Great Lakes Czar’s Take Away From Listening Tour

The Great Lakes Town Hall has published a letter from Great Lakes Czar Cam Davis explaining his take on the listening tour. It is a short letter but very substantial – showing that Davis did listen to the concerns voiced at these meetings. To read it go to:http://www.greatlakestownhall.org/forums/community-bulletin/3460

Great Lakes Bills Waiting For US Senate Action

It is almost time for Congress to come back to Washington and ring the bell for the start of legislative business. There are a number of Great Lakes bills that are still winding their way through both houses, including the first ever Presidential commitment to the Great Lakes (in terms of dollars) the: Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

It may seem like the GLRI is already a done deal since the Environmental Protection Agency and the new Great Lakes Czar Cameron Davis have toured the region asking for input on the proposals for implementation. But the bill actually still has to be approved by the US Senate and then appropriated by Congress at hopefully the full amount of $475 million. It is likely that the Senate will take this up in September soon after their return.

The “new and improved” Great Lakes Legacy Act (GLLA) is still awaiting action in the US Senate. The US House again approved of the $150 million a year GLLA reauthorization this past year. The revamped bill also made it through the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, next it will face the full US Senate. The GLLA made it to this point last year only to be shot down by a persnickety Senator from Oklahoma. This same opposition could crop up again so we will have to be vigilant on this issue once Congress reconvenes.

The Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) is also on the docket. This surprisingly polarizing piece of legislation is much needed for the Great Lakes region. The controversial legislation would return Clean Water Act regulations to the same bodies of waters covered before a 2006 court decision that muddied the interpretation of the successfully functioning 30 year-old act. The court decision said that CWA regulations are restricted to “navigable” waters –by emphasizing this one word up to 60 percent of US waters were left vulnerable to pollution. The CWRA would address this interpretation and fix it, but many lawmakers are afraid that farmers, developers and industry will be overburdened with regulations. Some of our greatest advocates in the Great Lakes delegation have not backed CWRA. The measure has been approved of by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and will soon face a showdown before the full Senate chamber.

So here we go folks, its back to work again!

Always Remember: What Goes Around Comes Around

The Great Lakes region has been plagued by an antiquated combined sewer system (CSOs) that has contributed greatly to the cost of cleaning up and restoring the Lakes. Recently, Duluth, Minn. has seen a 91 percent reduction in overflows into Lake Superior during intense storms due to pricey efforts that were made to disconnect basement drains from sewage systems, replace leaky lines across the city and adding large overflow storage basins.

“Its been expensive and its been painful, but we want people to know that it is helping,” Executive Director of Western Lake Superior Sanitation District, Marianne Bohren, told John Myers at the Duluth News Tribune.

CSO’s are prolific in the Northeast and Midwest and our sewers are also the most elderly in the nation. In fact, by the EPA’s own analysis 75 percent of the $54.8 billion needed nationally to bring the nation’s CSO’s under control belongs in our states: Illinois ($10.1 billion), New York ($6.6 billion), Ohio ($6.3 billion), Indiana ($5.4 billion), Pennsylvania ($4.6 billion), and Michigan ($4.3 billion).

It is pretty obvious that our entire region needs new, state-of-the-art water infrastructure, but that costs money – lots of money. Water infrastructure improvements make up the lion’s share of the $26 billion restoration price tag. That’s why it is alarming that at the same time a dangerous cocktail of threats are brewing – a point of no return for the lakes – a spendthrift US Congress is considering changing the formula for funding for these projects – a decision that would short change funding for at least half the Great Lakes States.

The two mechanisms for federal funding of public sewer and water infrastructure projects: The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) provide low-interest loans for water quality projects, wastewater treatment, non-point source pollution control, watershed and estuary management, and most importantly for financing infrastructure improvements.

This past May, the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) considered major changes to the SRFs in The Water Infrastructure Financing Act  (S.1005 companion House bill is HR1262) that would provide $35 billion in funding for the CW ($20 billion) and DW ($14.7 billion) SRF’s through 2014. But the formula Congress is considering switching to is based on faulty information, according to the Northeast-Midwest Institute. Congress used an EPA Needs Assessment to develop the new formula – the problem – the needs survey was never meant to be used in such a way. States often leave information out of the survey, especially if they have aging systems because it is too costly to provide the proper analysis. But that is only one of the concerns with the new formula, according to a June analysis of it released by the NEMW.

