Categories
Coastal Communities S/P Legislation Web Meeting

ICYMI: Climate Impacts in the Great Lakes Region Presentation

On March 31, the GLLC hosted climatologist Omar Gates from Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments (GLISA) for a presentation on the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region.

Gates explained that GLISA uses a predictive model for climate impact based on an advanced simulation of natural processes and available data. The model is then continuously tested and evaluated for accuracy.

Based on that model, GLISA expects that the Great Lakes will experience higher temperatures, more precipitation, and more extreme weather events in the coming years. Those impacts are expected to lead to the hazards outlined in the image above, as well as stormwater damage, ecosystem stress, lower agricultural yields, and fluctuating lake levels.

The GLLC Task Force on Climate Resiliency is examining adaptation and resilience polices to guide the region through these changes and challenges.

The recording of the presentation can be found here.

Categories
AIS Events Issues Lead Nutrient Pollution Toxic Substances Water Consumption Web Meeting

ICYMI: Tracking the Great Lakes Region’s Progress Through Blue Accounting

On February 10, the GLLC hosted speakers from the Great Lakes Commission (GLC) to talk about their Blue Accounting program. Program manager Nicole Zacharda and project manager Ceci Weibert presented on Blue Accounting’s drinking water, aquatic invasive species, and nutrient management data sets and visualizations.

Zacharda outlined the areas of focus for the newly launched drinking water portal, including drinking water protection, treatment requirements, and safe water distribution. Using safe water distribution as an example, Zacharda modeled how Blue Accounting tracks lead service line replacement in each state/province. The portal also contains a policy comparison table between states/provinces using the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus model policy on drinking water.

Weibert discussed the aquatic invasive species (AIS) section of Blue Accounting. She showed the group the metrics on recreational boating prevention programs by state/province, including a comparison of enacted regulations and programs. She shared that the province of Ontario used these tools to outline its recreational boating regulations in 2022 to align with regional partners. Weibert also presented data on harmonization of AIS prevention programs by species.

To close, Zacharda gave an update on the Blue Accounting ErieStat. ErieStat contains data on harmful algal blooms (HABs), phosphorus levels, and strategies to reduce phosphorus across the Lake Erie basin. Despite efforts to reduce phosphorus, the region has not yet achieved a decrease in HABs. ErieStat allows policymakers to review phosphorus levels by watershed across the region to track and assess which areas require the most attention.

The Great Lakes Commission is seeking feedback from and collaboration with Great Lakes legislators on how to update, expand, and improve Blue Accounting. If you have any thoughts to share, please contact Nicole Zacharda.

The recording of the webinar can be seen here.

The GLLC will be holding a webinar on “Climate Trends and Impacts in the Great Lakes Region” on Friday, March 31, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. CT/11:00 a.m. ET in partnership with Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments (GLISA). Register today!

Categories
Issues Nutrient Pollution Web Meeting

April 23 Web Meeting: How States and Provinces are Currently Managing Nutrient Inflow into the Great Lakes

This web meeting, hosted by the Caucus’s Task Force on Nutrient Management focused on the different approaches state’s in the region are doing to reduce nutrient inflow into the Great Lakes.

Senator Dan Lauwers told us about Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP). A voluntary program initiated in 1998, MEAP recognizes farmers stewardship of their land and helps them adopt cost-effective practices that reduce erosion and runoff into ponds, streams, and rivers. This, in turn, helps farmers comply with state and federal laws. The program begins with the farmers attending an education workshop, then inviting a local MAEAP technician to tour your farm. This is followed by the famer implementing changes or practices recommended by the technician. Then the land is verified as MEAP certified.  Farmers are provided with technical assistance and educational programs to achieve verification. Reverification occurs every 5 years.

The state of Michigan contracts with local conservation districts so that the farmer works with local experts to achieve verification. To date there are 5910 farms verified, covering more than a million acres. The program is self-funded through a fertilizer and pesticide fees.  While this is totally voluntary, it provides land owners with legislated certainty in case of accidental discharges or if a watershed is declared impaired.

Wisconsin provides $750,000 a year to producer-led groups that focus on nonpoint source pollution abatement activities through the Producer-Led Watershed Protection Grant Program.  A minimum of 5 farmers in the same watershed have to collaborate to receive up to $40,000 to advance conservation solutions.  Thirty-one projects have been funded since 2016.  Dr.  Don Niles a veterinarian and dairy producer in one of the densest dairy counties in the nation discussed the producer-led group called Peninsula Pride farms.  This group of 46 farmers in Kewaunee and southern Door counties organized as a non-profit organization to improve surface and ground water quality. The group includes 50 percent of the cows and 50 percent of the acreage in the region.

