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WIMS Special |
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User Note: (Updated September 11, 2007) Note: Special Reports
are updated periodically here; but are updated and reported on
Click Here
for details on WIMS Information Service Products Great Lakes Restoration & Revitalization Key Links
Other Significant Great Lakes Reports (excerpted from the Northeast-Midwest Institute Congressional briefing paper) Challenge to Restore and Protect the Largest Body of Fresh Water in the World. 11th biennial report (2002) on Great Lakes water quality by the International Joint Commission. Conservation of Biological Diversity in the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem: Issues and Opportunities, the Nature Conservancy. A key document on the importance of biodiversity and key risks in the Great Lakes basin. Great Lakes: EPA Needs to Define Organizational Responsibilities Better for Effective Oversight and Cleanup of Contaminated Areas. General Accounting Office. Great Lakes at the Millennium: Priorities for Fiscal 2001, by the Northeast-Midwest Institute. Great Lakes Strategy 2002, developed by the U.S. Policy Committee for the Great Lakes. Outlines a vision for the Great Lakes basin as well as specific objectives to reduce contaminants, restore habitat, and protect the basin's living resources. Protection of the Waters of the Great Lakes: Final Report to the Governments of Canada and the United States, February 22, 2000. A water management primer that discusses the implications of water withdrawal, consumption, and diversion of Great Lakes waters (including groundwater).
See WIMS Special Report on Great Lakes Water
Management
Some Articles From WIMS Daily
Comments On Great Lakes
Water Quality Agreement Review
- May 14: Access the special
review/comment website (click
here). Access links to
the GLWQA and the two volume
draft Agreement
Review Report
(click
here).
Groups Call For
Moratorium On Ocean Vessel Traffic
- Mar 20, 2007: Access a release (click
here). Access the
SaltFreeLakes website (click
here). Access the GLU
website for additional information (click
here). Access the Healing
Our Waters release (click
here). Access the Healing
Our Waters website for additional
information (click
here). Access legislative
details for S.725 (click
here).
Coastal
Condition Report III Falls
Short On Great Lakes -
Mar 12, 2007: Access the Great Lakes
chapter of the draft Report III (click
here). Access the draft
Report III website for specific
commenting instructions and related
information (click
here).
Access the State of the Great
Lakes 2007 Draft Indicator
Reports website (click
here). Access the SOLEC
website for previous reports and
additional information (click
here). Access the Chemical
Integrity overview and link to the
Virtual Library website (click
here).
Groups Release Report On
Future Great Lakes Agreement -
Jan 19, 2007: Access the complete
65-page report (click
here). Access the Great Lakes
Forever website for additional
information (click
here); and the Alliance for
the Great Lakes website (click
here).
IJC Recommends New Great Lakes
Water Quality Agreement - Oct
24, 2006: Access an IJC release (click
here). Access the
official transmittal letter for
the report (click
here). Access the 41-page
report, Advice to Governments
on their Review of the Great Lakes
Water Quality Agreement: A Special
Report to the Governments of
Canada and the United States (click
here). Access
links to the complete Synthesis of
Public Comment and executive
summary (click
here).
Court Orders
EPA To Develop Ballast Water
Discharge Regs
- Sep 18,
2006. Click on the title for link to
our Blog article.
House Hearing
On Great Lakes Restoration Strategy
-
Sep 14, 2006. Click on the title for
link to our Blog article. First U.S.
Great Lakes AOC Is Delisted
- Jul 25: Access a lengthy release
from EPA and link to further
information on the site (click
here). Access the Great
Lakes AOC website (click
here).
Officials
Celebrate Completion Of Ruddiman Creek
Cleanup - May 15, 2006:
Access a poste release from the
Statewide Public Advisory Council for
Michigan’s AOC Program(click
here). Access the Ruddiman
Creek cleanup website (click
here). Access the SPAC
website for additional information (click
here). Access EPA's Great
Lakes Legacy Act website (click
here). Access EPA's
Great
Lakes
Contaminated Sediments website (click
here).
Rule
Provides Policy For Great Lakes Legacy
Act - Apr 25, 2006:
Access a release (click
here). Access the FR
announcement (click
here). Access EPA's Great
Lakes Legacy Act website (click
here). Access EPA's
Great
Lakes
Contaminated Sediments website (click
here).