The bill has already been approved of by the EPW committee and if it continues to gain support and pass with the new formula intact, the biggest losers for CW SRF funds in our region promise to be: New York (losing nearly $20 million), Michigan (losing nearly $25 million), Ohio (losing nearly 6 million) and Wisconsin (losing nearly $11 million). (Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota would make small gains in CWSRF funding.)

When it comes to the DWSRF, some of the same states lose again, such as New York, Michigan and Wisconsin. Other losers include: Illinois and Minnesota while Pennsylvania would gain a bit.

The Great Lakes region cannot afford to wait to overhaul, rebuild and update our water infrastructure; instead we need to quicken the pace of the work. Great Lakes Senators need to question this formula when this bill comes to the floor of the US Senate this autumn. They need to speak in unison whether from a state that gains or loses money from the new calculations to make the point that the Great Lakes cannot be fixed without new water infrastructure and therefore all the Great Lakes states need the full benefit of the SRF funds. We will definitely be keeping an eye on this key piece of legislation as it moves forward.

EPA Hears from HOW on GLRI

Last week, the HOW coalition submitted its comments on the $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to the Environmental Protection Agency website. The comment period closed after a set of summer meetings held throughout the region during the EPA’s listening tour.

“The EPA’s action plan will serve as a strong foundation for advancing Great Lakes restoration and economic recovery,” said Jeff Skelding, campaign director for HOW. “Our comments have one goal: To make a good plan better, so that we can restore the Great Lakes now before the problems get worse and more costly.”

We were happy to see that the draft plan that the EPA released before the summer meetings adhered to four principles that we had been pushing since the GLRI debate began Washington. They include:

•  Use of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy (GLRC) to inform program funding.
• Supplement – not supplant – funding for existing Great Lakes programs.
• Ensure all State, local, Tribal, and non-governmental entities are involved in the new initiative in an open and transparent way.
• Improve coordination and collaboration among Federal agencies and between the Federal, State, local, Tribal, and Canadian Governments, colleges and universities, and non-governmental entities.

We also used this comment opportunity to suggest ways to make the plan stronger, including:

• Updating the nearly 5-year-old Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy to reflect current science, including impacts of climate change on the lakes.
• Including a decisive action plan on how to deal with the ongoing problem of aquatic invasive species introduced from ballast water of foreign ships.
• Bolstering interim milestones for activities such as wetlands restoration.

But more importantly, we urged the EPA to incorporate recommendations from a paper produced by a pre-eminent group of scientists on ways to avoid the tipping point of irreversible change. The paper recommended targeting restoration projects in critical areas; reducing region-wide threats, such as toxic pollution and nutrient-loading; and protecting healthy aquatic habitats from harm.

With the public comment period ending, the EPA’s plan will be further developed with public input. The GLRI has been approved by the US House and the appropriate US Senate Committee – it will be voted upon this fall by the US Senate and grants may be distributed as early as December 2009.

Riverkeepers Warn of Poo Stew In Detroit River

The picture says it all! Guest bloggers for the Detroit Free Press describe the fouling of Lake Erie from the Detroit River and other tributaries – all victims of an ancient combined sewer and storm water system that simply doesn’t work any longer. Check it out at: http://www.freep.com/article/20090817/BLOG2506/90817091/1336/opinion/How-our-lakes-get-so-dirty

NY Senators Schumer and Gillibrand Should Vote Yes for GLRI

The Editorial page of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle urges Empire State Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to vote in favor of the $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. They describe the problems with Lake Ontario, sewage in particular, and explain that this new money can be used to start fixing some of the problems that inhibit not just recreation on the lake, but also the state’s economic productivity.

Great Lakes Land on DC Radar

It truly is a great time to be a Great Lake because, as Great Lakes Watcher Dave Dempsey points out – instead of debating whether to fund restoration, the federal government is debating how much money to dedicate to restoration. Great Lakes restoration is no longer considered fodder for the great Piggy Book (read pork barrel) instead it is a legitimate budget line, and that didn’t happen without a lot of your blood, sweat and tears.

Dempsey goes on to caution us not to fall into the same pattern as previous restoration efforts, such as the Chesapeake Bay rescue that still struggles after years of work. One of the Bay’s big problems is sewage from humans and farms – the Great Lakes share this disadvantage. We need to make sure we get as much money from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund as possible to deal with our water infrastructure problems. Recently, we learned that the US House is threatening to change the formula used to dole out these funds and the Great Lakes states will lose federal help in this much needed effort. Not only do we need to ensure that this does not happen, but we also need to be on guard and hear Dempsey – this restoration effort cannot peter out. Unlike the brackish Chesapeake Bay (that happens to sit right under the collective noses of Congress), the Great Lakes are miles away and hold the lion’s share of this nation’s fresh water reserves. This has to be preserved as our population grows and our fresh water continues to diminish from overuse and the ravages of climate change.