Peninsula Pride provides its members grants to complete additional water quality efforts with funding coming from the state funds as well as donations from agricultural businesses that support the efforts. Members focus on improving soil health, reducing phosphorus loss and minimize surface effluent. In the last two years, this producer-led organization has over 80,000 acres covered by Nutrient Management Plans as well as installed more than 18,000 acres of cover crops. 

Angie Becker Kudelka, Assistant Director of Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources provided us information on Minnesota’s mandatory riparian protection law.  An initiative of Governor Mark Dayton in 2015, it mandates 50 ft of vegetative buffer along public waters and 16.5 ft on waters of public drainage systems. Local technical assistance and funding was provided to land owners to install the perennial vegetation that protects Minnesota’s waters from surface nutrient pollution. In 75 counties, local officials oversee implementation and the state enforces the law in the remaining counties that decided not to be the enforcing body.

Minnesota also has a voluntary Agriculture Water Quality Certification Program that is similar to Michigan’s, providing financial and technical assistance as well as regulatory certainty to participants. It has over 750,000 acres enrolled by 1049 land owners.

The next webinar, on May 7 will cover programs in Ohio, New York and Ontario. 

The web meeting was the second of six planned for 2021; the next meeting will be May 7, again hosted by the Caucus’s Task Force on Nutrient Management, which developed from the inaugural Patricia Birkholz Institute’s focus on that subject.

Categories
Events Federal Legislation Web Meeting

Feb. 19, 2021 web meeting: New Administration, Congress mean new opportunities for Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus’s 2021 web meeting schedule kicked off with a look at political changes in the U.S. federal government wrought by the 2020 election, and their potential impacts on policies and programs that affect the Great Lakes.

Chad Lord, Policy Director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, said the new situation in Washington, D.C. – a new administration, a narrowly Democratic House and an evenly split Senate – and the Biden Administration’s stated priorities, from COVID-19 relief/economic recovery to racial and environmental equity and climate change preparedness, present opportunities for the Great Lakes region.

For example, he emphasized the importance of water infrastructure funding and suggested that GLLC members might be able to persuade their federal counterparts to include in the Biden Administration’s pending infrastructure bill funding specifically for states and municipalities to replace old water pipes and/or extant lead pipes.

Lord said there is an opportunity for doing so now that will close when political concerns take over. Among those, he added, are the Democrats’ narrow House majority, redistricting and the 2022 Congressional elections, continued fallout over the 2020 election and the events of January 6, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

So, he said, the HOW Coalition will continue to press Congress to allocate full funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, as authorized in Congress’s 5-year renewal of the initiative, funding for water infrastructure and clean water protections, including prevention and mitigation of toxic algae blooms.

The Coalition will also keep working to ensure the Brandon Road lock and dam project moves forward to keep Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes, he added.

The web meeting was the first of six planned for 2021; the next meeting will be April 9, hosted by the Caucus’s Task Force on Nutrient Management, which developed from the inaugural Patricia Birkholz Institute’s focus on that subject.

The 2021 Birkholz Institute, which will take place later this fall, will focus on helping coastal communities become more climate resilient. Information about applying to be a Birkholz Institute Fellow will be disseminated during the summer, said Caucus Chair Illinois Rep. Robyn Gabel. The meeting ended on a bittersweet note as Caucus members said farewell to the group’s Director, Lisa Janairo, who is retiring at the end of February.


 

Categories
AIS Federal Legislation Issues Web Meeting

U.S. aquatic invasive species, ballast water laws evolving

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus’s series of quarterly meetings for 2020 closed out with a presentation on aquatic invasive species and ballast water management from Sarah LeSage, who coordinates the Aquatic Invasive Species program in the Water Resources Division of Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

The Dec. 11 meeting also featured a short business session during which the Caucus’s gavel was symbolically passed from outgoing Chair Indiana Sen. Ed Charbonneau to new Chair Illinois Rep. Robyn Gabel, and with acknowledgements of the Caucus’s Executive Committee former and new members.

Ballast water regulation is complicated and ever evolving, influenced by economic growth and global trade patterns, and the “irreversible harm caused by aquatic invasive species,” LeSage said.

Historically, ballast water has been the main vector for introduction of invasive species – between 55 percent to 70 percent of reported introductions since 1959, LeSage said.

Economic effects of aquatic invasive species include cost of control, lost aesthetic value, decreased property values, and negative impacts to tourism, recreation and fishing, she added.

