The July edition of Great Lakes Hill Happenings is now available. This edition includes: 

• Updates on legislation, including introduction of the GLEEPA bill on the House side and movement on the Harmful Algal Bloom and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore bills;
• Updates on appropriations and the status of Great Lakes programs, including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, State Revolving Funds, and the Army Corps; and
• A link to a letter sent by Great Lakes Senators to the President, reminding him of the importance of the Great Lakes and the potential negative impacts of climate change on the country's largest source of surface freshwater.

 

For more information, contact Danielle Chesky, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute. 

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees released their full committee drafts and report language for the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill, which provides funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey, among others. These federal agencies provide significant support for cleanup, restoration, and water infrastructure efforts within the Northeast-Midwest region, including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, and Brownfield cleanup. Given the importance of these agencies, the NEMWI has constructed for its partners and the NEMW Congressional delegation a summary of proposed funding for major programs. The summary also charts relevant policy proposals within the bill or report language. Although the full House Appropriations Committee began a markup on Wednesday, July 31, no action is expected in either chamber until after the August recess.  

  

For more information, contact Danielle Chesky, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute. 

NextCity, a publication dedicated to connecting cities and informing the people working to improve them, last week introduced Watermark, a year-long series on water and cities, especially the confluence of environmental trends and infrastructure needs. The series will feature four in-depth reports along with other related stories on all aspects of the growing water problem in the U.S., from flood mitigation to farming practices to sewage treatment. The series is relevant for the NEMW region; despite its water-wealth, the region faces a variety of water-related problems, including rising sea levels, aging infrastructure, and agricultural and industrial threats to freshwater sources and coastal waters.

 

For more information, contact Colleen Cain, Senior Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.