| Northeast-Midwest Institute Weekly Update |
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A New Voice for Mississippi River Cities and Towns
| The Northeast-Midwest Institute announced today that it has launched a Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative with support from The Walton Family Foundation. "River communities are where it all comes together: agriculture, transportation, environmental protection, recreation, and flood-emergency prevention and management," said Allegra Cangelosi, President of the NEMWI. The MRCTI will help local leaders of Mississippi River towns to provide collective input to Washington policy makers on critical federal policy matters including River water quality and habitat restoration, flooding and floodplain issues, River-focused recreation, sustainable economies, and celebration of the River culture and history. "The river plays a vital role in our economy and our quality of life in western Wisconsin," said Rep. Ron Kind, founder and Co-chair of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Congressional Task Force. "I'm pleased to see the Initiative focus on the health of the river as well as the environmental impact it has on the communities it touches." Rep. Sean Duffy, Co-Chair of the Great Lakes Congressional Task Force, another NEMW Coalition initiative, agrees. "The Mississippi River plays a vital economic, agricultural and job-creating role for so many citizens across our country, and by providing Americans who rely upon the river a voice in Congress, we can ensure it is protected for generations to come."
The Northeast-Midwest Institute also launched the now independent and thriving Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative with support of the Joyce Foundation. "People of the cities and towns along the banks of the Mississippi River know and love the River like a member of the family. They are in the best position to understand the problems faced by the resource and how to solve them," said Dave Ullrich, Director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, who looks forward to collaborating with new Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative. A position description for a Project lead is now posted on the NEMWI website under NEWS.
For more information, contact Allegra Cangelosi, President of the Northeast-Midwest Insitute
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Northeast-Midwest Institute to Assess the Region's "Water Information Supply"
| The Northeast-Midwest Institute, through a Cooperative Agreement with the United States Geological Survey, will characterize the state of the NEMW region's present and likely future "water information supply". The project will carefully inventory, assess, and analyze the capacity of the region's system of water quality and quantity monitoring system and determine its ability to provide answers to pressing questions raised by real-world resource-development and use scenarios-both present and future-including intense hydraulic fracturing, agricultural development practices, and urban expansion. NEMWI will examine all important sources of water information in the region, including those housed in the United States Geological Survey and other federal agencies, the state environmental departments, river basin commissions, and academic institutions. The project output will be concrete recommendations for necessary upgrades to the region's water monitoring system to assure that State, regional and federal policy decision-makers have the information they need to confirm the safety of the region's water supply into the future. The results of the work will be presented to stakeholders and decision-makers in a series of Washington-based events. "Our project will help the region's decision makers assure that they have accurate and comprehensive water information to guide sustainable use of the region's unique freshwater resources into the future," said Allegra Cangelosi, President of the Northeast-Midwest Institute. "To that end, the study is of interest to those on all sides of development issues", she said. A position description related to this project can be viewed on the NEMWI website under NEWS.
For more information, contact Allegra Cangelosi, President of the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMW Appropriations Update
| As the expiration date approaches for the latest Continuing Resolution (CR), which funds the government through 11/18, Congress is making some progress on moving the FY12 appropriations bills forward. Last week, the Senate agreed to proceed on a second "minibus" (H.R. 2354) that combines the Energy-Water, Financial Services, and State-Foreign Operations appropriations bills that were approved in September by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Floor debate on this minibus is occurring in the Senate this week. However, even if this bill and the first minibus (H.R. 2112), which is currently in conference between the House and Senate and combines Agriculture with Commerce-Justice-Science and Transportation-HUD, passes, another CR is expected to be necessary for the other six remaining bills. The process remains fluid, but a short, "stopgap" one-month CR is expected to be attached to the first minibus, which the House is expected to vote on this Thursday, as part of a final Conference Report on H.R. 2112. The planned schedule nearly runs right up to the expiration date of the current CR.
For more information, contact Colleen Cain, Senior Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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