| Northeast-Midwest Institute Weekly Update |
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Great Ships Initiative Launches Ballast Water Filter Testing Round Robin
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NEMWI's Great Ships Initiative (GSI) has launched a ballast treatment technology demonstration event in fresh water in cooperation with Great Lakes ship-owners. The objective of the 6 week series of high flow tests is to determine the capacity of a range of filter types and makes to remove organisms from fresh water ballast water. Filters and associated technical personnel are arriving in Superior, WI, location of the NEMWI's GSI Land Based Ballast Water Treatment Testing Facility, from manufacturers based all over the world, including Japan, Germany, Israel, and Norway. Most ballast water management systems (BWMSs) incorporate a filter or other physical separation device as a preliminary treatment process. Fresh water systems like the Great Lakes contain biota that challenge such devices in ways that are distinct from brackish and salt water systems. GSI is a collaborative effort managed by the Northeast-Midwest Institute to assure BWMSs receive direct performance evaluation under fresh water conditions. GSI will profile filter performance in terms of biological and operational parameters and results will be publicly available (with or without the trade name of the filter system, per developer preference). For more information, please contact Allegra Cangelosi, President, Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMWI Welcomes Hope Ratner
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Hope Ratner has worked in the non-profit sector for over twenty years as a grants manager, non-profit administrator as well as a communications and marketing manager. She has also worked as a senior paralegal for both public interest and private law firms. While working for the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, the country's first agricultural land-trust, she co-managed the land trust's Land Trust Alliance accreditation. Hope was a panelist for accreditation presentations at the LTA Rally and a California Council for Land Trusts annual conference. Hope has a Bachelor's in Fine Arts from Syracuse University. She is an accomplished painter and photographer. In her spare time she loves to travel to Italy. For more information, please contact Hope Ratner, Administrative Manager at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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BRIEFING RECAP: WRRDA in the House: Impacts on the Great Lakes
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On Friday, September 13, 2013, NEMWI hosted a briefing on the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, recently introduced in the House of Representatives, and potential impacts of such a bill on the Great Lakes region. Attendees heard from Jim Weakley with the Lake Carriers Association; Steve Fisher with the American Great Lakes Ports Association; and Matt Doss with the Great Lakes Commission. Jim Weakley began by providing background on navigation and shipping on the Great Lakes, including the dredging backlog of $200 M, and how low water levels compound this backlog. He also provided information on the economic impacts of shipping in the Great Lakes region, including the $3.6 B saved annually by transporting goods via vessel rather than via rail or by truck. Steve Fisher offered an overview and comparison of the specific Operations and Maintenance (which includes dredging and other harbor maintenance) within the Senate and House bills, highlighting the benefits of designating the Great Lakes as a navigation system to receive federal support, rather than having the ports compete against each other. He also highlighted the challenges within the bills with securing sufficient funding out of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, which is funded through fees meant to support harbor maintenance activities. Matt Doss noted the Great Lakes Commission historical and recent support, along with six other Great Lakes groups, for adequate harbor maintenance. He also noted the impacts on invasive species, such as Asian carp, and habitat restoration that a WRDA bill can have for the Great Lakes. All attendees affirmed their support for passage of WRRDA, in order to conference with the Senate. The House Great Lakes Task Force co-chairs, Reps. Candice Miller (MI-10), John Dingell (MI-12), Sean Duffy (WI-07), and Louise Slaughter (NY-25), served as honorary co-sponsors for the briefing. NEMWI provided an overview of the Senate bill after its passage back in May.
For more information, please contact Danielle Chesky, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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Congressman Tonko to Deliver Welcome Address
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Congressman Tonko will give the welcome address for the 2013 Combined Heat and Power / Waste Heat to Power Conference & Trade Show. Rep. Tonko (D-NY) is a consistent supporter of federal leadership in employing CHP and waste heat to power as a means to save energy and withstand extreme weather events. Rep. Tonko currently serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and is co-chair of Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC). He is a mechanical engineer by training and served as President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority In early August Rep. Tonko reintroduced two bills specifically designed to help combined heat and power and waste heat to power projects: The Innovative Energy Systems Act of 2013 and The Heat is Power Act. In the past, Rep. Tonko has introduced legislation to provide a 30-percent investment tax credit for highly efficient CHP projects (those with efficiencies above 70 percent) and recycled energy. For more information about the conference, download the agenda. For more information about the conference, download the agenda. For more information, please contact Allegra Cangelosi, President, Northeast-Midwest Institute on behalf of Colleen Cain who is on maternity leave.
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