Establishment Of The Great Lakes Advisory Board

May 31: U.S. EPA published a notice in the Federal Register [77 FR 32089] that it is establishing the Great Lakes Advisory Board (GLAB). The purpose of the GLAB is to provide advice to the Administrator in her capacity as Chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force established per Executive Order 13340 (May 18, 2004), on matters related to Great Lakes restoration and protection. The major objectives will be to provide advice and recommendations on: Great Lakes protection and restoration policy; long term goals and objectives for Great Lakes protection and restoration; and annual priorities to protect and restore the Great Lakes that may be used to help inform budget decisions.

 

    EPA said it has determined that this Federal advisory committee is in the public interest and will assist the EPA in performing its duties and responsibilities. Copies of the GLAB's charter will be filed with the appropriate congressional committees and the Library of Congress. The GLAB will be composed of approximately fifteen (15) members who will serve as representative members, Regular Government Employees (RGEs), or Special Government Employees (SGEs). The GLAB expects to meet in person or by electronic means (e.g., telephone, videoconference, webcast, etc.) approximately two (2) times a year, or as needed and approved by the Designated Federal Officer (DFO). Meetings will be held in the Great Lakes region and Washington, DC.

    Access the FR announcement (click here). Access a release from EPA with comments from the Administrator (click here).

 

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Fishery Commission Studies Sea Lamprey Trapping

May 30: The Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) will once again commence a major initiative this week to study ways to considerably enhance sea lamprey trapping on the St. Marys River.  The initiative was conceived collaboratively by GLFC and the International Joint Commission's International Upper Great Lakes Study and first implemented in 2011. Trapping sea lamprey -- a non-native fish predator that has caused major ecologic and economic harm to the Great Lakes -- before they spawn and contribute to the next generation is a major element of the sea lamprey control program. 

 

    The enhanced trapping study -- conducted in partnership with Brookfield Renewable Power in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario -- will involve a change in the timing and volume of water provided to the company for electricity generation. Conditions on the St. Marys River rapids may appear atypical to anglers and other users due to re-distribution of water through the compensating gates. The International Joint Commission and its Lake Superior Board of Control, which has authority over water flow levels, facilitated the conditions for this initiative. The St. Marys River is considered to be the major single source of sea lampreys into Lake Huron. This work is funded in part through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).

 

    Access a release with more details from GLFC (click here). Access the GLFC website for more information (click here).

 

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Agencies Launch GLATOS Website To Track Fish Movements

May 30: The Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) and Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) announced the launch of GLATOS -- Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observation System -- an interactive website to monitor fish movement. According to an announcement, GLATOSWeb compiles acoustic telemetry project information and helps users learn more about ongoing acoustic telemetry projects in the Great Lakes. Scientists have been implanting Great Lakes fish with transmitters and, like the GPS on a car, have been tracking fish movement through a network of receivers placed on the bottom of the lakes. The purpose of GLATOS is to help scientists and the public learn more about Great Lakes acoustic telemetry projects and their contribution to research.

 

    GLATOS aims to: 1. Build a network of researchers conducting acoustic telemetry studies within the Great Lakes Basin; 2. Foster the development of partnerships and cooperative project planning through GLATOSWeb; and, 3. Extend the effective range of individual studies by providing a mechanism to share detection data among projects.

 

    Access the GLATOS website for interactive tracking and more information (click here). Access the GLFC website for more information (click here). Access additional information from GLOS (click here).

 

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Great Lakes & Mississippi River Interbasin Study Newsletter

May 23: The Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS) Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 2 is now available. The issue includes articles entitled: New GLMRIS Interim Program Manager; Final ANS Control Paper; Commercial Fisheries Report; Upcoming Interim Products; Q&A's on Commercial Fisheries Report; Array of Alternatives Report Announced for 2013; and eDNA Calibration Study.

 

    According to the revised schedule of project milestones, an "Array of Alternatives Report" will be available in December 2013 and will outline an assortment of alternatives that meet the established planning objectives. The Army Corps of Engineers had previously planned to release a short list of proposed alternatives in 2015, recently committed to stepping up the schedule [See WIMS 5/8/12]. At least one of these alternatives will include a full hydrologic separation scenario. A draft Feasibility Study & Environmental Impact Statement is now anticipated by early 2015.

 

    Access the latest GLMRIS Newsletter (click here). Access the GLMRIS website for more information (click here).

 

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Evaluating Industrial Water Stewardship In The Great Lakes

May 21: The Council of Great Lakes Industries (CGLI) has released a new report, funded primarily by the Great Lakes Protection Fund (GLPF), on use of water stewardship tools. The report concludes that tools used to assess global water use practices have potential to improve Great Lakes industry's understanding of water use. The project team, after reviewing 19 tools, further concluded that no single existing tool can comprehensively demonstrate that a particular water use is sustainable. The team also concluded that the tools need to be enhanced or modified to meet the unique needs of industry operating in the water-rich Great Lakes region. This work lays the foundation for developing water stewardship metrics useful in a water-rich region.   

    The project team included an expert panel made up of industry, state and provincial water resource managers, regional Great Lakes policy makers, and environmental non-government organization representatives. The expert panel met periodically over a two-year period to develop the issues of primary importance to the Great Lakes, evaluate and provide input on project progress and outcomes, and review the final report. The full report entitled, Optimizing Water Use – Evaluation of the Use of Water Stewardship Tools by Great Lakes Basin Industries, is available on the CGLI website. 
 
