The Senate and House reconvened on Tuesday to start the lame duck session, while orientation week began for the newly elected Members. In the first election since congressional redistricting, the NEMW welcomes 30 freshman House members and 5 new Senators.  Of these new Senators, 3 were previously House members.  Overall, the region shifted to a party split of  93 Democrats and 71 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.  This is a decrease of 1 Democrat and 9 Republicans.  In the U.S. Senate, the region shifted to a party split of 26 Democrats, 8 Republicans, and 2 Independents, compared to 23 Democrats, 11 Republicans, and 2 Independents previously. To view the NEMW region results for both chambers, race-by-race, check out this synopsis. 

By and large, the House and Senate membership for the Mississippi River valley remains the same. Out of the 48 members that represent states and districts along the main stem, 35 were up this cycle; Mississippi River valley election details are available here.

For more information, contact: Kate Ostrander, Legislative Director for the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition; Danielle Chesky, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute; or Colin Wellenkamp, Director of the MS River Cities & Towns Initiative at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the release of $3.1 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).  Under this release, most states will receive 90% of their full-year allocations; HHS reports that this is a higher proportion than is typically made available in an initial allocation.  The awaited announcement is welcome news for many states, particularly in the NEMW region, which are preparing for the winter heating season.  A complete list of funds available to states is available here.

For more information, contact Kate Ostrander, Legislative Director for the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.  

On Monday, November 19, NEMWI will release an analysis providing economic estimates of the ecosystem goods and services unique to each Congressional District in the Delaware River Basin. NEMWI, with support from the William Penn Foundation, collaborated with University of Delaware researchers to develop the estimates.  Ecosystem goods are commodities (like water, fish, minerals, crops, and timber) and ecosystem services are functions (such as flood reduction, water and air filtration, nutrient cycling, and soil conservation) provided by wetlands, forests, farms, and open water.  It is often difficult to generate precise estimates of the ecosystem value, yet such estimates are critical to appreciating the value of ecosystem restoration and protection.  Congress is considering the merits of the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act (Senate Bill 1266/HR 2325), which would establish a Delaware River Basin restoration program within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to identify, prioritize, and implement restoration and protection activities and management plans for the four-state Delaware Basin region (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania), in coordination with federal, state, local, non-profit, and private partners. The ecosystem goods and services valuation will be available on Monday, November 19, at approximately 4 p.m., on the Institute's Website at www.nemw.org.

For more information contact Erik Hagen, Senior Policy Associate, Northeast-Midwest Institute. 

NEMWI and Water Environment Federation, along with Congressional hosts Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), and Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI), will present a briefing on new US Geological Survey (USGS) findings about the impacts of urban development on streams and their aquatic life.  The briefing will be on Friday, November 30, from 10 to 11:30 AM EST in  Room SVC 201-00 of the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center.  The USGS National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program recently released the results of a study designed to better understand the effects of urban development on streams and aquatic life in different regions of the country.  The study findings point to priorities and strategies that can protect and restore urban streams for drinking water, recreation and aesthetic pleasure.  At the briefing, USGS will describe the study and results, including differences observed in nine metropolitan areas, the reasons for these differences, and the implications for stream protection and restoration. USGS will also describe a new innovative tool that can assist decision-makers at all levels of government in evaluating how improvements to one or more stream conditions can increase the likelihood of reaching stream goals.  For more information regarding the study and how to RSVP to attend the event, see this briefing announcement.

For more information, contact Mark Gorman, Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

On Friday, November 9, 2012, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) released the Draft Aquatic Pathway Assessment Reports for Indiana's Eagle Marsh, Loomis Lake, and Parker-Cobb Ditch. As noted in the USACE's press release, the purpose of each report is to evaluate key evidence to estimate the likelihood of an aquatic pathway forming and the possibility of aquatic nuisance species (ANS) using the pathway to reach the adjacent basin.  The draft reports indicate Eagle Marsh showed a high probability of movement of ANS, specifically the high potential for viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus to spread across the basin divide.  Additionally, there was a medium probably of interbasin transfer for the northern snakehead, Asian carp (silver, bighead and black), inland silverside, parasitic copepod, and the threespine stickleback.  Parker-Cobb Ditch and Loomis Lake, both located in Porter County, showed medium and low probability for movement of ANS, respectively.  The USACE will take public comment on the reports through December 7, 2012; they are available for download on the GLMRIS website.

These reports, along with others already released and forthcoming, are part of the USACE's Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS).  The schedule for the GLMRIS project was expedited by a provision included within the transportation act, known as MAP-21, which was signed into law in early July 2012.  The USACE's interim 90-day GLMRIS report to Congress, released October 3, 2012, details the timeline for release of past and future reports.

For more information, contact Danielle Chesky, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

Last week, the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee released a draft of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).  This draft does not contain any earmarks in the traditional sense but does list criteria by which projects shall be approved in the areas of Water Resource Studies, Levee Safety, Inland Waterways, Harbor Maintenance, Dam Safety, and Innovative Financing Projects.  A Full Committee hearing on the Act took place on November 15.  After the hearing, Senator Boxer expressed interest in meeting with the mayors of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative to discuss WRDA.