In September 2011, USACE released the Baseline Assessment of Non-Cargo CAWS Traffic, which assessed lock traffic by commercial passenger, recreational and governmental vessels. The data from these two reports will be used to develop navigation system models and waterway traffic forecasts in order to make the best potential recommendation for aquatic nuisance species controls on the waterway and, if necessary, mitigation measures. USACE said it will host a conference call January 5, 2012, at 10:00 AM (CST) for interested parties to ask questions on the Cargo Assessment.
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The draft report uses seven measures of biological integrity, six measures of chemical integrity, and one measure of physical integrity, to assess changes in the Great Lakes basin ecosystem. It draws on the best indicators of ecosystem trends available from government agencies and the academic research community. The draft report, Assessment of Progress Made Towards Restoring and Maintaining Great Lakes Water Quality Since 1987, is available online. The Commission plans to publish a report in 2012 based on comments received and subsequent research. The Commission will accept written comments on the draft report via the comment form on the Biennial Meeting web page or by email or regular mail at until December 31, 2011.
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Representative LoBiondo said, "The Coast Guard does an outstanding job for our nation. However, in the current budget environment, it is important for Congress to review the Service's authorities to find ways to improve operations while reducing costs. H.R. 2838 does that in a manner that will not impact the Service's critical missions." According to a release from the Committee, H.R.2838 includes provisions that will give the Coast Guard and its personnel greater parity with the Department of Defense (DoD). Parity among the uniformed services has been a top priority of the Committee for some time and this bill makes significant progress towards aligning the Coast Guard's authorities with those granted to DoD. The bill contains a title intended to reform and improve Coast Guard administration. It also includes several provisions to improve the safety and efficiency of the maritime transportation system, as well as to protect and grow maritime related jobs.
Also included in the legislation are provisions that set a nationwide standard for the treatment of ballast water that remedies the current patchwork of varying and inconsistent ballast water regulations across states. Currently the Coast Guard and the U.S. EPA have developed separate regulations under two different Federal laws to govern the discharge of ballast water. The Committee said, "The EPA's ballast water program under the Clean Water Act is especially burdensome, as it allows each individual state to add state requirements on top of the federal regulations. Twenty-nine states and tribes have done just that. As a result, small businesses are forced to comply with differing and often conflicting ballast water standards for each of these 29 states and tribal areas."
Representative LoBiondo said, "Under current law, both the Coast Guard and EPA regulate ballast water, while every state and tribe is allowed to add their own requirements to those regulations. As a result, ships engaged in interstate and international commerce must comply with two federal standards, as well as 29 differing state and tribal ballast water standards, many of which are contradictory and technologically unachievable. The current system is simply impossible. It threatens our international maritime trade. It is driving industry away from coastwise trade. It is undermining our attempts to revitalize the U.S. flagged fleet. It is destroying jobs and it is hurting our economy. This legislation eliminates this ridiculous regulatory regime and establishes a single, uniform national standard that is based on the most effective technology currently available. The EPA must update the standard on a regular basis or at the request of a state."
The Committee release indicated that H.R. 2838 is "a common sense solution to the problem, immediately putting in place a standard for ballast water treatment that is both achievable and effective." This approach is endorsed by the EPA, the Coast Guard, the National Academy of Sciences, the EPA's Science Advisory Board, the U.S. flagged industry, maritime labor, manufacturers, farmers, energy producers and the nation's largest and most strategic international trading partners.
Representative Bob Gibbs (R-OH), Chairman of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, who assisted in crafting Title VII portion of the legislation issued a statement saying, "I applaud the passage of H.R.2838, a fiscally responsible reauthorization of the U.S. Coast Guard that will protect maritime industry jobs threatened by the current burdensome ballast water treatment regulations, improve the safety and efficiency of the maritime transportation system, and promote the flow of maritime commerce. Promoting maritime commerce is especially important to us here locally as the Port of Cleveland handles an average of 13.1 million tons of cargo per year and provides 11,000 Ohio jobs. We must protect our local interstate and foreign commerce industry from unnecessary, burdensome and sometimes impossible to attain requirements that inhibit the flow of maritime commerce. This legislation will immediately put in place a uniform, achievable nationwide standard for vessel ballast water treatment, resolving the current patchwork of varying and inconsistent ballast water regulations across states. This approach is endorsed by the EPA, the Coast Guard, the National Academy of Sciences, the EPA's Science Advisory Board, maritime labor, manufacturers, farmers, energy producers and our largest and most strategic international trading partners."
