| Northeast-Midwest Institute Weekly Update |
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NEMWI Begins Water Data Project
| NEMWI welcomed Elin Betanzo, PE, to the team as a Senior Policy Analyst on the NEMW Water Information Supply project. Funds for water quantity and water quality monitoring are declining at federal, state, and local levels just as the pace of shale gas development and enhanced tile drainage of agricultural lands steps up in the region. NEMWI will identify water information needs, catalog existing water monitoring programs, identify critical gaps in existing water monitoring programs, and propose strategies for filling those gaps. The review will help assure that state and federal policy decision-makers can make informed decisions on how to best secure the region's fresh water supply into the future. This project is part of a cooperative agreement with USGS. Elin comes to NEMWI after ten years of experience in the water industry at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.
For more information, contact Elin Betanzo, Senior Policy Analyst at NEMWI.
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A Tale of Two Transportation Bills...and Cities in the NEMW Region
| The 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) law directs 62.5 percent of available Surface Transportation Program (STP) dollars directly to metro areas with populations over 200,000. Senate floor action this week on Senate Bill S 1813, introduced on November 7, 2011, could change all that. In its current form, S 1813, a 2-year, $109 billion bill, would shift substantial authority from major cities to states over allocation and programming of STP funds (which the bill renames the Transportation Mobility Program or TMP funds). Nearly all additional TMP funds (about $2.5 billion) provided in the Senate bill would go to the states, rather than local areas. Alaska Senator Mark Begich plans to offer a floor amendment to S 1813 to restore and protect the currently existing funding share to local areas under the Surface Transportation Program (TMP under S 1813). For example, Begich amendment would result in $6.9 million more for the city of Baltimore; $10 million more for the City of Boston, and $20 million more for the City of New York. To see how all the cities in the NEMW region would fair, go to usmayors.org/fundingbegichamendment. Notably, Senator Begich's amendment has no effect on the share of transportation dollars flowing to NEMW states vis-a-vis other parts of the country.
For more information, contact Colin Wellenkamp, Director, MS River Cities and Towns Initiative at NEMWI.
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Bipartisan and Bicameral Great Lakes Delegation Speaks at NEMWI Great Lakes Congressional Breakfast
| The NEMWI Great Lakes Washington Program, in partnership with the Great Lakes Commission, hosted the annual Great Lakes Congressional Breakfast on February 29, 2012. Highlights of the breakfast were the remarks provided by several Members of the Great Lakes Congressional Delegation: Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), Congressman Sean Duffy (R-MI), Congressman Pete Visclosky (D-IN), Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI), Congressman Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Congressman Dan Benishek (R-MI), and Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). Participants at the breakfast included Congressional staff, state representatives, environmental organizations, members of the Great Lakes Commission, city mayors, staff from federal agencies, and industry representatives from the Great Lakes region.
For more information, contact Leah Konrady, Director, Great Lakes Washington Program at NEMWI.
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NEMWI Releases "Survey of Great Lakes Programs and Federal Funding Implications"
| The NEMWI Great Lakes Washington Program released a new Survey of Great Lakes Programs and Federal Funding Implications for the 2012 session of Congress. The Survey provides Great Lakes Congressional staff and stakeholders in the region with a reference on funding implications for federal programs that influence the Great Lakes environment and waterborne commerce. Each program included in the Survey is either Congressionally-authorized specifically as a Great Lakes program or receives $9 million or more annually for a Great Lakes-relevant purpose. All together the Survey reviews 16 programs or activities relevant in the Great Lakes. These programs fall into the jurisdictions of several Appropriations Subcommittees, including Interior and Environment, State and Foreign Operations, Transportation Housing and Urban Development, Commerce Justice and Science, and Energy and Water.
For more information, contact Leah Konrady, Director, Great Lakes Washington Program at NEMWI.
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Water Infrastructure Bills and Other Mid-Atlantic Watersheds News
| Last month, the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee held a hearing to examine local government perspectives on water infrastructure improvement needs. Concurrently, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee held the first of a two-part hearing to explore financing mechanisms to fund those much-needed upgrade projects. In early February, Senator Sherrod Brown (OH), Co-chair of the Senate Northeast-Midwest Coalition, introduced legislation authorizing a grant program to assist communities with water infrastructure upgrade investments. Read about these stories and more in NEMWI's February Update on Mid-Atlantic Watersheds.
For more information, contact Rachel Dawson, Policy Analyst at NEMWI.
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Registration Now Open for Reinventing Older Communities Conference
| The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and its co-sponsors are hosting a conference, "Reinventing Older Communities: Building Resilient Cities" from Wednesday, May 9, to Friday, May 11, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn's Landing. Participants will consider building resilient cities, with a particular focus on smaller cities that were once manufacturing centers. Find out more about the conference and register here.
For more information, contact Colleen Cain, Senior Policy Analyst at NEMWI.
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