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Coastal Communities Events Information Members Policy Uncategorized

Great Lakes Legislators Study Climate Resiliency at April Meeting in Detroit

In April, the binational, bipartisan 2023 Birkholz Fellows met in Detroit to set the GLLC policy priorities for Climate Resiliency in Great Lakes Communities. Over the two-day workshop, the Fellows learned about Great Lakes shorelines and nature-based restoration, stormwater and wastewater infrastructure, flooding impacts, and climate resiliency and adaptation policies, including the Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu. The Fellows also participated in exercises and discussion sessions to begin to form the GLLC objectives for climate resiliency.

At the end of the workshop, the Birkholz Fellows became the Task Force on Climate Resiliency, which will continue to meet, study, and recommend priorities for the duration of the biennium. Illinois Senator Laura Ellman was elected chair of the Task Force, and Ontario MPP Jennifer French was elected as the vice chair. The first priority of the Task Force on Climate Resiliency will be to finalize policy recommendations to be presented to the GLLC membership at the GLLC Annual Meeting on September 8-9 in Québec City. 

If you would like to join the Task Force on Climate Resiliency and help shape regional priorities, contact Director Jess Lienhardt.

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Information Members

Executive Committee Welcomes New Representation from Minnesota, Ohio, Québec, and Wisconsin

Earlier this year, the GLLC welcomed four new Executive Committee members: Senator Mary Kunesh from Minnesota, Senator Theresa Gavarone from Ohio, MNA Joëlle Boutin from Québec, and Representative Lisa Subeck from Wisconsin. Senator Kunesh serves on the Environment, Climate, and Legacy Committee and is a founding member of the Native American and People of Color & Indigenous (POCI) caucuses in the Minnesota Senate. Senator Gavarone was a 2019 Birkholz Fellow and also represents Ohio on the Great Lakes Commission. MNA Boutin previously held a partial term on the GLLC Executive Committee and is the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Economy, Innovation, and Energy. Representative Subeck was a 2019 Birkholz Fellow and is the Ranking Member on the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Energy and Utilities.

The four new members join representatives from the other six states and provinces, the GLLC officers, and ex officio members on the Executive Committee. In addition, the Executive Committee also includes Olmsted County Commissioner David Senjem from Minnesota and Senator Laura Ellman from Illinois, both of whom are chairs of GLLC committees and task forces.

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AIS Coastal Communities Federal Legislation Information Issues News Release Nutrient Pollution Toxic Substances Water Consumption

GLLC Joins Statement on U.S. Federal Great Lakes Priorities

On March 9, Great Lakes organizations across the region gathered in Washington D.C. to highlight U.S. federal priorities for the basin on Great Lakes Day. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus (GLLC) signed onto the joint statement addressing Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) funding, water infrastructure investment, climate resiliency, harmful algal blooms, emerging contaminants, and aquatic invasive species.

“The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus is glad to once again stand beside the Great Lakes Commission and coalition of esteemed Great Lakes organizations in communicating a shared vision for Great Lakes U.S. federal policy, ” said Wisconsin Senator André Jacque, GLLC Chair. The GLLC is committed to working with partners at all levels of government and across non-profit and academic sectors to make progress on safe water consumption, nutrient management, cleaning up toxic substances, preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species, and protecting coastal communities.

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AIS Coastal Communities Information Issues News Release Nutrient Pollution Policy S/P Legislation Toxic Substances Water Consumption

A Look Back at Great Lakes Legislation: The 2021-2022 Session

During the 2021-2022 legislative session, the GLLC tracked more than three hundred pieces of legislation in the Great Lakes states and provinces related to our five issues areas: aquatic invasive species, coastal communities, nutrient management, toxic substances, and water consumption. one-third of the 2021-2022 bills and resolutions were introduced or co-sponsored by GLLC members.

