| Northeast-Midwest Institute Weekly Update |
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Rep. Peters Convenes High Speed Rail Forum in Detroit
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NEMW Member Rep. Gary Peters (MI-09) convened a regional field policy forum in coordination with the NEMW Congressional Coalition to discuss and assess current efforts to develop high speed passenger and freight rail between the U.S. and Canada. This event on Friday, June 15, brought representatives from AMTRAK, the Michigan Department of Transportation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and key non-profit and Canadian and U.S. business associations. Moderated by Rep. Peters, the forum enabled panelists to provide updates on this work and answer questions with an aim to help advance a regional conversation on passenger and freight rail connections, particularly between Detroit and Windsor. Michigan, as part of the Chicago hub system, has received federal funds for construction of new connection track to improve rail lines for service expansion, helping the corridor become the first outside of the Northeast to attain speeds of 110 mph. In total, the NEMW region of the country receives a significant share of High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program funds: of the $10.1 billion invested to date, half the states receiving funds are in the NEMW, with 37 percent of total funding.
For more information, contact Kate Ostrander, Legislative Director of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.
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Recap: NEMWI Ballast Water Standards Briefing
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NEMWI's Great Lakes Washington Program held a briefing on June 14, 2012. The overall focus of the briefing was to discuss the Coast Guard's rule and the EPA's draft Vessel General Permit regulations and their relevance to the environment and waterborne commerce in the Great Lakes. The briefing addressed: environmental implications of ballast-mediated invasions in the Great Lakes; the impacts that the Coast Guard's rule will have on the Great Lakes shipping industry; and methods used to determine whether or not the technology exists to meet the ballast water standards. Speakers included: Joel Brammeier, President and CEO of Alliance for the Great Lakes; Jim Weakley, President of the Lake Carriers' Association; and Allegra Cangelosi, Principal Investigator of the Great Ships Initiative and President of the Northeast-Midwest Institute. The Co-Chairs of the Great Lakes Task Forces, Senators Levin and Kirk, and Representatives Miller, Duffy, Dingell, and Slaughter, served as honorary cosponsors.
For more information, contact Leah Konrady, Director, Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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Mississippi River Mayors Agree to Hold First Meeting in St. Louis: September 2012
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On June 11, mayors that have joined the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative (MRCTI) gathered on their first all-mayors call to discuss the launch of MRCTI, including initial MRCTI priorities, and the first face-to-face meeting. The mayors decided to hold their first meeting in St. Louis, MO on September 12-14, 2012. The mayors further agreed to focus their energy around flood mitigation/control, sustainable development of waterfront areas, and reform of the national flood insurance program. Other issues may be added in the weeks ahead. The mayors also decided to seat temporary leadership of MRCTI in September until formal by-laws can be adopted and full-term leaders can be elected in the summer of 2013. The leadership that will be seated this coming September will comprise a 12-member Executive Committee (one mayor from each of the ten river states and two co-chairs).
For more information, contact Colin Wellenkamp, Director, Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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Susquehanna Sediments Reaching the Bay at a Higher Than Expected Rate
| The Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, and the Nature Conservancy are participating in a three-year study to assess sediment movements in the Susquehanna River and to examine strategies for protecting the Chesapeake Bay from sediment and pollutants, including those that collect behind the Conwingo dam. The storm surge from Tropical Storm Lee in September of 2011 delivered an estimated 4 million tons of scoured sediment from the lower Susquehanna River watershed to the Chesapeake Bay, along with excess nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus, according to MDE. Meanwhile, a review of monitoring data by USGS suggests that the Conowingo dam is reaching its storage capacity, nearly filled with sediment in the 12 mile stretch of the river affected by the dam. The dam was not expected to fill with sediment until at least 2025. While the dam is still trapping sediment, the monitoring suggests that more sediment and phosphorous is reaching the bay in the last decade. Past studies have suggested that strategies for removing stored sediment are expected to cost tens of millions of dollars just to keep up with what is being trapped by the reservoir. The information here is a summary of this MDE press release, and this Chesapeake Bay Journal article.
For more information, contact Erik Hagen, Senior Policy Associate at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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