She provided an overview of U.S. ballast water regulation, particularly the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2018. The law designates the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the lead agency for establishing new ballast water standards (the EPA’s rulemaking page, with comments submitted by state agencies, can be found here). The U.S. Coast Guard will be the lead agency for monitoring, inspecting and enforcing those standards.

The EPA published its draft rules in the Federal Register on Oct. 26, and the subsequent 30-day comment period closed on Nov. 26. Once the final rules are adopted, the Coast Guard will begin developing its corresponding regulations for implementation, compliance and enforcement – a process expected to begin in 2022, LeSage said.

The law, known as VIDA, will pre-empt state authority to have specific ballast water regulations once its standards are final, effective and enforceable, but states will still have authority to enforce federal standards and requirements, and governors can directly petition for more stringent standards/requirements.

Michigan’s ballast water permit (based on 2005 legislation) has, since 2007, required ocean-going vessels to treat ballast water before discharge using one of four approved methods or certify that there was no discharge, LeSage said, adding Minnesota and Wisconsin have similar laws.

LeSage said each Great Lakes state and province has an aquatic invasive species specialist who can serve as a resource to legislators. (A list of specialists is here.)

VIDA also authorized $50 million for a Great Lakes and Lake Champlain Invasive Species program. Congress has not yet appropriated any money for the program, however. (The program was authorized for only five years, LeSage noted.

Categories
Annual Meeting Issues Nutrient Pollution Web Meeting

Controlling Nutrient Runoff Focus of Second Virtual Session of GLLC’s 2020 Meeting

In most years, on most days, nutrients from the agricultural operations of the Great Lakes region largely stay on the fields. But when heavy rains come, the runoff of phosphorus and other nutrients occurs, as they leave the fields, enter streams, and ultimately reach the lakes. 

“The practices that are in place don’t work during those moments [of big storm events],” said SantinaWortman of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office during a Sept. 21 meeting of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus. 

The result is a health and environmental problem that continues to vex the region’s policymakers, particularly those representing the western Lake Erie basin: how to get phosphorus loads below targeted levels in order to prevent harmful algal blooms. 

That issue was the focus of the second of four virtual sessions being held as part of the GLLC’s 2020 Annual Meeting. Along with hearing from Wortman, lawmakers were briefed by Wisconsin Sen. André Jacque on the GLLC’s new model policies for reducing nutrient pollution. Sen. Jacque serves as chair of the GLLC Task Force on Nutrient Management, which developed the policies.  

Wortman spoke to state and provincial legislators about the progress and status of Annex 4 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the binational commitment between the United States and Canada (last updated in 2012) to restore and protect the waters of the Great Lakes. Annex 4 outlines the two countries’ plans for reducing nutrient pollution. 

The two nations have determined that a 40 percent reduction is needed in Lake Erie’s western and central basin, and the state governments of Michigan and Ohio as well as the province of Ontario have committed to that same level. Under that state-province Western Lake Erie Collaborative, the 40 percent reduction is supposed to be met by 2025. 

But as Wortman noted in her presentation, progress has been slow, despite new investments and initiatives across the basin. “We haven’t seen any kind of downward trend yet in terms of the [harmful algal] blooms,” she said.  

And since 2012, annual phosphorous loading has exceeded targeted levels every year but one — with that single exception being a very dry year that didn’t have the kind of big rain events that lead to nutrient runoff. 

graph showing severity of algal blooms from 2010 to 2020

According to Wortman, nonpoint source pollution from agricultural operations account for much of the nutrient pollution in western Lake Erie (85 percent in the Maumee River watershed, for example). 

To date, the policy response has centered on voluntary, incentive-based initiatives, such as conservation programs funded by the states or U.S. Farm Bill and “4R” projects that help farmers improve their management practices.  

The states of Michigan and Minnesota offer voluntary certification programs for agricultural operations that meet certain water quality standards and implement state-approved conservation practices. In return for meeting these criteria, farmers receive recognition and regulatory certainty from the state. 

Wisconsin offers grants to groups of agricultural producers that collaborate on new conservation initiatives in a single watershed of the state.  

Most recently, Ohio legislators invested $172 million this biennium in a new H2Ohio Initiative, with one of the four main goals being a reduction in phosphorus runoff that comes from the commercial fertilizer and manure on farmland. The state Department of Agriculture is funding projects that change nutrient-management practices in the counties that make up the Maumee River watershed. State incentives will go to farmers that have been certified as having adopted a mix of nine “best practices” in nutrient management — for example, soil testing and the use of cover crops and edge-of-field buffers. 

Recent initiatives have also targeted reductions in point-source pollution.  