We are at a wrinkle in time when we have a unique opportunity to save the Great Lakes (and we don’t even have to travel to the fifth dimension to do so). We have to harness the federal effort and ensure that the Great Lakes Regional Restoration Strategy is the blueprint used for spending that money. Last March, HOW’s co-chairs wrote to each member of the Federal Great Lakes Interagency Task Force and suggested four principles that would make the GLRI a success. The EPA’s action plan shows they listened by incorporating most of our recommendations, but still there are ways we would like to see the action plan revised to fully match our suggestions. That is why HOW will be sending our comments to the EPA this week – comments that are informed by those HOW members who wrote to us.  We have until Wednesday to submit these comments. If you want to read HOW’s document and sign onto it contact Jennifer Heller at Hellerj@nwf.org as soon as possible. Great work team – onward!

Poulson’s GLRI Echo is Heard and Returned

The Great Lakes Echo’s David Poulson wrote a very provocative blog last week arguing that the public meetings being held by the EPA on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative are, well, prescribed.  After attending one of the meetings, Poulson came away disillusioned and feeling the public was not being listened to or well represented. Instead, Poulson believed the EPA already has a list of projects and agenda items they wish to spend the $400 to $475 million on and the listening tour is merely a nod to the public for buy-in purposes. Poulson’s words hit home with a number of readers who wrote comments to this blog. To learn more about how people living around the Great Lakes are feeling about this restoration initiative take time to read this piece.

Save the Loon and the Great Lakes Too!

Climate change is here to stay and our national parks are showing signs of its affects, according to a report by the National Parks Conservation Association.

Climate Change: A Survival Guide for a Warming World urges the Federal Government to begin to address the affects of climate change in order to mitigate the damage to our landscape and preserve wildlife.

The Great Lakes have begun to show signs of suffering as well a prime example is the die off of massive death toll of the loons.  The birds consume a toxic cocktail each time they eat the gobi which has dined on a specific algae bloom strengthened by invasive species and warming tempertures, the result: food poisoning.

The report is full of great information and fantastic photography. It would be great reading material for the beach!

Sen. Sherrod Brown promotes Great Lakes initiative in Cleveland

Senator Sherrod Brown speaking at the Great Lakes Clean Water and Jobs Breakfast

People around the Great Lakes might not like their tax dollars heading off to Washington each year, but this year a good portion of those dollars are expected to come back home. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative would provide at least $400 million to help clean up and restore the Great Lakes. The investment is based on economists’ predictions that restoration can jump start the region’s economy while paying for itself – it would be a 2-to-1 investment.

Ohio resident Calvin Jefferson and his family were heading to the lake for the afternoon when he told WKYC, “I’d pay to get $2 dollars back for a $1 investment if it’s something worth it, like the beaches here.”

That same day, Healing Our Waters held an event in downtown Cleveland to highlight the GLRI and US Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said, “This federal money just makes great sense. Investing in the Great Lakes region is an important way to promote economic development.”

The GLRI was first proposed by President Obama in his budget and then subsequently approved of by the US House; it is now awaiting a vote in the US Senate. The one-year initiative focuses on four areas by setting aside $147 million to clean up toxic substances, $97 million for near-shore health and non-point pollution, $60 million to fight invasive species and $105 million is dedicated to habitat and wildlife restoration. The hope is that it will be renewed each year over the next half decade.

Another big problem in the Great Lakes is sewage. Our region’s antique combined storm and sewer system, built way too long ago and not adequately maintained, is a major polluter in our Lakes. In fact, when the total cost of restoration was calculated at $26 billion the majority of that money was intended for new sewer and water infrastructure projects. However, the federal government injected money for sewer overhaul and upkeep into the economic stimulus package. There has also been talk of increasing annual funding for the State Revolving Fund which is the traditional vehicle for paying for water infrastructure projects. The GLRI will focus on other problems in the Great Lakes.

”It (GLRI funding) really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we don’t want it to get messed up,” the Ohio Environmental Council’s Kristy Meyer told the Akron Beacon Journal at HOW’s Cleveland meeting. ”We feel responsible and we want to make sure the money is spent wisely.”

The Healing Our Waters campaign to promote passage of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and economic recovery in the Great Lakes region will travel now to Milwaukee on August 10, Toledo on August 17 and then Detroit on August 19.