The Senate and House Great Lakes Task Force is convening, in coordination with NEMWI, a bicameral briefing on recent historic water levels in the Great Lakes on Tuesday, December 4, from 11 am - 12 pm in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, Senate Meeting Room 215 (SVC-215). The Senate and House Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Senator Carl Levin, Senator Mark Kirk, Congresswoman Miller, Congressman Dingell, Congressman Duffy, and Congresswoman Slaughter are Honorary Cosponsors of the event. In March 2012, the International Joint Commission (IJC) released the final report of the International Upper Great Lakes Study, entitled Lake Superior Regulation: Addressing Uncertainty in Upper Great Lakes Water Levels. Since then, the IJC has received numerous public comments on the report. ACOE and IJC jointly will brief congressional staff on recent analyses of record-reaching Great Lakes water levels, including how various controlling works and physical changes have impacted water levels, while also providing an update on public comments received on the IJC's International Upper Great Lakes Study, which examines the physical processes driving current Great Lakes water level conditions. 

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

The Northeast-Midwest Institute, in coordination with Senator Carper and the House Delaware River Basin Task, is sponsoring a bicameral briefing on the economic importance of the ecological goods and services of the Delaware River Basin ecosystem.  The briefing is designed to provide more information about the economic benefits of conservation as it relates to proposed legislation, the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act (H.R. 2325 and S. 1266).  The briefing will occur on Thursday, December 6 from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, Congressional Meeting Room - South (CVC 217).  Speakers include: Dr. Gerald Kauffman from the University of Delaware; Rachel Dawson of the National Wildlife Federation; and a representative of the DRB business/water community (invited). The meeting will be open to the public.

As transportation and energy infrastructure is restored after Hurricane Sandy, the high costs of the storm are increasingly evident. According to a recent estimate from Governor Christie's office, the cost of the damage to personal property, business, infrastructure, and utilities in New Jersey is $29.4 billion. Governor Cuomo of New York has said that he will ask the federal government for $30 billion in disaster aid for his state.

Three municipal market groups--the National Association of Bond Lawyers, the Bond Dealers of America, and the National Development Council--as well as the Council of Development Finance Agencies have together proposed that Congress "create special Hurricane Sandy Recovery Bonds to help businesses and residents in the Mid-Atlantic region still reeling from storm-related destruction."  Such bonds would be similar to those available through the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005, created by Congress after Hurricane Katrina. 

For more information, contact Colleen Cain, Senior Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

In response to the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, the Department of Commerce declared a federal fishery disaster for New York and New Jersey. As noted in a press release, New York and New Jersey commercial fisheries were valued at more than $210 million in 2010, while recreational fishermen took more than 10 million trips. A disaster declaration creates the opportunity for Congress to appropriate disaster relief funds, as authorized under the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

New Partners for Community Revitalization (NPCR) is holding its 5th Annual Brownfields Forum on January 31, 2013 in Brooklyn, NY.  The forum "highlights key trends in federal and state brownfields programs and policies in the context of a changing political landscape."  This year it will focus on financial incentives and linking brownfields to clean energy, the green economy, green infrastructure and waterfront restoration.  For more information and to register, visit the NPCR website.