One notable success story, Wortman said, has been the results of facility and operational improvements at the Great Lakes Water Authority, which provides water and sewer services in the Detroit area. 

“It has already achieved a 400-metric-ton reduction, which goes a long way toward Michigan’s [overall] 40 percent reduction goal,” she said, adding that, along with these new initiatives, other positive signs include an increased use of science and monitoring to help inform policymakers. But this research also shows that reducing harmful algal blooms and lowering phosphorus loads could take many years due to factors such as “legacy phosphorus” — the buildup of this nutrient from previous years’ applications. 

“That is going to take some time to work through the system,” Wortman said. “And in any given year, you have a combination of what was applied this year and what was there from before.” 

The GLLC made a reduction in nutrient pollution the focus of its 2019 Patricia Birkholz Institute for Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Policy. Funding for the institute and for the GLLC’s work on nutrient pollution is provided by the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation. 

At the Sept. 21 meeting, the Caucus also voted on the focus for the next Birkholz Institute, which will take place in late 2021. Members chose to concentrate on helping communities to become climate resilient.   

The meeting was recorded and the slide deck is included in the virtual briefing book for the 2020 Virtual Meetings. The GLLC will continue its Virtual Meeting with two more sessions on October 2 and October 9, both starting at 9 am CDT/10 am EDT. Visit the meeting webpage to learn more about the remaining sessions and to register. 

Categories
Federal Legislation Issues S/P Legislation Web Meeting

Quarterly webinar gives annual overview of federal, state/provincial legislation

Members of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus got their annual update on federal, state and provincial legislation in a June 5 webinar.

Matthew McKenna, director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute, provided an overview of recent and pending federal legislation in the U.S. Congress, starting with the reality that “we’re in uncharted territory here with the (COVID-19) pandemic.”

Congress has already committed $2 trillion through four bills (now laws) to myriad forms of pandemic relief, and a fifth bill is pending – the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, approved by the House of Representatives on May 15, just three days after it was introduced.

This bill, H.R. 6800, would direct $500 billion to state governments and $375 billion to local governments in two segments: $250 billion immediately followed in a year after passage by $125 billion.

While the U.S. Senate has not yet taken up H.R. 6800, it is working on America’s Water Infrastructure Act (S.3591) and the Drinking Water Infrastructure Act (S.3590), the former of which includes $375 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for Fiscal Year 2022, and final authorization of the Brandon Road project (along with an improved federal/non-federal partner cost share to 75 percent/25 percent [from 65/35]). Both bills have been reported in the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee.

McKenna also shared a section-by-section analysis of the DWIA along with highlights of the bill.

Also pending in the Senate, he said, is the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2019 (S.2295), which would re-authorize the GLRI for five more years and ramp up funding by $50 million per year to $475 million annually by Fiscal Year 2026. (An identical bill, H.R. 4031, passed the House 373-45 on Feb. 5.)

Moreover, the House’s version of a new surface transportation authorization bill focuses on climate change mitigation and resilience, so may provide additional funds for programs to benefit the Great Lakes, McKenna said.

Attendees got a roundup of recent developments in state and provincial legislatures from the Caucus’ Executive Committee. Illinois Sen. Laura Fine said HB 2650, which became law last July, prioritizes disadvantaged communities for lead pipe removal funding. Minnesota Rep. Jennifer Schultz said the state became the first to ban trichloroethelyne (TCE), an industrial solvent linked to cancer, when SF 4073 was signed into law on May 16.

The webinar included a brief business session.

Caucus Director Lisa Janairo provided a brief business update including cancellation of the Annual Meeting which had been scheduled for Sept. 18-19 in Detroit, renewal of The Joyce Foundation’s grant, and launch of the Caucus’ new website.

Wisconsin Sen. André Jacque reported the Task Force on Nutrient Management in its May 8 conference call discussed ideas for a list of policy priorities to advance in next year’s legislative sessions, while acknowledging the reality that, with the states and provinces grappling with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, expectations must be tempered for what can be accomplished in 2021.

A summer workshop to continue hands-on education about nutrient pollution will be postponed until 2021, he added.  

Minnesota Sen. Ann Rest reported the Nominating Committee will make arrangements to replace the in-person voting that would have taken place at the Detroit meeting, and that the nominating period will open from June 15 through July 13. The GLLC will elect two officers and 10 members of the Executive Committee to serve two-year terms starting on Jan. 1, 2021.

The Nominating Committee includes Reps. Tim Butler and Jonathan Carroll from Illinois, Sen. Tina Maharath and Rep. John Patterson from Ohio, MNA Gilles Bélanger from Québec, and Sens. Rest and Dave Senjem from Minnesota.

