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MUCC Policy Report for 11-02-07This edition:
DNR Budget UpdateAround 4 a.m. on Halloween morning, Michigan’s Legislature finally passed the conference committee version of H.B. 4354, the bill that contains the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) appropriations for Fiscal Year 2008. Later that evening, Governor Granholm signed the bill with one line item veto.Each department was faced with a 2.5 percent decrease in their General Fund/General Purpose (GF/GP) spending; DNR reductions were made to forest campgrounds, law enforcement, and included a continuation of the reductions from Fiscal Year 2007. In the final version of the bill, additional GF/GP reductions were seen in law enforcement, PILT (payment in lieu of taxes to local units of government for purchased land), information technology, and administration programs in order to continue funding to local conservation districts. This $1 million GF/GP contribution to conservation districts was vetoed by the Governor, which basically cut General Fund support for the DNR even further. Now, only 8.3 percent of the DNR’s budget comes from the General Fund. The impact of these cuts to the DNR Law Enforcement Division will result in the layoff of 14 conservation officers. The Game and Fish Protection Fund Program funding levels were maintained based on the assumption that some level of hunting and fishing license fee increases would be passed or another source of funding would be identified before January 15, 2008. An additional $6.2 million must be found in order to avoid any further cuts to game and fish programs. A $5 increase in license fees is expected to generate the necessary amount. In addition, this appropriations bill called for a DNR Funding Work Group to be appointed by legislative leadership and the governor. This work groups is to develop recommendation for long-term funding for the department. According to the legislation, members appointed to this work group, the group would include: four legislators, the DNR director, a member of the Natural Resources Commission, and a representative from the Citizens Committee for State Parks. This week, we arranged five meetings with key legislators for statewide hunting and fishing organizations to discuss our interest in finding a long-term sustainable funding source as well as our support for a small license fee increase; additional meetings are scheduled for next week. Twenty-four hunting and fishing organizations also signed on to a letter supporting license fee increases and emphasized the need for long-term funding. The letter was distributed to leadership in both the House and the Senate. These meetings resulted in the legislators telling us they must hear from their own constituents if anything is to pass. They need to hear from YOU! Call your Representative and Senator and tell them to take responsibility for Michigan’s natural resources by passing a license fee increase. Tell your friends and family to call their legislators! Every call makes a difference! Call MUCC (517-371-1041) if you need help finding your legislator’s phone number or visit:
Michigan House of Representatives: http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp
Great Lakes Water Becomes a Target for States Suffering Water ShortagesHistoric legislative hearings begin on the Great Lakes- St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact.Across the country, water supplies are drying up and water-thirsty states are looking across their borders to solve their severe and potentially life-threatening water shortages. Water shortages are going to become more severe as climate change affects the volume of snow in the mountains and rain and storm patterns. The State of Georgia has declared a state of emergency as water supplies have dwindled to less than a one-month supply. Lake Mead, which supplies power and water to the City of Las Vegas, has shrunk by more than 20 miles. Presidential Candidate Bill Richardson pointed out that the solution just might be to share the waters of the Great Lakes. Today, Great Lakes water is vulnerable to such interests, but there is a historic effort afoot to protect the Great Lakes from diversions and to allow the Great Lakes states to control the fate of these waters. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (Compact) was initiated to prohibit diversions from the Great Lakes and connecting waters. In order to become effective, it must be adopted by Michigan and the states of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in identical form and then approved by Congress. To date, Minnesota and Illinois have passed the appropriate legislation. It has also been passed in Ontario and Quebec. The Michigan House of Representatives and Senate began committee hearings this week on legislation drafted to adopt and implement the Compact. MUCC testified in support of the Compact implementation legislation (S 212) in committee this week. There is essentially no opposition to the state adopting the Compact. There is controversy, however, on the proposed legislative initiatives to implement the Compact. Much of the controversy centers on the issue of how much water, especially groundwater, should be available for manufacturing, agriculture, recreation, natural resources and public water supplies. Michigan, as a water-rich state, has an abundance of water; we have very few places in this state where water shortages might occur. However, we must be careful about ensuring adequate water supplies for our future because water is also our state’s greatest economic asset. When there is so much at stake, there are many groups who want to guide the legislation to ensure that their interests are protected. Both the House and Senate Committee Chairs have created workgroups to resolve the differences in the bills. MUCC is participating in the workgroups. Fortunately, all