House GLTF Leadership Calls on Biden Administration to Continue Bipartisan Efforts to Support the Great Lakes
The House Congressional Great Lakes Task Force's (GLTF) Co-Chairs sent President Joe Biden a letter earlier this month highlighting key legislative victories it has achieved over the last Congressional session, including the reauthorization and increased funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).
The letter also outlined major challenges that the lakes face in the coming years, which include fluctuating lake levels, harmful algal blooms (HABs), invasive species, emerging contaminants, aging infrastructure, and climate change, and stated that the GLTF looks forward to working with the Administration during the 117th Congress.
The House Co-Chairs, Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), and David Joyce (R-OH), emphasized the bipartisan nature of the GLTF's work, citing its long history of collaboration within both chambers of Congress, to address the pressing issues facing the Great Lakes and the communities they support.
The letter can be viewed here, and members of the GLTF can be viewed here.
American Rescue Plan Passed by Congress,
Signed by President Biden
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was passed by Congress last Wednesday. The bill was passed earlier in the week in the U.S. Senate with a partisan vote of 50-49. The House had previously approved a similar bill, and on Wednesday of last week it passed the Senate version with a vote of 220-211, sending the legislation to the President for his signature. President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law on Thursday, March 11.
The legislation is one of the most expensive bills in U.S. history, totaling $1.9 trillion, including billions of dollars directed to many specific programs and to support the economy, all while delivering direct payments to the American people.
Key provisions of federal spending in the bill include:
State and local government assistance totaling $350 billion, the first coronavirus relief directed to state and local governments directly.
K-12 education support totaling $130 billion.
Childcare provider support totaling $40 billion.
College and university support totaling $40 billion.
COVID-19 support, including for testing, contact tracing, and vaccinations totaling $100 billion.
Direct payments to individuals under the newly signed legislation include:
Direct payments of $1,400 to individuals under specified income levels. Recipients will include college students and eligible dependents, a key difference from previous legislation.
Unemployment benefits are extended, with $300 weekly through September 6, 2021.
The child tax credit has been expanded to allow taxpayers to offset $3,000 per child up to age 17 and $3,600 per child under age 6. This will be extremely helpful to families, especially those who have lost income due to closures and shutdowns due to the virus.
The bill also provides a 15 percent increase in assistance to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through the end of September and provides a billion dollars to states in order to administer the program.
New EPA Director Michael Regan
Confirmed by U.S. Senate
Michael S. Regan was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 10 with a vote of 66-34 to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Regan is a graduate of The George Washington University with an M.P.A. and is the first Black man to head the agency in its 50-year history. Regan is 44 years old and from North Carolina.
U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Delaware), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, spoke in support of Regan’s nomination to be the new administrator for EPA. In a press release by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Senator Carper said that he believes Michael Regan is the right person to lead EPA at this critical moment, stating “He is a man of deep faith who believes, as we all do, that we have a moral obligation to be good stewards of this planet on which we live together…….the kind of person who can help unite us in common purpose as we respond to the climate crisis we face.”
Also supporting Regan’s nomination, Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), said before voting on the Senate floor that “He (Regan) is immensely qualified for this position, not only in qualifications, but in his demeanor.”
Energy and Water Development Subcommittee Discusses
Investing in Updated Water Resources Infrastructure
A House Subcommittee on Appropriations hearing last week explored how Congress can work with the Army Corps of Engineers to fund future water resource infrastructure projects designed to reduce ecological harm and strengthen the nation’s drinking water systems. The House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee’s remote hearing on March 10 was titled “Innovation and Investment in Water Resources Infrastructure.”
Agricultural runoff and prolonged periods of drought in the West continue to be a major source of concern for water resource agencies as regions attempt to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The hearing noted that access to clean and safe drinking water is a crucial element to protecting public health, and that existing water systems are deteriorating quickly, resulting in contamination problems and water access issues, especially in many tribal communities. The hearing concluded that it is imperative that future water resource infrastructure projects are designed to withstand extreme weather events.
Witnesses at the hearing highlighted the importance of the work carried out by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, while acknowledging that water resources infrastructure can be improved upon to avoid irreversible damage to natural systems. Global climate change will continue to bring about drought and periods of heavy rainfall in response to changing precipitation patterns. Members of Congress agreed that climate mitigation and environmental protection must be a priority for future projects.
Among the witnesses at the hearing was Kevin DeGood, Director of Infrastructure Policy at the Center for American Progress, who stated that the Army Corps must take a stronger leadership role to combat climate change while working to remedy environmental degradation from past infrastructure projects. When discussing future investment, DeGood noted that “we cannot hope to achieve meaningful environmental progress if the design and construction of flood control, navigation, and other water infrastructure projects do not start with improved environmental performance as a design objective on par with economic development.”