    The report follows a first-phase effort to improve methods for characterizing and evaluating industrial water stewardship in the Great Lakes. In the initial phase, the team considered existing water stewardship (including "water footprinting") tools and metrics. These were assessed to determine their applicability for water stewardship assessment in the Great Lakes. In the second phase, the project team piloted application of key metrics contained in the tools at a number of industrial facilities in the Great Lakes basin. Facilities that participated in the pilot studies included: Escanaba Paper Company, a Subsidiary of NewPage Corporation – Escanaba, MI; Consumers Energy coal-fired electric utility – Grand Haven, MI; Shell petrochemicals refining plant – Sarnia, Ont.; and Lafarge Portland cement plant – Bath, Ont.
 
    Technical support was provided by LimnoTech, the internationally recognized freshwater consulting firm; the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI), the paper industry's environmental research organization; and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). EPRI and NCASI also made financial contributions to the project. Study conclusions included the following:

• The impact of water use, not the quantity of water withdrawn, is the critical issue for water sustainability in the Great Lakes region.
• Water use accounting is a complicated matter. Water sustainability tools provide a framework for examining water withdrawal and consumption values, use of best water management practices, and quantifying wastewater treatment and reuse. Several tools even can be used to describe some of the economic benefits arising from regional industry. However, no single tool currently integrates all of this information, and none of the tools quantify the economic and social aspects of water use -- two essential elements of a sustainability demonstration.
• Data precision is a critical element governing the validity of water use calculations and can significantly impact the usefulness of assessment conclusions.
• Water use quantities must be related to the context of water availability and scale. Large volume water uses can be sustainable in water-rich regions.
• Some metrics are external to, and redundant to, what is already being reported for regulatory purposes. These were generally found to have limited or no value for the Great Lakes industries studied.
• The tools cannot be used in isolation to evaluate conformance with certain Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Water Resources Compact and Agreement conservation requirements – for example demonstrating the required "balance between economic development, social development and environmental protection of proposed withdrawal."

    George Kuper, Chairman of CGLI, notes that "[t]hese are important findings, not only for industry, but for our entire region. They provide guidance for evaluating water use and make industry more aware of the characteristics associated with good water use stewardship. This phase of the study moves us a step closer to being able to demonstrate sustainable water use, an important objective of industry operating in the Great Lakes. There has been great interest in this project from industry, tool developers and policy organizations. CGLI and others involved in the study are presenting study conclusions at conferences in the US and Canada and are planning to present the results at World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden this summer. We plan to continue our work in this area with the ultimate goal of piloting an industrial sector sustainable water use challenge and goal program for the Great Lakes."

 

    Access a release from CGLI (click here). Access the complete report (click here). Access an executive summary (click here). Access the CGLI Water Footprinting website for extensive background information (click here). Access the CGLI website for more information (click here).

 

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EPA Reminder; GLRI RFA Due May 24

May 18: U.S. EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office has issued a reminder on its Request for Applications (RFA Announcement EPA-R5-GL2012-1) [See WIMS 4/23/12]. EPA is soliciting applications for grants and cooperative agreements to be awarded as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). EPA will award approximately $20 million under this Request for Applications for about 100 projects, contingent on the availability of appropriations, the quality of applications received and other applicable considerations.

 

    Applications are due: 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Thursday, May 24, 2012. EPA also indicates that it has now posted answers to questions from both the May 3 and May 14th webinars. There are over 200 answers to questions we have received. EPA reminds applicants to register with Grants.gov now so application can be completed and submitted by the due date and time. An application pursuant to the RFA must have an authorized official representative (AOR) registered with Grants.gov.

 

    Access complete background and related information on the RFA (click here). Access the answers to questions (click here).

IJC Announces Priorities To Address Great Lakes Issues

May 14: The International Joint Commission (IJC) announced its priority work to develop recommendations to assist governments in implementing the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). During 2012-2015, the Commission will focus on:

• Lake Erie Ecosystem Priority to Reduce Phosphorus and Algal Blooms.  The ultimate goal of this priority is to advise governments on the essential elements of a plan to reduce the loading of phosphorus to Lake Erie and to prevent harmful algal blooms.  The work group will focus on developing a better scientific understanding of causes and controls and make recommendations for needed monitoring systems and best management practices to address agricultural, urban, and industrial sources of nutrient pollution.  Expected outcomes also include recommendations to improve coastal resiliency and governance.
• Assessment of Progress toward Restoring the Great Lakes.  This priority will examine both human health and environmental indicators to assess progress toward Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement objectives.  Experts will also identify gaps in current monitoring programs and recommend needed improvements in monitoring capabilities.  In addition, a framework for assessing the effectiveness of programs and other measures implemented by governments to protect and restore the Great Lakes under the Agreement will be developed.
• Assessing the Capacity to Deliver Great Lakes Science and Information.  With a focus on Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement objectives, the work group will assess binational capacity and capability to coordinate and deliver Great Lakes science.  In particular, access to data will be a key focus of their work, including identifying a common portal to lists of both human health and environmental data and demonstrating the benefits of connecting such datasets.  Efforts under this priority will also include increasing the capacity of the IJC to process and distribute GIS/remote sensing information in support of Agreement reporting requirements.

    Lana Pollack, U.S. co-chair of the Commission said, "These priorities reflect extensive discussions with our advisory boards and with the public. In particular, both the public and scientific experts urged us to focus on the crisis facing Lake Erie and to bring stakeholders in both countries together to recommend a clear plan and best practices to reduce nutrient pollution and restore the lake." Joe Comuzzi, Canadian co-chair of the Commission said,  "Over the next three years, our work groups will conduct new research, review scientific literature, and engage the public. We take our responsibilities under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement very seriously and intend to deliver value-added findings and recommendations to the governments."

    Under terms of the Canada-US Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the Commission has an ongoing reference to assess progress towards the goals of the Agreement and to provide expert scientific advice on issues related to restoring and protect water quality in the Great Lakes.  First signed in 1972, an updated version of the Agreement is expected to be signed by the parties later this year.

    Access a release from IJC with further details (click here).

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