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             WEEKLY UPDATE March 4, 2014  

In This Issue
Agricultural Trading Systems in Midwest to Help Reduce Dead Zones
New USGS Maps and Tables Describe Nutrient Loading to U.S. Estuaries
The International Joint Commission Calls for Immediate Action to Reduce Nutrient Loads to Lake Erie
Funding Opportunity: EPA Issues Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grants Request for Proposals
Funding Opportunity: DOT Announces $600 Million for Sixth Round of TIGER Funding
COMING SOON 

MARCH 6, 2014:
Great Lakes Congressional Breakfast 
8:15-9:45 am   
Hart Senate Office Building Room 902
 RSVP here 
_____________________

APRIL 11, 2014:
USGS National Water Quality Assessment (NAQWA) Capitol Hill Briefing
for staff, members and the public on Water Quality Trends in the Nation's Streams.

More details to come.



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NEMWI's Great Lakes Hill Happenings: February 2014

 

The February 2014 Edition of the NEMWI Great Lakes Hill Happenings is now available and includes:
  • Updated budget numbers for Great Lakes federal programs for FY2012-14;
  • Summaries of recently-introduced legislation, including the U.S. Coast Guard Reauthorization, which addresses short seas shipping and incidental discharges from small and fishing vessels, and Rep. Candice Miller's (MI-10) bill to separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins;
  •  A summary of the Great Lakes Environmental Summit, which featured Committee staff from Appropriations, Agriculture, Commerce, and Transportation & Infrastructure Committees, along with a discussion around the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative; and
  • Links to letters from the Great Lakes Task Force and Delegation supporting the Great Lakes Navigation System.
 

For more information, contact Danielle Chesky, Director, Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute. 

 

New USGS Maps and Tables Describe Nutrient Loading to U.S. Estuaries

   
The USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program has made new maps and data tables available that describe nutrient loading to major estuaries throughout the U.S. These new data presentations describe the major sources and contributing areas of nutrients to 115 estuaries along the coastal U.S. From a Northeast-Midwest regional perspective, some of these data include nutrient loading into the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, Long Island Sound and Great Lakes, and from the Mississippi River Basin into the northern Gulf of Mexico. In addition to the new web pages, persons interested in a particular stream can now utilize an online, interactive SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regressions on Watershed attributes) nutrient model Decision-Support System (DSS) to estimate how reductions in upstream nutrient sources affect downstream nutrient loads at a stream outlet. More information is available on the NAWQA "Tracking the Source and Quantity of Nutrients to the Nation's Estuaries" web site, and here.

 

   

For more information, please contact Mark Gorman, Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

   

 

The International Joint Commission Calls for  Immediate Action to Reduce Nutrient Loads to Lake Erie

     

The International Joint Commission (IJC) suggests that current knowledge is sufficient to justify immediate effort to reduce external loading of nutrients to Lake Erie in a report released Thursday. The report provides scientific and policy advice to governments and non-governmental entities, including industry, as they implement plans to respond to deteriorating Lake Erie water quality.  Massive summer-long algal blooms, reduced oxygen levels, and fish kills have focused binational attention on the need for urgent actions to reduce external inputs of phosphorus. The IJC report provides science-based recommendations on the amount of phosphorous reduction and actions needed to maintain Lake Erie's health. In particular, the IJC report highlights dissolved reactive phosphorus as a primary concern and focuses on the Maumee River watershed as the highest priority for remedial action, recommending a 37 percent reduction for the spring period (March-June) compared to the 2007-2012 average. These recommendations aligned with recommendations made by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Phosphorus Taskforce II report, which was released in November 2013 and was funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

 

 

For more information, contact  Elin Betanzo, Sr. Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

 

Funding Opportunity: EPA Issues Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grants Request for Proposals
     

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced the availability of funding to eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, to conduct research or provide technical assistance to communities facing brownfields cleanup and revitalization challenges. Proposals are due April 1, 2014. Focus areas of this announcement include:

 

  1. technical assistance to environmental workforce development and job training grantees
  2. technical assistance on the integration of environmental justice and equitable development for brownfields-impacted communities
  3. research on the benefits of brownfields redevelopment
  4. technical assistance on brownfields financing and economic development strategies to brownfields-impacted communities.

For more information, contact Colleen Cain, Sr. Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

Funding Opportunity: DOT Announces $600 Million for Sixth Round of TIGER Funding

 

Last week, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced the availability of $600 million for transportation projects across the country under a sixth round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) competitive grant program. The TIGER 2014 grant program will place an emphasis on projects that support reliable, safe, and affordable transportation options that improve connections for both urban and rural communities, making it easier for their residents to reach work, school and other ladders of opportunity. While continuing to support projects of all types, DOT will prioritize applications for capital projects that better connect people to jobs, training and other opportunities, promote neighborhood redevelopment and reconnect neighborhoods divided by physical barriers, such as highways and railroads. DOT is offering a series of webinars that delve into various aspects of the TIGER application process. Topics include:

 

March 12th - How to Compete for TIGER Discretionary Grants

  

March 19th - Preparing a TIGER Planning Grant Application

 
March 26th - Preparing a Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA) for a TIGER Discretionary Grant

 

TIGER applications are due April 28. Click here to learn more about TIGER 2014 and to view DOT's Notice of Funding Availability.

 

  

For more information, contact Colleen Cain, Sr. Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

 


The Northeast-Midwest Institute: 
Taking the Rust out of the Rust Belt!