Great Lakes Commission Outlines Legislative Priorities

Mar 1: Citing the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system as an "environmental and economic asset of vital importance to the nation," the Great Lakes Commission (GLC) called for an ongoing Federal commitment to the $2.2 billion Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). The action headlined the Commission's Fiscal Year 2012 legislative priorities, adopted at its 2011 Semiannual Meeting held in Washington, DC as part of the annual Great Lakes Day events on Capitol Hill.

 

    Other legislative priorities announced by the Commission include: providing funding to expedite efforts to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes and supporting effective invasive species prevention programs; and rebuilding critical wastewater infrastructure through full funding of the Federal Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Revolving Fund programs.

 

    To heighten their impact in Washington, the Commission's legislative priorities are coordinated with six other regional agencies and organizations, generating "one regional voice" for restoring and effectively managing the Great Lakes. In addition to the Great Lakes Commission, the legislative priorities are endorsed by the Healing our Waters®-Great Lakes Coalition, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority, Council of Great Lakes Industries, and the Great Lakes Metro Chambers Coalition.

 

    Access a lengthy release from GLC and link to a full list of legislative priorities for FY2012 and supporting documents (click here).

NRDC Reports On Problems With Asian Carp Electric Barrier

Feb 28: Thom Cmar a Chicago attorney with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) indicated in a blog posting that an attorney for the Army Corps is saying that the Corps had decided to finalize and release a study related to the Asian Carp issue and the effectiveness of the electric barrier known as the Smith-Root report on electric barrier operating parameters." Reportedly, the Corps will release the study "by mid-March."

 

    Cmar said, "This is a small victory for transparency in what has often felt like an opaque decision making process around the Asian carp issue…  one in which the Army Corps does not seem to move with the urgency that the threat to the Great Lakes seems to require. I have little doubt that the combination of Dan Egan's article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and our threat of a FOIA lawsuit on behalf of Prairie Rivers Network, played a big role in persuading the Army Corps to release this report more quickly than it originally planned."

 

    He indicates that, since last October, the Army Corps has had the study in its hands, by contractors from Smith-Root Inc. who worked at the Corps' Vicksburg, MS lab to determine how effective the electric barriers should be when operated at different parameters. But the Corps had continued to say that the study was still a draft and not yet formally approved and therefore they did not have to release it.

 

    Cmar indicates that Dan Egan of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that the Corps has refused to release the study report even to its own independent technical advisory panel – even though, at the same time, it insists that the report shows that the electric barriers are working to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. However, Dan Egan's reporting also uncovered that the "still-secret report" does not even attempt to examine whether the electric barriers will work to stop juvenile fish smaller than 6 inches from swimming past it and into Lake Michigan

 

    So, Cmar says, "the Army Corps' current plan for keeping Asian carp out of Lake Michigan is based on a series of "questionable assumptions:  that the electric barriers are working, that Asian carp DNA found past the barriers does not prove otherwise, and that there are no small juvenile Asian carp currently attempting to cross the barrier."

 

    Access the complete detailed posting from Cmar with links to the Egan article and extensive additional information (click here).

Ann Arbor Area Meeting On Great Lakes & Mississippi River Study

Mar 1: On Tuesday, March 8, 2011, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is holding two public scoping meetings in Ypsilanti from 2:00 to 8:00 PM at the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest to gather input on the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS). The public is invited to attend these scoping meetings and to provide comments on GLMRIS. Identical presentations about the study will be given at 2:00 PM and 5:30 PM, each followed by the comment period. The purpose of GLMRIS is to evaluate a range of options and technologies to prevent the transfer of aquatic nuisance species (ANS), such as Asian carp, between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River through aquatic pathways.

    Using input obtained during the scoping period, the Corps will refine the scope of GLMRIS to focus on significant issues, as well as eliminate issues that are not significant from further detailed study. Issues associated with GLMRIS are likely to include, but will not be limited to: significant natural resources, such as ecosystems and threatened and endangered species; commercial and recreational fisheries; recreational uses of the lakes and waterways; effects of potential ANS controls on waterways uses such as: flood risk management, commercial and recreational navigation; and statutory and legal responsibilities relative to the effected waterways. The Ann Arbor area meeting is the last one before the public scoping comment period ends on March 31, 2011.