Of the introduced bills, 61 were signed into law. Water consumption was the most active issue area. Legislators required water utilities to replace lead service lines (Illinois); allocated additional funds to water infrastructure (Michigan); banned new water-use permits for bulk transport sale of water (Minnesota); and bolstered lead testing programs for vulnerable populations (New York and Pennsylvania).

The second most active area for successful legislation was nutrient pollution. Legislators increased regulations on pesticides (Illinois); created and/or reauthorized programs to help landowners employ best practices on farmland (Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota); and increased funding for water quality and nutrient runoff work (Michigan, Ohio).

When it comes to toxic substances, GLLC jurisdictions banned incineration of PFAS (Illinois); banned use of PFAS compounds in dry cleaning and food packaging (Minnesota); listed emerging contaminants as hazardous (Minnesota, New York); and expanded funding for disposal and clean-up of PFAS (Wisconsin).

For coastal communities, legislation strengthened rescue equipment on the lakes (Michigan); removed requirements for municipal lakefront developments to include an oil refinery (Indiana); established funds for climate resiliency (New York); changed development regimes for floodzones (Québec); required permits for wetland, stream, or floodplain restoration (Wisconsin; and allowed removed sediment to be reused as beach nourishment (Wisconsin).

In the area of aquatic invasive species, Minnesota’s environmental and natural resources bill included funding for the University of Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center.

All of the tracked legislation can be reviewed in the archived 2021-2022 tracker.

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Information Members News Release Uncategorized

Executive Committee Welcomes New Representation from Michigan and Pennsylvania

At the January Executive Committee meeting of the 2023-2024 biennium, Representative Rachel Hood from Michigan and Senator Daniel Laughlin from Pennsylvania were confirmed as the new Executive Committee members for their respective states. Grand Rapids-based Representative Hood was a 2019 Birkholz Institute Fellow, served on the GLLC Task Force on Nutrient Management, and is the chair of the Michigan House Appropriations Subcommittee for Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Senator Laughlin is a lifelong champion for Erie County, Penn. and is the vice chair of the Pennsylvania Senate Game & Fisheries Committee.

In addition, the following Executive Committee members have been selected to serve their second term: Illinois Representative Sonya Harper, Indiana Representative David Abbott, New York Senator Mark Walczyk, and Ontario MPP Jennifer French. In addition to our officers and state/provincial members, the Executive Committee also includes ex officio members, Illinois Representative Robyn Gabel, Indiana Senator Ed Charbonneau, and Minnesota Senator Ann Rest.

In February, the Executive Committee approved the nominations of Minnesota Senator Mary Kunesh, Ohio Senator Theresa Gavarone, Québec MNA Joëlle Boutin, and Wisconsin Representative Lisa Subeck.

The Executive Committee listing can be found here.

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Information News Release

New Great Lakes Program Director

CSG Midwest is pleased to welcome Jessica Lienhardt as the new director of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus. In this role, Jessica will guide the many activities and services provided to state and provincial legislators through the nonpartisan, binational GLLC.

A native and resident of Michigan, Jessica most recently worked for five years as public affairs officer for the Consulate General of Canada in Detroit. Jessica will lead CSG Midwest’s support of the GLLC and its work: in-person and virtual events, advocacy on federal policy, a legislative tracker, in-depth training for legislators on select Great Lakes issues, and more.

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Information Toxic Substances Water Consumption

For states, the work on ‘forever chemicals’ has just begun, and potential economic effects on agriculture loom large

Over the past two years, policy “firsts” have cropped up in state legislatures across the country to deal with the problem of PFAS, a class of widely used chemicals linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals. In the Midwest, Illinois became the first U.S. state to ban the incineration of PFAS (HB 4818), and Minnesota is the first in the region to outlaw these chemicals in food packaging (SF 20).

Wisconsin, for the first time, now has enforceable limits on levels of certain PFAS chemicals in community drinking water systems, joining Michigan in the Midwest.

