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Congress Returns from Recess, Turns to SAFE PIPES and Defense
The House and Senate return from recess this week. The House is scheduled to take up amendments to the
Securing America's Future Energy: Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (SAFE PIPES) Act of 2016 (
S. 2276). The bill, which was passed by the Senate in March, authorizes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration. The House will also take up legislation to help Puerto Rico restructure its debt.
In the Senate, expect Subcommittee and Committee markups of the
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. Check out NEMWI's website here for fact sheets on several o
f the appropriations bills so far.
The Senate also will continue to consider its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The House-passed NDAA bill included language incorporating the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA) (H.R. 980). VIDA would remove the EPA's jurisdiction over ballast water under the Clean Water Act and place it solely within the U.S. Coast Guard. This provision was not included in the Senate defense bill. See NEMWI's policy brief on VIDA's potential regional impact
here
.
Other regionally-relevant events this week are listed below.
Thursday
- House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing: "Census 2020: Examining the Readiness of Key Aspects of the Census Bureau's 2020 Census Preparation," 9:00 AM, 2154 Rayburn House Office Building
- House Committee on the Budget hearing on "The Need to Control Automatic Spending and Unauthorized Programs," 9:30 AM, 210 Cannon House Office Building
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NEMWI to Co-host Briefing on Efforts to Control Asian Carp in Mississippi River Basin, June 22
NEMWI, in conjunction with the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA), will hold a Congressional briefing on actions to address the threat of Asian carp in the Upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins, on Wednesday, June 22 from 1 PM to 2 PM in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room SD-562. Participants at the briefing will include:
- Aaron Woldt, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Asian Carp Coordinator--Asian carp management and control in the Upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins
- Greg Conover, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and MICRA Coordinator--Current state of Asian carp threat in the Mississippi River basin
- Ron Brooks, Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources and MICRA chairman--Current actions to address the Asian carp threat in the Ohio River basin
- Nick Frohnauer, Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources--Current actions to address the Asian carp threat in the Upper Mississippi River basin
- Thomas Crump, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers--Army Corps Asian carp activities in the upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins
- Rip Shively, U.S. Geological Survey--Asian carp control tools and technologies
- Mike Weimer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Co-Chair of the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee(ACRCC)--Coordinating and leveraging with the ACRCC Asian carp prevention and control efforts
For more information or to RSVP, contact Jared Mott, Sr. Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMWI and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Co-host Briefing on Great Lakes Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative
NEMWI and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service co-hosted a briefing on June 1, 2016, in conjunction with the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC). With approximately 20 attendees and during a Congressional recess, the briefing provided an overview of the LCC's Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative, an initiative to guide aquatic habitat restoration in the Great Lakes. The speakers included, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, John Rogner (LCC Coordinator, UMGL) and Jessica Hogrefe (Deputy Program Supervisor, Midwest Region Fisheries), along with Robert Lambe, the Executive Secretary of the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission.
Engineered barriers in the Great Lakes create positive and negative consequences for the species and public who benefit from the watersheds. On one hand, barriers prevent foreign aquatic species, such as the invasive sea lamprey, from damaging fisheries and breeding in the Lakes. On the other hand, barriers hinder native fish, such as the brook trout, from migration and, thus, lead to a decline in population. In order to sustain both public recreation and the health of the native aquatic species in the Great Lakes, the UMGL LCC initiated both the removal and retention of Great Lakes barriers. To view more information, click here.
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New NEMWI Report Assesses Federal Response to Blight
In case you missed it, NEMWI has released a new report entitled, "Fighting Blight in the Northeast-Midwest Region: Assessing the Federal Response to Vacant and Abandoned Properties." The report c
haracterizes the state of vacant and abandoned property in cities within the Northeast-Midwest region, in general, and the Great Lakes sub-region, in particular. It inventories
federal programs that support rehabilitation, demolition, and land reuse, as well as related legislative efforts in the 114th Congress. The report also offers several federal policy recommendations to accelerate the fight against blight.
NEMWI Senior Policy Analyst Dr. Colleen Cain presented highlights from the report at a well-attended Congressional
briefing on May 24. She was joined by speakers from the Thriving Communities Institute at the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, based in Cleveland, as well as the City of Baltimore.
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NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
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