 

    Access a meeting announcement from the Corps with contact information (click here). Access complete information regarding GLMRIS, the meeting agenda and scoping requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (click here).

EPA Seeks Proposals For $40 Million In GLRI Funding

Feb 25: U.S. EPA announced that the Agency is requesting applications from states, municipalities, tribes and nonprofit organizations for new projects to protect and restore the Great Lakes. The President's budget has proposed a total of $300 million in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) in Fiscal Year 2011, with approximately $40 million of that total allocated to EPA for distribution through this competitive grant program. The final budget, which is highly controversial [See WIMS 2/22/11], is subject to Congressional appropriation. Applications are due by noon on April 11. Webinars on the application process will be held at 10 AM on March 9 and March 17. 

    EPA Region 5 Administrator and Great Lakes National Program Manager Susan Hedman said, "These grants will support critical work to protect the Great Lakes, which provide drinking water to 30 million Americans and support a multi-billion dollar economy. This year we are particularly interested in projects that create new jobs -- for instance, using a conservation corps model for environmental restoration." Grants are available to fund a wide range of projects, including work to target invasive species, to reduce the impact of toxic substances and nonpoint pollution, to protect public health, and to clean up heavily contaminated 'Areas of Concern' around the Great Lakes Basin.

 

    Access a release from EPA with links to more information about applying for GLRI grants and the GLRI (click here).

Great Lakes = 1.5 Million Jobs & $62 Billion Wages Annually

Feb 24: During the discussions of the economic impact of an invasion of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes ecosystem there has been widespread use of various figures of the dollar value of the Great Lakes resource. For example various reports have cited: "$7 billion recreational fishing industry and $16 billion recreational boating industry" [See e.g. WIMS 9/16/10]; or a "$9 billion boating and $7 billion sport and commercial fishing industries" [See e.g. WIMS 2/9/10]; or "$7 billion fishing and tourism industries" [See e.g. WIMS 1/19/10]. So what is the real figure?

 

    A new analysis by the Michigan Sea Grant at the University of Michigan indicates that more than 1.5 million U.S. jobs are directly connected to the Great Lakes, generating $62 billion in wages annually. The analysis is based on 2009 employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and represents a "conservative estimate of direct employment" related to the Great Lakes in several industries, according to the authors, Michigan Sea Grant's assistant director, Jennifer Read, and research specialist Lynn Vaccaro.

    Read said, "Many people don't realize how large an impact the Great Lakes have across many large sectors of this region's economy. The total number of jobs and the percentage of jobs by industry illustrate just how critical the Great Lakes are to the region. For example, there are more than 525,000 Great Lakes-related jobs in Michigan alone."

    A collaborative effort of U-M and Michigan State University, Michigan Sea Grant is part of the NOAA-National Sea Grant network of more than 30 university-based programs. The two-page economic analysis updates a more extensive Michigan Sea Grant report issued in 2009. That report focused on Michigan's economic ties to the lakes. The update provides figures for all eight states that border the Great Lakes.

    The new report looks at the number of jobs connected to the Great Lakes by state and by industry. According to the report, Michigan has the highest number of jobs that depend on the lakes (525,886), followed by Illinois (380,786), Ohio (178,621), Wisconsin (173,969), New York (157,547), Indiana (54,397), Pennsylvania (25,479) and Minnesota (11,877). Manufacturing was responsible for 66 percent of the Great Lakes-linked jobs, followed by tourism and recreation (14 percent), shipping (8 percent), agriculture (8 percent), science and engineering (2 percent), utilities (1 percent) and mining (1 percent).

    According to a release, Great Lakes vessels transport an average of 163 million tons of cargo each year. Lake vessels can ship goods three times more efficiently than rail and 10 times more efficiently than trucks. This transportation system sustains manufacturing and steel production, while the clean, abundant Great Lakes waters attract chemical and pharmaceutical companies to the region. Historically, access to the lakes resulted in a concentration of technical skill, transportation and manufacturing infrastructure. In the coming decades, growth will be less linked to traditional manufacturing and more focused on quality of life and quality of the region's natural resources.

