding Level
- Brandon Road Selected Plan
- Control Technologies and Entrainment
- Grass Carp in Lake Erie
- Illinois and Kentucky Expanded Harvesting Efforts
Participants (Tentative):
- U.S. Enivronmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
- U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
- Ohio Department of Natural Resources
For more information,
please contact
Matthew McKenna, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute
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NEMWI Hosts a Primer on Water Policies That Govern Its Availability, Quality, and Reliability
The Northeast-Midwest Institute hosted a Congressional Briefing on Thursday, April 11th, that featured a discussion on the primary laws governing water quality (Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act) and appropriation mechanisms like the State Revolving Fund and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) that finance much of the water infrastructure in the country. Opening the program, Dr. Sri Vedachalam, Director of the Safe Drinking Water Research and Policy Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute, introduced the panelists and provided a quick outline of the topics that were being covered.
Participants at the briefing included (an audio recording can be found
here):
Jason Isakovic, Legislative Director of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, spoke about the role of public clean water utilities and the process that goes into providing water services to people. He also discussed the Clean Water Act's modern framework, growing water policy challenges, and the need for a more holistic approach of looking at the intersection between the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Lynn Thorp, the National Campaign Director for Clean Water Action, provided an overview of the Safe Drinking Water Act. She also broke down the process established within the Safe Drinking Water Act for setting contaminant limits, the feasibility and costs of setting contaminant levels, and provided information on some of the treatment techniques currently being utilized.
Ted Stiger, Senior Director of Government Relations at the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, shared insights on the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the funding mechanisms for drinking and wastewater systems under the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He also discussed the new Farm Bill's implications on water systems and shared insight about key programs that will allow communities to upgrade water infrastructure.
Raffael Stein, Director of Water Infrastructure Division at the US Environmental Protection Agency, provided information about WIFIA and about the evolution of federal assistance for water and wastewater from a grant program to a federal credit subsidy program. He also provided an insider's perspective on the decision making process for those who receive WIFIA funding.
For more information, please contact
Eric Heath
, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program, or Dr. Sri Vedachalam, Director of the Safe Drinking Water Research and Policy Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute
.
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NEMWI Partners with the Century Foundation to Help Launch New Manufacturing Collaborative
The Northeast-Midwest Institute, in collaboration with the Century Foundation, is helping launch the American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative (AMCC). The AMCC is a new national organization building on the foundation of the successful 24-region
IMCP initiative, helping regional communities across the United States plan and implement sustainable economic development plans that lead to good paying jobs in thriving manufacturing sectors.
Click
here to read more about the partnership.
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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Judge Rules Against Trump Administration's Attempt to Allow Coal Mining Without a NEPA Review
A federal judge ruled against the Interior Department's attempt to end an Obama-era moratorium of coal leasing on public lands. According to
E & E News, Judge Brian Morris for the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana ordered the Trump administration to begin conducting a review of the National Environmental Policy Act and to prepare an environmental analysis to support their reasoning behind lifting the ban. Judge Morris gave the Trump administration two possible options to pursue, the first being an environmental assessment and the second being a more scrupulous Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
Those who support the Obama-era moratorium on coal leasing on public lands will now attempt to ensure that the moratorium is restored. Jenny Harbine, Earth Justice's lead attorney in the case stated, "[b]ecause the court found that the decision to lift the moratorium on federal coal leasing was unlawful, we will be asking the court to reinstate the moratorium unless and until the government can justify a decision to continue leasing federal coal in light of the science regarding climate change and other devastating impacts." No one from the Trump administration has commented on the ruling yet, however, this is just one of a number of recent setbacks to President Trump and his administration's fossil fuel-driven policy agenda.
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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2020 Candidate Profiles: Jay Inslee, Potential Democratic Nominee for President of the United States
Jay Inslee previously served as a State Representative for Washington's 14
th legislative district from 1989-1993. Inslee then served as a U.S. Representative of the state of Washington from 1993 to 1995 and again from 1999 until 2012. While in Congress, Inslee served on both the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Governor Inslee is currently serving as the 23
rd Governor of Washington and has been in this position since 2012.
Governor Inslee has been dubbed the "
greenest governor in the country" by the League of Conservation Voters since his election in 2012, and his political record has earned him this nickname. Governor Inslee co-authored a book in 2007 titled
Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy in which he gave a detailed description of his proposal to address climate change. Additionally Governor Inslee's
website states, "[i]n Congress, he played a leading role advancing the growth of U.S. clean energy industries, by ensuring that the 2009 Recovery Act made record investments in renewable energy, efficiency, smart grid, energy storage, electric vehicles and other clean energy technologies and green infrastructure." Governor Inslee is also a co-founder of the U.S. Climate Alliance, which is a coalition of bipartisan states and territories in the U.S. that are committed to upholding the objectives stated in the Paris Climate Agreement.
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
In the Senate:
The Senate is on recess this week.
In the House:
The House is on recess this week
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NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
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