The slidedeck and recording of the web meeting are available.


Categories
Issues Web Meeting

ICYMI: Blue Accounting Web Meeting, April 17

On April 17, 2020, the Great Lakes Commission gave a virtual tour of its Blue Accounting website and the kinds of data available there.

Eric Brown, senior advisor for external relations, gave an overview of the commission’s history and the history of the Blue Accounting effort, followed by in-depth presentations/looks at pages presented by Program Managers Nicole Zacharda, who spotlighted the page on Lake Erie, and Erika Jensen, who spotlighted the page on Aquatic Invasive Species.

CIO Rhonda Wille also discussed how the website was developed, stressing the importance of feedback from legislators who are the site’s primary audience, and asked legislators for ongoing feedback to help the site’s continuing development.

Sen. Janet Bewley of Wisconsin asked if adequate attention is being paid to hydrology and flood prevention or recovery as climate patterns shift. Zacharda said Brown is working on resilience around the Great Lakes region; hydrology is an apt topic for consideration as a better understanding of how water moves through the entire system is needed. The Commission is also working on restoration of natural features, which will ultimately aid flood prevention.

Rep. Michael Sheehy of Ohio asked if it’s true that Great Lakes high and low water levels are cyclical on a 15-year basis. Brown said yes, and that the cycles’ high- and low-water marks are not only becoming more extreme, but the cycles are starting to come faster.

Rep. Tim Butler of Illinois asked how and why the name “Blue Accounting” had been chosen. Brown said the name was developed during branding work done in the project’s early days.

The slidedeck and recording of the web meeting are available.

Categories
Issues Nutrient Pollution Web Meeting

ICYMI: GLLC Web Meeting on Nutrient Pollution

On March 6, 2020, the GLLC’s quarterly web meeting focused on regional efforts to better manage nutrients to keep them out of the Great Lakes and their tributaries. Wisconsin Sen. André Jacque, Chair of the GLLC Task Force on Nutrient Management, began by reporting on the work of the task force, which aims to reduce nutrient runoff into waters of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region and is working on model policies to bring that about. The task force has adopted a resolution and finalized an action plan. He briefly reviewed the plan’s goals.

Danielle Green of the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) gave an overview of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and its “Focus Area 3” (Nonpoint Source Nutrient Reduction, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, Lake Erie, and Harmful Algal Blooms). FA3 aims to reduce nutrient loads from farmland, reduce untreated stormwater runoff, improve the effectiveness of nonpoint source control, and refine management efforts. Annually, $35 million is spent on research into HABs, about $17.5 million of which is spent in/on Lake Erie.

Dr. Elizabeth Hinchey Malloy, also of GLNPO, gave an overview of the Great Lakes Water Quality Nutrients Annex, which focuses on reducing phosphorus runoff into Lake Erie. Four states have Domestic Action Plans – Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania – and there is a basin-wide plan for Lake Ontario. Dr. Hinchey Malloy briefly mentioned the Canada-Ontario Lake Erie Action Plan and science priorities for agricultural runoff.

Darren Nichols, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Commission, gave a guest presentation on the Commission’s work and priorities, its visit to Washington, D.C., 2020 priorities, and beta testing for policymakers of Blue Accounting software upgrades (on April 10). March 5 was “Great Lakes Day” on Capitol Hill, visiting with Congressmembers and some Canadian MPs.

The slidedeck and recording of the web meeting are available.

Categories
Events Issues Lead Water Consumption Web Meeting

Action on Lead in Drinking Water

The GLLC’s Task Force on Lead held a web meeting on February 3 to learn about the U.S. EPA’s proposed changes to the Lead and Copper Rule. View the recorded web meeting here.

As part of its action plan for reducing lead in drinking water, the GLLC submitted comments on the proposed revisions. Key points raised in the comment letter were:

  • The federal government will need to increase investment in water infrastructure to help water suppliers upgrade their infrastructure while keeping water rates affordable;
  • Lead services lines should be fully replaced, not partially, in order to protect public health, with an aggressive time frame similar to Michigan’s 20-year period for replacement;
  • Water systems should test the water in all schools and child care centers for lead, with remedial action needed if lead is found in concentrations greater than 5 ppb;
  • Any communication to families or members of the public should be written for lay readers and translated into languages spoken by the affected community;
  • EPA should establish a clearinghouse for receiving standardized reports from states to help researchers document the incidence of lead contamination as well as identify effective strategies for eliminating the hazard.