Great Lakes
Collaboration Strategy Bills
- Apr 5, 2006:
Access a release from
Representative Ehlers (click
here).
Access a detailed, 3-page summary of
the bill (click
here).
Access legislative
details for H.R.5100 (click
here); and S.2545 (click
here).
Great Lakes
Regional Collaboration
Strategy Testimony
Available -
Mar 16, 2006: Access links
to all testimony and
statements (click
here).
Collaboration
Strategy Produces Only
Modest Commitments -Dec
12, 2005: U.S. EPA
Administrator Stephen
Johnson joined other
Federal, state, local and
tribal officials at an event
today in Chicago to unveil
the Great Lakes Regional
Collaboration Strategy that
will serve as a blueprint
for prioritizing future
actions to restore and
enhance the lakes. The
Administrator also committed
to specific actions among
federal agencies to
accelerate cleanup of
contaminated sediment,
return another 200,000 acres
of wetlands to ecological
health in equal partnership
with the states, reduce the
spread of invasive species
and make beaches cleaner.
Johnson reiterated recent
Agency announcements under
the Great Lakes Legacy Act
and said EPA will work with
Congress to ensure that the
interim barrier halting the
advance of Asian Carp to the
Great Lakes system is made
permanent.
Great Lakes May Be Reaching
Critical Tipping Point
- Dec 9, 2005: The immune system of the
Great Lakes is breaking down
and the ecosystem is in danger
of collapse, according to a
new report released by the
region’s leading scientists.
The report underscores the
urgent need for comprehensive
restoration to repair the
“immune system” of the Great
Lakes, and to reverse a
pattern of decline that
threatens to affect drinking
water, swimming, fishing,
tourism and other benefits
derived from the largest body
of fresh water in the world.
The paper reports that the
Great Lakes buffering
capacity, or immune system, is
breaking down, rendering
ineffective the
self-regulating system of the
lakes to protect themselves
and recover from new stresses
like pollution and invasive
species. The report states,
“If not addressed with great
urgency, the Great Lakes
system may experience further
-- and potentially
irreversible -- damage.” To
date approximately 60
scientists, including the
region's Sea Grant directors,
have endorsed the paper, Prescription for Great Lakes
Ecosystem Protection and
Restoration: Avoiding the
Tipping Point of Irreversible
Changes, and its
recommendations.
Congressional Members React To
Feds Collaboration Funding -
Nov 4: In response to
the October 28, report sent to
the White House by the Great
Lakes Interagency Task Force (GLIATF)
on activities related to
the Great Lakes Regional
Collaboration (GLRC), the
Northeast-Midwest Institute (NEMW)
reports that more than 30 House
and Senate members have written
to President Bush raising
concerns over the recent
administration report and saying
that "a serious consideration of
the challenges faced in the
Great Lakes region requires a
commitment of federal
resources," and it urged the
President not to limit the
Regional Collaboration by
restricting restoration
recommendations to current
spending for the Great
Lakes. Among other
recommendations, the GLIATF said
in its October 28 Task Force
report [See WIMS 10/28/05], "The
Federal government strongly
believes that the strategy
should focus on what can be
accomplished within current
budget projections..."
Officials Request Bush To
Intervene On Collaboration Strategy
- Nov 1: The Governors of Ohio and
Wisconsin, the co-Chairs of the
Council of Great Lakes Governors
(CGLG), and the Chair of the Great
Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities
Initiative have written President
Bush requesting his intervention to
salvage some of the initiatives and
funding expectations contained in
the Great Lakes Regional
Collaboration Strategy which is now
being finalized and is scheduled for
release on December 12, 2005. The
Great Lakes officials are requesting
the President to call for a meeting
of Federal staff and Great Lakes
officials to devise a consensus
strategy to protect and restore the
Great Lakes. The action follows an
announcement on October 28 that the
Federal Interagency Task
Force
(the Federal staff involved in the
Collaboration Strategy) could not
support major funding increases for
the Strategy -- which was expected
to be around $20 billion [See WIMS
10/28/05]. |