The Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Water Environment Federation will co-host a public briefing sponsored by Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), and Reps.  Donna Edwards (D-4-MD) and Jim Moran (D-8-VA) at the U.S. Capitol on July 19, on new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) findings about the ecological health of the Nation's streams. During the briefing, USGS National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program and state officials will describe the results of a national assessment of stream health, along with challenges and successes related to assessing aquatic life impairment and restoration. The presentations will emphasize the importance of assessing various stream health indicator and stress factors, and the implications the study findings have for establishing protection and restoration priorities. The briefing will run from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in SVC Room 209-208 of the Capitol Visitor Center. For more details on the briefing, the NAWQA study and its key findings, see here.

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

NEMW Senate Coalition Co-Chair Sherrod Brown (OH), along with Sens. Robert Casey, Jr. (PA) and Susan Collins (ME), recently reintroduced bipartisan legislation, the Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act of 2013 (S.1226). Senator Brown first authored the SECTORS Act in 2008. The House unanimously passed a version of the SECTORS Act on a voice vote in 2010, but the bill never received a vote in the Senate. The main goal of the 2013 bill is to promote industry growth and competitiveness and to improve worker training, retention, and advancement through federal grants to states for the creation or expansion of industry-led partnerships. These partnerships (also known as sector partnerships) exist throughout the country, and have a significant presence in the NEMW region; they bring together employers and other stakeholders connected to local and regional industries to plan for the future of an industry, especially through better alignment of job training with immediate skill shortages. The bill would amend the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, which is currently up for re-authorization. On June 26, 2013, the SECTORS Act was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

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

On July 2, the partnership of universities and government agencies working to predict the extent of the late-summer algal bloom in Lake Erie released their forecast during a public briefing and webinar. The forecast, based on the amount of phosphorus that entered the lake from March 1-June 30, suggested the bloom would be larger than in 2012 but smaller than the monster bloom experienced in 2011, which spilled into the central basin and was easily visible via satellite photographs. Overall, the bloom is expected to be just under 20% of the 2011 bloom and comparable to the bloom experienced in 2003. The wet April contributed to higher runoff of nutrients than the runoff in 2012, when the region was under drought conditions. The briefing included speakers from the Ohio Travel Association and the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, who emphasized the larger economic and ecological impacts of algal blooms. Further, Ohio's Phosphorus Task Force Phase II discussed their phosphorus reduction targets, based on scientific evidence of impacts. These targets would reduce the loading of phosphorus, in its various forms, by around 40% compared to the 2007-12 average.  Federal and local governments, industry, academics, and other stakeholders comprise the task force. Speakers also emphasized the continued need for monitoring and adapting to changing conditions and new information. 

 

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

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last week announced a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for $4.5 million in capacity building grants for the Sustainable Communities program. The purpose of these grants is: 1) to assemble a consortium of capacity building service providers to work directly with Sustainable Communities Grantees; and 2) to maintain a national coalition and leadership network of Sustainable Communities Grantees that will facilitate the exchange of successful strategies, lessons learned, emerging tools and public engagement strategies, and approaches for avoiding or minimizing pitfalls. A public information webinar will be held on July 16, from 2-3pm ET. View the full NOFA here.