Outside the region, some of the recent actions have been even further-reaching. Maine, for instance, is prohibiting all non-essential uses of PFAS in products, and after sewage sludge was discovered to be a source of widespread PFAS contamination on farmland, the state banned the use of sludge as fertilizer. Also this year, Maine legislators established a $60 million trust fund for farmers whose land and products have been contaminated by PFAS. Through the fund, the state will purchase contaminated property, replace the lost income of farmers and monitor the health of affected families. In Vermont, residents exposed to PFAS contamination now have a right to medical monitoring (paid for by PFAS polluters).

“It’s everywhere, and the cleanup is very difficult to do and very expensive,” Minnesota Rep. Ami Wazlawik says about the challenges posed by PFAS contamination. “So you have the prevalence of the chemicals in the environment, the fact that they are ‘forever chemicals’ that stick around, and then the negative health impacts.”

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Annual Meeting Information News Release

Caucus meets in Chicago, selects two legislators to lead bipartisan, binational group starting in 2023

Joined by leading policy experts and scientists on the Great Lakes, state and provincial legislators came to Chicago in September for a weekend devoted to learning about how and why to protect the largest freshwater system in the world. 

The binational, bipartisan Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus is unique in its composition and focus. 

Counting legislators from all 10 jurisdictions of the Great Lakes basin (eight U.S. states, two Canadian provinces) as members, the GLLC’s mission is to strengthen the role of state and provincial lawmakers in policies that impact the Great Lakes and the region’s other water resources.

The group’s Annual Meeting is central to this mission, providing a forum for legislators to exchange ideas and innovations with one another and leading experts. Topics for the 2022 meeting included controlling the spread of invasive species, reducing nutrient pollution, cleaning up Areas of Concern, and addressing the problem of PFAS contamination. The meeting also featured a session on the impact of climate change in the Great Lakes region (see pages 4 and 5 for more information).

Read overview of topics and sessions from the 2022 meeting »

New leadership team on board

For the past several years, Illinois Rep. Robyn Gabel and Minnesota Rep. Jennifer Schultz have led the caucus as its chair and vice chair, respectively. Gabel led this year’s meeting in Chicago. However, the caucus regularly rotates its two-officer team, and at the September meeting, members elected Wisconsin Sen. André Jacque as incoming chair and Illinois Sen. Laura Fine as incoming vice chair. Their terms begin in 2023.

Additionally, the caucus has an Executive Committee made up of legislators from all 10 jurisdictions. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact CSG Midwest director Mike McCabe at mmccabe@csg.org or 630.925.1922.

CSG Midwest provides staff support to the caucus, which also receives financial support from the Joyce Foundation, the Erb Family Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Next year’s GLLC Annual Meeting will be held Sept. 8-9 in Québec City. 

Caucus membership is free and open to all legislators from the Great Lakes states and provinces. Visit greatlakeslegislators.org to become a member.

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Information Uncategorized

EPA Continues Funding for Great Lakes Wetlands Monitoring with New Grant

Ten organizations recently received grant to continue their research in monitoring the Great Lakes coastal wetlands.

The teams monitor all wetland wildlife including birds, fish, bugs, plants, and amphibians around the Great Lakes. The data they collect is evaluated to determine if environmental changes are natural or the result of human activity.  It is then used for protection and restoration efforts.

“But up here where we can make sure that we’re not slipping, we’re not letting things accidentally get degraded just cause we’re not watching.  This makes sure that we’re watching and making sure that we keep Lake Superior as healthy as it can be,” said Valerie Brady, an aquatic ecologist for University of Minnesota.

The grant money will allow Great Lakes researchers to monitor 1,000 wetlands through 2025.

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Information Members

New Logo Highlights Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River

If you’re visiting the GLLC website for the first time this year, you may notice that the GLLC is sporting a new look: a logo that incorporates the organization’s acronym and, more importantly, an image of the waterbodies that are the focus of the Caucus’s work.

Approved by the Executive Committee in late January, the logo finally makes its debut here and on the GLLC’s Twitter account. We hope you enjoy the new look!