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Congressional Briefing on Asian Carp Control Tomorrow
Asian Carp Management and Control in the
Ohio River
and Upper Mississippi River
Basins
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
2043 Rayburn House Office Building
The Northeast-Midwest Institute's Mississippi River Basin Program will hold a Congressional briefing
in conjunction with the Mississippi River Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA), Congressman Mike Kelly (PA-03), and Congressman Ron Kind (WI-03) on Wednesday, September 6, from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM. Lunch will be served.
The briefing will provide Congressional staff, regional and environmental organizations, and interested members of the public the opportunity to hear directly from stakeholders from the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers about the ongoing efforts to control the spread of Asian carp. The briefing will include an overview of current efforts to monitor, control, remove, and deter the spread of Asian Carp, as well as a discussion of the role of public-private partnerships in these efforts.
The list of speakers includes:
- Mr. Mike Weimer, US Fish and Wildlife Service
- Mr. Nick Frohnauer, MN Department of Resources
- Mr. Ron Brooks, KY Department of Fish and Wildlife
- Mr. Andre Raghu, Blue Shores Fishery
- Mr. Greg Conover, MICRA, US Fish and Wildlife Service
Presentations will be followed by a Q + A session with the panel. Representatives from the US Army Corps of Engineers and US Geological Survey will also participate.
For more information, please contact
Joe Vukovich, Senior Policy Analyst for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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State of Ohio Releases
Lake Erie Basin
Nutrients Reduction Plan
The Ohio Lake Erie Commission and the State of Ohio have released the draft
Ohio Domestic Action Plan to reduce phosphorus loading to Lake Erie. The Plan works towards reducing phosphorus loading into Lake Erie by 40% by 2025, a target set under
Annex 4 of the
Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Action items in the draft address: reducing nutrients and phosphorus from point sources and nonpoint sources; engineering and design work for potential in-water coastal wetland projects in the western basin that can help assimilate in-lake nutrients in the mouth of the Maumee River; and programs and resources to assist producers with nutrient management and optimizing fertilizer application. Public meetings on the draft plan are being held in Oregon and Painesville, Ohio, on September 12 and 13, 2017, respectively. Comments on the plan will be accepted by the State of Ohio until September 25.
For more information, contact
Ankita Mandelia, Policy Analyst for the Towards Sustainable Water Information Project, or
Matthew McKenna, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program, at the Northeast Midwest Institute.
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Did the EPA Give
Incorrect Legal Guidance?
Did Administrator Scott Pruitt and the EPA give incorrect legal guidance? That is the recent
contention of a group of city, state, and county attorneys led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. At issue is legal guidance issued in March regarding the Clean Power Plan.
The Clean Power Plan, one of President Obama's major initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change, has been suspended since the Supreme Court
issued a stay in February of 2016. The case which will determine the ultimately legality of the plan, however, is still ongoing. The question is, if the Clean Power Plan is ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court, what will happen to the compliance deadlines?
It is likely that states would not be bound by the original deadlines in the plan. The court (which could be the Supreme Court but may end up being the D.C. Circuit) would extend the relevant deadlines to reflect the fact that the Clean Power Plan was not legally enforceable while subject to the stay, and it would be unfair to expect parties to abide by the original deadlines. This deadline extension is a legal concept known as "tolling".
In a March letter, Administrator Pruitt argued that if the plan is upheld, the deadlines would be tolled for every day that the plan was stayed. (For example, if the plan were stayed 3 years, all deadlines would be extended 3 years.) The attorneys led by New York Attorney General Schneiderman disagree. Essentially, they argue that Pruitt's tolling claim is premature at best: a court will determine the amount of tolling when the stay is lifted, and it may decide that fairness does not require as long a tolling period as Pruitt claims.
This is not the first time that the issue has been raised, and it is not the first time that different groups have come to opposing conclusions. The Center for Policy Integrity
analyzed the issue in April of 2016 and came to a conclusion largely mirroring Attorney General Schneiderman. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in contrast,
has long agreed with the views articulated by Administrator Pruitt.
While the issue of tolling is ultimately a small part of the issues surrounding the Clean Power Plan, it is a good example of how many of the environmental arguments that started in the Obama Administration show no signs of slowing down. The guidance also poses unique issues for Administrator Pruitt, who
vowed to recuse himself from cases he was involved with as Oklahoma attorney general, including the Clean Power Plan.
For more information, please contact
Joe Vukovich, Senior Policy Analyst for the Upper Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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This Week on Capitol Hill
As Congress returns from the August recess, it will have to consider several "must pass" pieces of legislation including Hurricane Harvey relief and raising the debt ceiling. This week, the House will take up another "mini-bus" appropriations bill that includes annual FY18 funding for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others. A list of potential amendments that might be considered when this legislation is on floor can be viewed
here. The Senate will begin this week by considering some judicial nominations.
The following committee hearings will also be held this week:
Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
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