The bill also includes a highly controversial provision that would allow the S.S. Badger, the Ludington, MI to Manitowoc, WI carferry, operated by the Lake Michigan Carferry Company, to continue the practice of dumping coal as in Lake Michigan -- an exemption that was scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. In a series of articles, the Chicago Tribune has drawn attention to the S.S. Badger, the only coalfired ferry still operating in the United States. As the ship travels from its home port of Ludington, to Manitowoc, it dumps 509 tons of coal ash into Lake Michigan each year -- a quantity greater than the total waste dumped annually by the 125 other largest ships operating on the Great Lakes. The coal ash contains arsenic, lead, and mercury, all of which can cause cancer when consumed in drinking water, cause serious damage to fish populations, and poison fish that are part of our food supply.
Under an agreement negotiated between the owners of the S.S. Badger and the U.S. EPA, the current EPA vessel general permit gives the Badger a December 2012 deadline to retrofit the ferry with a new boiler that would prevent further coal ash dumping. In an attempt to circumvent these standards the owners of the Badger have attempted to secure both the designation of the S.S. Badger as a National Historic Landmark and legislative language that would exempt "vessels of historic significance" from EPA regulation of discharge.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has led an effort to end the coal ash practice. On November 9, following a meeting with the EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, he wrote to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee to oppose efforts to protect the S.S. Badger from having to comply with EPA standards. Durbin wrote in his letter to Salazar, "Lake Michigan is the primary source of drinking water for more than ten million people and a key component of the $7 billion Great Lakes fishing industry. We cannot let Historic Landmark Status be used to evade the federal regulations we rely on to protect public health and the environment. . . This is more than a car ferry with a venerable tradition. This is a vessel that generates and dumps four tons of coal ash laced with mercury and arsenic into Lake Michigan every day. Lake Michigan cannot take any more toxic dumping, no matter how historic or quaint the source may be."
The Initiative focused on three primary issues: 1) how energy costs factor into water bills; 2) whether the cost of providing water to consumers is fully transparent; and 3) if an efficiency-oriented revenue structure would change water use in the Great Lakes basin. Jeffrey Ripp of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, a technical adviser to the project said, "Water has historically been undervalued in the Great Lakes region because of its abundance. However, the cost of delivering safe and reliable water continues to increase and many have concerns about the long-term sustainability of Great Lakes water. The results of this project will help communities price water in a way that reflects its value to the region's economy and environment."
A survey and economic analysis by Michigan State University (MSU) of the largest municipal water systems in the Great Lakes states found that utility expenses have climbed some 25 percent on average, mainly due to the rise in costs for infrastructure and operations. To make up for the costs, water rates are generally going up, and many public water systems are providing information about conservation to their customers and even introducing special, efficiency-oriented rates. These rates are designed to encourage the customer to use their water more wisely. Typically, the price of water increases as the customer consumes more water. Dr. Janice Beecher of MSU, who led the survey, noted that "even in this water-abundant region, there is a growing recognition that cost-based water pricing plays a central role in prudent resource management and long-term sustainability." Cost-based water pricing means setting a price per unit of water to cover the costs of providing the water (e.g., pumping, treating and delivering the water to the customer).
The Initiative engaged utility managers and local officials in a series of four workshops to discuss the impacts of water rates using the Initiative's Water Pricing Primer on the basic principles of different water rates and how they can be used to achieve various water management goals. Also discussed were the political, institutional and economic barriers to using price to achieve water conservation goals. Such barriers include lack of political will; resistance to change; lack of consumer education on why rates need to increase; media unwillingness to research all the facts; and opposing agendas between management and elected officials. A team of experts assembled for the Initiative used results from the water system survey and the workshops to make 17 recommendations for advancing water pricing to achieve both economic viability for the utility and environmental sustainability of the water resource.
