The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT), has been wresting with financial reform for weeks but now that fiscal policy legislation is in conference, the committee is poised to take up S. 1619, the Livable Communities Act of 2009.  The bill would essentially authorize President Obama's "livability" initiative and provide billions of dollars in funding for sustainable development projects.

 

On June 9th, to provide "local persecptives," the committee will hear from urban planners from regional and national development organizations.  The hearing will take place at 10am in 538 Dirkson Senate Building.

 

For more information contact Greg Lewis at the Northeast-Midwest Institute, 202-464-4005.

The highly-anticipated Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) report for the Upper Mississippi River Basin was released by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) last week.  As described in the report's Executive Summary, the "project was initiated to quantify existing ecological services derived from USDA conservation practices in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley as part of the USDA Conservation Effects Assessment Project, Wetlands Component (CEAP-Wetlands). The US Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with the NRCS, the USDA Farm Service Agency, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Ducks Unlimited, collected data on soils, vegetation, nitrogen cycling, migratory birds, and amphibians from 88 different sites between 2006 and 2008. Results from restored WRP sites were compared to baseline data from active agricultural cropland (AG) to evaluate changes in ecosystem services."  The CEAP report is available on this NRCS web page, which includes a link to view and download a PDF file of the 103-page report.