Congressional Members Urge Candidate Support For Great Lakes

Dec 11: Congressmen Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Vern Ehlers (R-MI) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL) joined environmental leaders of the Healing Our Waters®-Great Lakes Coalition to call on all Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to sign a candidate pledge to protect and restore the Great Lakes. The pledge, which was sent to all presidential candidates, requests that the next president: (1) appoint a cabinet-level official to oversee and lead the implementation of a recently-finalized Great Lakes Collaboration Restoration Strategy, (2) prepare an interdepartmental Great Lakes restoration budget for their administration -- if elected -- to allow the public to gauge progress, and (3) fund the implementation of the Great Lakes Restoration Collaboration Strategy to ensure all of the identified activities have been fully funded.

Congressman Kirk is a co-chair of the Congressional Great Lakes Task Force and an original co-sponsor of the Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act (H.R. 1350). Congressman Emanuel co-authored with Congressman Ehlers the first such bills as early as 2003. Congressman Lipinski is also a co-sponsor of H.R. 1350. The pledge letter sent to all candidates and signed by the four members of Congress begins, "As you work to craft your presidential platform, we, as elected officials encourage you to adopt comprehensive Great Lakes restoration as a key element of your campaign. One of the clearest ways to demonstrate your support is to sign the attached pledge so we know that Great Lakes restoration will be a priority of your administration." The letter concludes, "We are serious about ensuring that this plan gets implemented. After years of stop and start restoration efforts, the time has come for a full commitment to restore the Great Lakes. Investing in this valuable resource now will save us from having to later spend many times more. Just as it is important for any administration to protect the Everglades, Grand Canyon or Yellowstone, it is crucial that the next Administration commit to Great Lakes restoration for generations to come. We strongly urge you to sign the following pledge to demonstrate your commitment to Great Lakes protection and restoration."

Access a posted release including the letter and pledge (click here). Access legislative details for H.R.1350 of 2007 (click here). Access the Access the WIMS new Great Lakes Environment Blog for additional information (click here).

State Of The Strait - Status and Trends Of Key Indicators 2007

Dec 4: This report, State of the Strait - Status and Trends of Key Indicators, 2007, is based on the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Indicator Project, a three-year U.S.-Canada effort to compile and summarize long-term trend data, and the 2006 State of the Strait Conference held in Flat Rock, Michigan. An indicator is a measurable feature that provides useful information on ecosystem status, quality or trends and the factors that affect them. Examples of indicators used in this report include contaminants in fish, coastal wetland loss, reproductive success of threatened and endangered species, urban sprawl, land use changes, pollutant emissions, and many others. Indicator reporting clearly communicates ecosystem trends to policy makers and managers to aid in decision-making.

Indicators in the report are placed into three different categories to illustrate causal relationships: pressure, state, and response. Pressure indicators describe the direct and indirect pressures, including human activities that impact the environment. State indicators describe the physical, chemical, and biological condition of the natural world and human health and welfare. Response indicators describe societal actions in policy or behavior undertaken to improve and protect the environment. Policy-makers and decision-makers at all levels need timely, reliable, and relevant information on indicators for management purposes. Indicators measure progress toward management goals and objectives. From a management perspective, particular emphasis needs to be placed on quantifying targets and endpoints for management programs.
The purpose of the project was to: compile and interpret long-term data bases for ecosystem indicators from the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie basin; translate the information into understandable terms for policy-makers and managers; and make these indicator data and trends readily available.

Key sponsors of the 2006 State of the Strait Conference and this report include: Canadian Consulate; CDM; Detroit Water and Sewerage Department; DTE Energy; Environment Canada; Environmental Management Association; Essex Region Conservation Authority; Friends of the Detroit River; Great Lakes Fishery Trust; International Joint Commission; International Wildlife Refuge Alliance; Metropolitan Affairs Coalition; Michigan Sea Grant; University of Michigan-Dearborn; University of Windsor; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Access a posted announcement on the report (click here). Access the website for the complete 327-page report for complete information including links to the full report, individual sections and related information (click here). Access a 3-page executive summary (click here). Access the related Great Lakes Environmental Indicator Project website for additional information (click here). Access the WIMS new Great Lakes Environment Blog for additional information (click here).

Binational Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Infrastructure Study

Nov 26: The governments of Canada and the United States released the binational Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway (GLSLS) Study. The GLSLS Study was conducted to evaluate the infrastructure needs of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system, specifically the engineering, economic and environmental implications of those needs as they pertain to commercial navigation. The study assesses the long-term maintenance and capital requirements to ensure the continuing viability of the system as a safe, efficient, reliable and sustainable component of North America’s transportation infrastructure.

Seven Canadian and United States departments and agencies were involved in the study: Transport Canada, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, the U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, Environment Canada and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Interested parties are invited to provide feedback on the final report, which will be provided to the above noted organizations for their consideration. Written feedback received by January 18, 2008 will be posted to the study website.

The report concludes in part that, "Forward planning must ensure that GLSLS capacity remains fluid and responsive within a stable policy framework and investment climate that can support strategic and timely investment in system capacity, while improving service levels and reliability. Furthermore, it must do so in a manner that satisfies concerns about environmental stewardship and that raises challenges for the shipping industry... Participants and stakeholders will succeed if they are able to integrate the three perspectives of engineering, economics, and the environment. Only if a balance is struck among these three differing sets of imperatives will it be possible to maintain truly sustainable commercial navigation in the Great Lakes basin and St. Lawrence River, and leave a lasting positive legacy to future generations."

Access the report website for an announcement and links to related information (click here). Access the complete 128-page report (click here). Access the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System website for additional information (click here). Access a Milwaukee Journal article on the study (click here); and additional media reports (click here).