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The study found that maritime commerce supported 227,000 jobs; contributed $14.1 billion in annual personal income, $33.5 billion in business revenue, and $6.4 billion in local purchases; and added $4.6 billion to federal, state/provincial, and local tax revenues. North American farmers, steel producers, construction firms, food manufacturers, and power generators depend on the 164 million metric tons of essential raw materials and finished products that are moved annually on the system. Additionally, marine shipping saves companies approximately $3.6 billion per year in transportation costs compared to the next least-costly land-based alternative.
The study was commissioned by members of the marine shipping industry, in partnership with U.S. and Canadian government agencies. Martin Associates of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a global leader in transportation economic analysis and strategic planning, was retained to conduct the study. In order to ensure defensibility and accuracy, the study methodology and results of the analysis was peer reviewed by leading U.S. and Canadian economists in academia and the private sector.
The impacts of 2010 cargo movements were calculated at 32 U.S. and Canadian ports along the system. Chapter 1 lays out study methodology; Chapter 2 presents the system-wide impacts; Chapter 3 breaks down those economic impacts by vessel flag; Chapter 4 evaluates the data exclusively for commerce utilizing the St. Lawrence Seaway; Chapter 5 reveals the impact from the perspective of the New York ballast water regulations; and Chapter 6 presents information on related users along the system.
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Brent Lofgren, Ph.D., a GLERL scientist and lead author of the study said, "Even small drops in lake water levels create problems for shipping and navigation, hydroelectric energy production, and recreational boating. While there are still many unknowns about how climate change will unfold in the Great Lakes region, our results indicate less loss of water than earlier studies." The researchers used a different method than previous studies to account for how water evaporates into the atmosphere from the soil and plants in the drainage basin that surrounds the lakes, i.e. evapotranspiration. Earlier studies used air temperature alone to estimate this variable. The new GLERL study uses an "energy budget-based approach" to better reflect the balance between energy coming in from the sun and energy given off from the Earth, which drives evaporation.
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Canadian Section Chair Joseph Comuzzi said, "Our two countries have made major investments to restore and maintain Great Lakes water quality over the decades. We need to take stock of the results as we set goals for the coming decades. Although the results are mixed, they show that there has been progress and there is a clear need to update the Agreement to better address emerging threats." U.S. Section Chair Lana Pollack said, "The Great Lakes are at the heart of our economy and quality of life. We need good up-to-date-science based information to assess how well Canada and the United States are protecting these waters. This draft report is an important step toward understanding the larger picture."
The draft report indicates that levels of many older chemicals have decreased in herring gulls, fish and sediments, especially from 1987-2000. However, results differ for some newer chemicals, such as PBDE (flame retardants) levels in fish increased considerably from 1987 to 2000. In addition, 34 non-native aquatic species were introduced into the Great Lakes, but none have become established since 2006. The burrowing mayfly and lake sturgeon have started to return, but lake trout populations have not changed measurably. Diporeia, a small shrimp-like crustacean that is a key part of the aquatic food web has almost disappeared.
The draft report uses seven measures of biological integrity, six measures of chemical integrity, and one measure of physical integrity, to assess changes in the Great Lakes basin ecosystem. It draws on the best indicators of ecosystem trends available from government agencies and the academic research community. The Commission plans to publish a report in 2012 based on comments received and subsequent research.
Access an announcement with commenting instructions and link to the complete 173-page report (click here).
The first conference day will include the meeting welcome, and plenary and technical sessions. Day two will offer a choice of two concurrent sessions: Session I will include training sessions and Session II will include a series of technical sessions on implementation of quality. The morning of conference day three will be dedicated to presentations by GLRI collaborators. The Quality Program Lead for each GLRI collaborator will present the status of quality implementation for their GLRI projects.
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