On April 15, the Northeast-Midwest Institute, in coordination with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition, Upper Mississippi River Basin Task Force, hosted a "Briefing on Federal Programs Impacting the Mississippi River Basin." Presenters from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island, District, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency briefed attendees on their respective programs as they relate to the Mississippi River basin. Here is a link to the briefing materials (an Adobe® PDF file will download), including presenters' contact information, links to reference materials discussed, notes and PowerPoint presentations.  If you would prefer to download an Adobe® PDF portfolio file rather than a combined file, that link is here.

For more information contact Mark Gorman (202-464-4015) at the Norteast-Midwest Institute.

The House Agriculture Committee has scheduled a series of upcoming field hearings across the country "to review U.S. agriculture policy in advance of the 2012 Farm Bill," including one in the Mississippi River basin.  That public hearing will be held on Friday, April 30, at 1:00 p.m. CDT at the Iowa State Fair Grounds, Penningroth Sale Center, in Des Moines, IA.  A map to the Fair Grounds can be found here.  The House Agriculture Committee public hearing web page is here (where hearing schedules and links to streaming audio and video of the hearings can be found).  The Committee has already held two hearings (last week) to inform the direction of the 2012 Farm Bill (one in Harrisburg, PA and one in Washington, DC).

For more information contact Mark Gorman (202-464-4015) at the Norteast-Midwest Institute.

On Wednesday, May 5th, Dr. Jill Rolland from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will brief congressional staff on the work that they have been doing regarding VHS, the current regulatory status, and the latest on funding.  The briefing will be held in SC-4, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

For more information contact Joy Mulinex at the Great Lakes Task Forces.

The release of the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman Senate climate bill has been delayed after Senator Lindsey Graham threatened to leave if the Administration pushed immigration reform first.  The bill was originally set to be released at a press conference today, April 26th.  For more see the NYTimes article and ClimateWire article.

For more information contact Fritz Ohrenschall (202-464-4020) at the Norhteast-Midwest Institute.