    Jim Diana, director of Michigan Sea Grant and a professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment said, "The quality of our lives in Michigan, and the region, is largely defined by the Great Lakes. They provide us sustenance, livelihoods, recreation and a sense of place. Unless we continue to protect them and do even more to restore them, we will lose the ability to attract and retain new businesses and talented workers. Restoration of the lakes is crucial to our future."

    Great Lakes beaches, resort communities and natural areas support a vibrant recreation and tourism industry and enhance the quality of life for residents. More than 4 million recreational vessels are registered in the region, and people spend nearly $16 billion annually on boating trips and equipment. Many take advantage of the region's Great Lakes-dependent natural resources, including more than 9.2 million anglers, 4.6 million hunters and 23.2 million bird watchers each year. The calculations in the Michigan Sea Grant economic summary are based on the most recent annual estimates for county employment from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and its Occupational Employment Statistics program.

    Access a release from Michigan Sea Grant (click here). Access the 2-page analysis summary (click here). Access the Michigan Sea Grant website (click here).

Rep. Camp Amendment To Close Chicago Locks Fails

Feb 17: In the midst of the House debate over the FY 2011 Continuing Resolution, Michigan Republican Representative David Camp offered an amendment numbered 516 to prohibit funds to be used for the opening of the locks at the Thomas J. O'Brien Lock and Dam or the Chicago River Controlling Works. Representative Camp said, " I offer an amendment that is long overdue. Last June, a live bighead Asian carp was discovered 6 miles from Lake Michigan, north of the locks and well past the electric barrier. This discovery shows that Asian carp, one of the world's most rampant invasive species, are at the doorstep of the Great Lakes. . . To prevent this catastrophe, ecological experts have said that closing the locks that separate the Illinois River from Lake Michigan is the single most important step we can take to prevent these species from entering the Great Lakes." Upon consideration, the amendment failed by a vote of 137-292 with 89 Republicans and 48 Democrats voting for the measure.

 

    Access the complete consideration of the amendment in the Congressional Record (click here). Access the roll call vote on the amendment (click here).

HOW Comments On FY12 & FY11 GLRI Funding Levels

Feb 14: The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes (HOW) Coalition issued a release commenting on funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) contained in the President's Fiscal Year 2012 budget and in the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Continuing Resolution (CR) to complete the current Fiscal Year 2011 (ending September 30, 2011) [See WIMS 2/14/11]. The President's FY12 budget contains $350 million for the GLRI – a reduction of $125 million from the FY 2010 budget of $475 million and an increase of $50 million from the amount the President requested for the FY11 budget. The CR provides $225 million for GLRI -- a reduction of $250 million from FY 2010 levels and $75 million below the amount the President requested in FY11. Congress needs to complete a budget for FY11 by March 4, at which time the current continuing resolution expires.
 
    Jeff Skelding, campaign director for HOW said, "We appreciate President Obama's ongoing support [of] the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, even in a difficult budget climate. We are concerned, however, that while the President's $350 million request will allow us to make progress, it will be less than what we could achieve had the GLRI been funded at the higher level provided two years ago. The House faced a similar choice and even with strong support from the Great Lakes congressional delegation, the House Committee on Appropriations disappointedly chose to cut important Great Lakes funding even further from what the House and Senate supported last year.
 
    "Great Lakes restoration faces a steep climb -- steeper in the House's budget than in the President's. Cutting successful efforts to protect drinking water, safeguard public health, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of people is the wrong way to go.  Investing in efforts to restore the Great Lakes, a resource that more than 30 million depend on for drinking water, results in some of the best returns on the dollar in the federal budget. The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has consistently advocated for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to be funded at $475 million since it was introduced in 2009 to confront the urgent threats of toxic pollution, invasive species such as the Asian carp and habitat destruction. . . . Now that the President has released his 2012 budget request, we will turn our focus to the U.S. Congress who must enact funding levels that support the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $475 million in 2012 to protect our drinking water, jobs and way of life."
 
    Access a release from the HOW Coalition (click here).