GLWP Hill Happenings July 2014

LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

Appropriations and Budget
- House passed Energy and Water Appropriations bill with floor amendments offered by Great Lakes members
  - Bill Huizenga (MI-02) offered a floor amendment to increase the total amount of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund that must go to dredging and other port and harbor maintenance to the level recommended in the recently-passed authorizing legislation, the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA), H.R. 3080, to reduce the dredging and maintenance backlog among the ports and harbors throughout the U.S
    Passed
  - Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chair Rep. Sean Duffy (WI-07), along with NEMW Congressional Coalition Co-Chair Rep. Mike Kelly (PA-03), offered an amendment that will ensure that the Great Lakes Navigation System receives the minimal set-aside level of funding provided in WRRDA
    Passed by Voice
  - Department of Energy’s Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Weatherization Assistance Program, and Advanced Manufacturing Office all saw level or increased funding, compared to FY2014, included in the bill.
  - The NEMWI has provided an overview of the accounts and amendments. The bill now heads to the Senate, which has reviewed its bill at the Subcommittee level but has not yet released its report on finer funding details.
- House Interior and Environment Committee marked up its bill, which included $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
  - Additionally, report language accompanying the bill included a policy provision that would prevent enforcement of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ballast provision of the Vessel General Permit if the vessel had received an extension for compliance from the U.S. Coast Guard for its ballast regulations. This provision aims to address the concerns regarding EPA’s use of “selective enforcement” of its ballast standards until approval of technology for treatment of ballast water.
- Since then, most appropriations work has ground to a halt; no additional bills are expected on the floor of either chamber
- A Continuing Resolution to provide FY15 funding from October 1 until after the November elections is expected in September, when Congress returns from its August recess
- Congress passed a stopgap for the Highway Transportation Trust Fund through May 2015, avoiding a reduction in funding for current projects to states
- Numbers for Great Lakes program funding for FY2012-15 request

Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (S. 2094) marked up and favorable passed out of Senate Committee
- Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee “marked up” (or reviewed) Sen. Mark Begich’s (AK) VIDA bill on July 23
- Roger Wicker (MS) added two amendments
- Barbara Boxer (CA) and Maria Cantwell (WA) voiced opposition to the bill though it passed out of Committee on a voice vote
- Currently, no floor consideration of the bill, in its current state, is expected
- The bill had originally been scheduled for markup by the Committee on June 14, potentially as part of the U.S. Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill, but the markup was canceled the evening prior. The Committee did not consider the U.S. Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill as part of the July 23 markup.
- Multiple stakeholder groups, including a coalition of environmental advocates and a coalition of commercial waterways users, have provided comments and input to the committee on the bill
- The bill would implement fundamental changes in the vessel discharge programs within the U.S. Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency
- In particular, the bill requires a single uniform national standard, and any new state standard would have to be adopted by the nation to have effect in a state. It also sets forth a new process for reviewing and revising the ballast water discharge standards, and creates a permanent exemption to the incidental discharge for fishing vessels.

EVENTS/HEARINGS/BRIEFINGS

Great Lakes Legislation Considered at Senate Hearing
On Wednesday, July 16, the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife held a legislative hearing on three bills with importance to the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Ecological and Economic Protection Act (GLEEPA) (S. 1232), co-sponsored by the Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Sens. Carl Levin (MI) and Mark Kirk (IL), and eight other Great Lakes Task Force and delegation members authorizes the Administration’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which has invested over $1.6 billion in federal funds in Great Lakes restoration activities to date, and a multi-stakeholder Great Lakes Advisory Board to advise program implementation. The Act also reauthorizes the Great Lakes Legacy Act and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office. The Great Lakes Protection Act (S. 571) was introduced by Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Sens. Kirk and Levin and co-sponsored by Great Lakes Task Force Members Sens. Richard Durbin (IL) and Debbie Stabenow (MI). S. 571 aims to completely eliminate Combined Sewer Overflows into the Great Lakes by 2033. It also establishes a Great Lakes Cleanup Fund capitalized by penalty funds associated with discharge violations, to be used for wastewater treatment options in the region. Finally, the Committee considered Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (NY) Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act (S. 1153), co-sponsored by Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chair Sen. Carl Levin (MI). S. 1153 strengthens the ability of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent the planned importation to and subsequent establishment of harmful species (aquatic and terrestrial) in the U.S. Administration and outside witnesses at the hearing gave support to all three bills. Notably, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Principle Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, Mr. Mike Shapiro, noted that protecting and restoring the Great Lakes is not a regional issue but rather “a national and even international imperative.” Now that the Subcommittee has considered the bills in a legislative hearing, the full Committee may review them to recommend as is or in an amended form for full Senate consideration and potential passage. All of the bills have companion bills on the House side (H.R. 2773; H.R. 1185; H.R. 996).

LETTERS

Senators Send Letter on Next Steps to Address Asian Carp
Led by Great Lakes Delegation Member Sen. Joe Donnelly (IN) and Task Force Co-Chair Sen. Mark Kirk (IL), fifteen Senators sent a letter to Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ACRCC) Chair, John Goss (Council on Environmental Quality), requesting recommendations on short- and medium-term actions to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes system. The letter recognized the ongoing work of the Chicago Area Waterway System Advisory Committee, an informal committee of states, industry, environmental groups, and local agencies convened to discuss and hammer out future short, medium, and long-term solutions to the Asian carp and invasive species issue. The letter calls for recommendations from the Advisory Committee as soon as possible, particularly regarding “short- and medium-term technologically feasible actions that maintain commercial navigation and recreational boating, preserve the integrity of existing flood control systems, protect water quality, and enjoy broad support.” The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had released its Great Lakes-Mississippi River Interbasin Study Report in January 2014, which detailed different potential options for addressing invasive species movement between the basins though did not include any specific recommendations. As part of the Advisory Committee, federal agencies, including those on the ACRCC, are present to provide background on agencies’ roles, limitations, and current actions.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Great Lakes Restoration Conference | September 9-11 | Amway Grand Plaza Hotel | Grand Rapids, Michigan

Great Lakes Commission Annual Meeting |September 29-30 | Hyatt Regency Buffalo Hotel and Conference Center | Buffalo, New York

THE GREAT LAKES “FUNNY”

Preserving the Great Lakes through beer