| Northeast-Midwest Institute Weekly Update |
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Congress Passes Transportation Authorization
| By votes of 373 to 52 and 74 to 19, the House and Senate passed a 27-month bill reauthorizing the country's surface transportation program. The previous surface transportation law, SAFETEA-LU, expired on September 30, 2009 and has undergone a series of short-term extensions with minor variations since then. Funding levels are the same (plus inflation) as under SAFETEA-LU. A full summary from the conference committee is available here. Some of the changes in the new Surface Transportation bill include:
* A new National Freight Strategic Plan, along with more generous cost-shares as incentives for states to fund freight-bolstering projects;
* Elimination of dedicated funds to support Transportation Enhancements, like the Safe Routes to School program;
* Dozens of existing programs are consolidated;
* Earmarks are stripped;
* A shorter average review time for new transportation projects from 15 years to seven-mostly by having various environmental reviews to proceed concurrently;
* The 80/20 split for highway/transit is kept in place, but money is no longer specifically dedicated to repair of highways and bridges and is instead consolidated into the National Highway System program;
* A Sense of Congress that funds collected for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund should be fully spent each year on dredging and other maintenance needs of the nation's federal ports, and requires additional annual budget reporting from the Administration on such maintenance.
For more information, contact Kate Ostrander, Legislative Director of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.
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Two of Three New MEP Centers to Locate in NEMW Region
| Last week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, announced up to $3 million in funding as part of a solicitation for grant proposals to establish three new Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). The new centers will be located in the states of Maryland, Rhode Island, and Arizona, and will join a 50-state network of MEP centers and field offices. MEP is a federal-state partnership that provides assistance to small and medium-sized U.S. manufacturers to help them expand into new markets and identify and adopt new technologies to improve productivity. The centers work directly with their local manufacturing communities and are important to the Northeast-Midwest region's manufacturing sector; of the current 55 MEP centers, 44% are located in the NEMW region, with 7 centers located in Pennsylvania alone, the most in any state. The NIST announcement is available here. Proposals are due to NIST no later than 5:00 p.m. (EST) on August 20, 2012. NIST will also hold a webinar for organizations considering applying on July 18, 2012, at 2 p.m. (EST).
For more information, contact Kate Ostrander, Legislative Director of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.
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EPA Awards Urban Waters Grants in Several NEMW Cities
| The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will award $2.7 million to 46 organizations in 32 states and Puerto Rico to support communities' efforts to access, improve, and benefit from their urban waters and the surrounding land. Urban waters include canals, rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, estuaries, bays and oceans in urbanized areas. The grants range from $30,000 to $60,000 for projects across the country, including in a number of underserved communities. Recipients will promote the restoration of urban waters through community engagement and outreach, water quality monitoring and studies, and environmental education and training. A list of the projects to be funded are available here; 17 of the projects will take place in the NEMW region.
For more information, contact Colleen Cain, Senior Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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USDA Announces MS River Basin Initiative Awards
| On June 19, Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced nearly $8.4 million in funding for a new round of partnership projects as part of USDA's Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI). Twenty-three projects in nine Midwestern and Southern states were awarded funding. MRBI is a voluntary Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) program administered by state conservation districts with funding from USDA. MRBI aims to improve water quality, and restore wetland and wildlife habitat while maintaining agricultural productivity in the Mississippi River Basin. MRBI projects employ activities that avoid, control, and trap sediment and nutrient runoff from agricultural lands. MRBI is essentially a "suite of conservation practices" that are supported via farm bill conservation programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP). The 23 selected projects are located in Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
For more information, contact Colin Wellenkamp, Director of the MS River Cities and Towns Initiative at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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