Subcommittee Chairwoman Marcy Kaptur (D, OH-9) shed light on dredging and how emerging environmental innovations can be incorporated into future water resources infrastructure plans. Kaptur noted that in previous conversations with the Corps, she was told that they “can’t turn dredge material into a byproduct that could be reapplied to the land because there might be PCBs in it.” DeGood stated that “changing the Corp’s mindset so that they understand that helping port authorities and other state and local jurisdictions turn these materials into potentially economically useful products” should be a part of their mission to better utilize dredge material in environmentally friendly ways.
A recording of the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee’s hearing on “Innovation and Investment in Water Resources Infrastructure” is available here.
Subcommittee of Natural Resources Holds Hearing on
Build Back Better Water Conservation Initiatives
A Natural Resources Subcommittee held a hearing on Thursday, March 11 to discuss plans for President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better initiative. The hearing by the Subcommittee on Waters, Ocean, and Wildlife discussed steps needed in order to kick-start more methods of water conservation throughout the country.
Congressman Jack Huffman (D, CA-2), Subcommittee Chair, opened the hearing by stating that in 2020 Americans faced 22 different climate disasters that resulted in billions of dollar in damage. He noted that in 2021 the largest drought in the southwest region in the past 20 years is anticipated.
Congressman Bruce Westerman (R, ARK-4), who has introduced the Trillion Trees Act, also spoke, advocating for the idea of trying to control the spread of wildfires by concentrating trees away from large sources of drinking water. He stated that the purpose of this is to reduce the debris that lands in the water as well as to reduce any contamination that is a result of forest fires.
Among the witnesses at the hearing were: Laura Ziemer, Senior Counsel and Water Policy, Trout Unlimited; Captain Aleksandr Modjeski, Habitat Restoration Program Director, American Littoral Society; Dr. Cassandra Moseley Research Professor and Senior Policy Advisor, Ecosystem Workforce Program, University of Oregon; and Dan Keppen, Executive Director, Family Farm Alliance.
Laura Ziemer advocated for focusing on three main water conservations investments, including to provide additional support for water security, fish passage, and environmental flows and natural infrastructure. Captain Aleksandr Modjeski focused on the need for habitat restoration, pointing out that the purpose of habitat restoration is to build the marine ecosystem in order to create numerous jobs and to stimulate many local businesses. Dr. Cassandra Moseley stated to the subcommittee that “as part of a stimulus package, (it is important to) invest in activities on federal, tribal, and private lands that: (a) increase ecological and community resilience to climate change, and natural hazard events including wildfire; (b) strengthen the viability of working lands, waterways, fisheries, and renewable power generation while improving ecological function; (c) reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration; and (d) address deferred maintenance backlogs on federally managed lands.” Dan Keppen focused on the possibility of investments in order to create jobs that will get many Americans working again after the pandemic.
In Memoriam:
NEMWI Senior Fellow Richard Corrigan
NEMWI Senior Fellow for Energy Policy Richard Corrigan passed away on March 4 after a long struggle with heart failure and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
NEMWI Senior Fellow Thomas Cochran, his friend and colleague for over 25 years, offered the following tribute in memoriam:
I first encountered this extraordinarily kind, generous, and street-smart energy finance expert across a multi-sided negotiating table as he (representing the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation), a bunch of global commercial bank representatives, and I representing a guarantor of the lead bank, tussled over how best to restructure the financing of a struggling geothermal power project in Indonesia. In his wonderfully unassuming, patient way, Dick managed to forge a consensus among all these disparate interests on a path forward that had the promise of avoiding substantial losses not only for U.S. taxpayers but also for the banks. I signed up as a member of what I soon realized was the very large and far-flung Dick Corrigan Admiration Society by the end of that first meeting, and I won't ever relinquish my membership.
When Dick asked if I would like to join a band of financial advisors supporting the U.S. DOE's clean energy Loan Guarantee Program during the Obama-Biden Administration, I jumped at the chance, as I was confident that I would continue to learn from him and how I could grow as both a project finance professional and a concerned citizen trying to move the needle on climate change by getting innovative new clean energy technologies through "the valley of death" between demonstration and commercialization. And I will forever owe Dick a huge debt of gratitude for that opportunity.
And of course I will be forever grateful to Dick Corrigan for having accepted my invitation to join me as a Senior Fellow at the Northeast-Midwest Institute a year ago.
So, thank you, Dick, for a great professional and personal friendship run over the past 25 years.
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