of the bills start with the premise that water dependent natural resources must be protected. MUCC will be working hard to protect that position. Dredging for the truth: New study looks at Great Lakes water levelsIn 2005, the Georgian Bay Association released a report stating that dredging and sand-mining in the St. Clair River from the 1860s-1962 led to high levels of erosion. This erosion was thought to have continuously deepened and widened the St. Clair River, especially near the Port Huron/ Sarnia river mouth, causing greater quantities of water to flow faster out of Lakes Michigan and Huron into Lake St. Clair and beyond. The report estimated that 845 million gallons of water to flow out of the Great Lakes daily. Just this year, the same organization stated that the Great Lakes were actually losing three times that amount of water as a result of the dredging and that the water loss was partially responsible for the huge drop in Lake Huron’s water level that we are seeing today (almost three feet).However, new research released November 1, 2007 shows that the dredging may not be to blame. The Georgian Bay Association report was based on the concept that the bed of the St. Clair River is formed of highly erodable material- sand and finer rock particles. Preliminary research conducted by the International Joint Commission (IJC), an independent bi-national organization formed to prevent and resolve disputes over the Great Lakes waters, says that the premise of the Georgian Bay Association study may be wrong. As part of its research, the IJC has taken video footage of the bed of the St. Clair River. This footage shows that the riverbed is not composed of easily-erodable materials as originally thought, but rather is made up of coarse gravels, pebbles and cobbles ranging in size from 1/6th of an inch to 10 inches. The IJC hypothesizes that this coarser material would not erode as easily as the Georgian Bay Association report predicted. Rather, it could form an armored layer that would stabilize the bed of the river, instead of causing it to increasingly erode. The IJC expects to release its next research update in April of 2008. Public meetings will be held in both the U.S. and Canada prior to its release. The St. Clair River study is just a small piece of the bigger puzzle the IJC is attempting to solve. The full study, termed the International Upper Great Lakes Study will take a broad look at what factors affect water levels and flow in the Upper Great Lakes. The IJC study will look at developing and testing potential new regulation plans and the impacts these plans could have on the ecosystem and human interests. In particular, researchers will look at how controlling and changing the flow of water out of Lake Superior could be used to influence the water levels in the Upper Great Lakes and their interconnecting channels (Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and St. Mary’s River, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River and Niagara River). Completion of the full study is expected in February 2009. These studies may help to answer some of the questions surrounding the drop in Great Lakes water levels, but engineering projects and flow regulation are only some of the issues that need to be considered when looking at declining lake levels. Water levels in the Great Lakes are lower than they have been since the mid-1960’s. Causes for these water level declines can be directly attributed to a series of mild winters, especially in the Lake Superior watershed. 2007 Farm Bill moving through CongressThe federal Farm Bill is important to wildlife! In fact, the Farm Bill provides more funding for improving or protecting fish and wildlife habitat opportunities than any other federal law. Support from the Farm Bill affects nearly 10.2 million acres in Michigan, but the current caps on funding from the 2002 Farm Bill have made it hard for farmers to participate in important restoration programs.On July 27, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (H.R. 2419) introduced by Rep. Peterson of Minnesota, otherwise known as the 2007 Farm Bill. This bill passed with increased funding for existing conservation programs and also added new smaller conservation programs. The Senate’s version of the 2007 Farm Bill, the Food and Energy Security Act of 2007, passed out of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Energy Committee last week. Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow, who sits on the Committee, fought hard for the $4 billion in increased funding for the conservation provisions of the Farm Bill and also was able to get the Great Lakes Sediment Program earmarked within the bill. The bill is scheduled to go before the whole Senate the week of Nov. 5th. President Bush Vetoes WRDAIn August and September, the U.S. House and Senate both passed the Water Resources Development Act (H.R. 1495, S. 1248), also known as WRDA. Michigan’s entire congressional delegation supported these bills, which provide the long sought-after funding for the Asian carp barriers.The Water Resources Development Act also contains important provisions that would help protect and restore the Great Lakes, including the reauthorization of the Great Lakes Tributary Modeling Program, the Great Lakes Remedial Action Plan Program and improvements to the Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration Program. It will also provide reforms to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, ensuring that they do business in an efficient, effective and environmentally friendly manner. Today, WRDA was vetoed by President Bush. Democrats are confident that they will be able to get the majority needed to override the president’s veto. The House will vote to override the President’s veto on Tuesday. The Senate will follow soon thereafter. |
MUCC Policy Action Report
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