Home > Protect > Policy & Advocacy > Federal Policy Initiatives > Federal Issues

Federal Issues

Great Lakes Restoration

In May of 2004, the President signed an Executive Order declaring the Great Lakes a "national treasure" and convened a collaboration of national significance to develop a blueprint to restore and protect the Great Lakes. From the Executive Order, the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration was created which completed a comprehensive strategy to restore and protect the Great Lakes. The $26 billion restoration plan represents one of the most comprehensive conservation planning efforts in the history of the region. The plan contains recommendations to halt the introduction of aquatic invasive species, restore wildlife habitat and wetlands, modernize municipal sewers and cleanup toxic hotspots, each of which is an essential component of restoring the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Recommendations within the strategy include:

Protect and/or restore one million acres of high quality wetlands in the Basin.
Conserve or restore lakes, streams, rivers, wetlands, and connecting channels to ensure their connectivity to floodplains.
Protect or restore 10,000 acres of high priority coastal and upland habitats per year across the Basin.
Protect and restore 1,100,000 acres of upland associated with wetlands.
Restore, recover, and protect a net increase of 550,000 acres of wetlands within the Great Lakes Basin by 2010.
Restore, recover, and protect a net increase of 1,000,000 acres (450,000 additional) of wetlands within the Great Lakes Basin by 2015.

For more information on Great Lakes Restoration, visit http://www.healthylakes.com/

Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Review

First signed in 1972 and last amended nearly 20 years ago, the Water Quality Agreement outlines the commitment of each country to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem, including the international portion of the St. Lawrence River. It has resulted in cooperation between the United States and Canada to limit the discharge of nutrients and toxic substances into the waters, restore degraded areas and undertake other joint activities designed to improve water quality.

The International Joint Commission released a report recommending that the United States and Canada replace the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement with a new stronger Agreement that will produce results more rapidly to protect and restore the waters of the Great Lakes Basin. Click here to read the report "Advice To Governments on their Review of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement"

For more information, visit the following sites:

International Joint Commission: http://www.ijc.org/glconsultations/index.htm

Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/glwqa/

Draft Guidance on Clean Water Act protections

Millions of acres of wetlands and tens of thousands of stream miles are losing Clean Water Act protections in the wake of Supreme Court decisions in 2001 (SWANCC) and 2006 (Rapanos) and subsequent Corps of Engineers (Corps) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidance.

For almost a decade, Congress has failed to enact legislation restoring the historic scope of the Clean Water Act. To protect the Nation’s waters, EPA and the Corps of Engineers can take important steps now to restore and clarify these clean water protections, reducing threats to wetlands, lakes, and streams, in a manner consistent with both law and science.

How Agency action will restore long-standing Clean Water Act protections:
EPA will lead an effort with the Corps to provide clearer direction on which waters are protected as “waters of the United States.” Administration action is likely to unfold in two stages – guidance and then rulemaking. It’s critical that conservationists speak up at both stages to demonstrate our strong support for clean water and healthy fish and wildlife habitat.

Guidance – was published in the Federal Register in April 2011
Guidance instructions will help field staff and the regulated community apply the Supreme Court decisions to specific water bodies. The guidance can also immediately replace a flawed 2008 guidance that instructs field staff to be less protective than law allows. The disadvantage is that informal guidance is more fragile and vulnerable to legal challenge and political influence.

The guidance is published, it will then be available for public comment. EPA and the Corps of Engineers will then decide whether to reissue, revise, or suspend the guidance based on the comments they receive. Key items with the guidance include:

The proposed guidance generally excludes roadside ditches, gullies or small washes from coverage under the Clean Water Act and does not apply to ponds and other ornamental bodies of water constructed by excavating dry land.
The proposed guidance does not affect any of the existing exemptions in the Clean Water Act for a wide range of farming and forestry activities, including plowing, cultivating and seeding and the construction and maintenance of stock ponds and logging roads.
The proposed guidance takes a moderate approach that falls within the limits of the Clean Water Act and the Supreme Court decisions.
This guidance reflects a more faithful reading of Justice Kennedy’s pivotal ‘significant nexus’ test for jurisdiction and places clean water programs on more solid legal and scientific footing.
Issuing agency guidance – instructions to staff in the field about how to interpret laws or court decisions – is a well-established practice used by every administration.
There is also widespread agreement that a rulemaking is needed as the next step to further clarify and restore protections that existed prior to the SWANCC decision for our nation’s wetlands, streams and other waters.
To ensure transparency and diverse stakeholder participation in the process, the proposed Clean Water Act guidance will be available for public comment and review for 60 days. Comment period ends July 1 and information on commenting can be accessed at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2011/pdf/2011-10565.pdf

Rulemaking – notice ideally published in the Federal Register Summer 2011
The proposed rule will likely build on the long-standing EPA and Corps definition of “waters of the United States,” adding specific provisions as necessary to address the SWANCC and Rapanos decisions. A successful rulemaking will ultimately result in a binding agency rule defining “waters of the United States,” based on a well-documented administrative record that reflects a broad spectrum of public input and a strong scientific foundation for restoring protections for many of the wetlands, lakes, and streams protected prior to the 2001 SWANCC decision. This formal rulemaking will take considerable time and agency resources and will be vulnerable to delays that could thwart final publication, but a successful final rule should stand on firmer legal and scientific ground and provide greater long-term certainty and protection.

The published Federal Register notice will include the agencies’ proposed rule, and enough background information to assist with public comment. The public will have at least 90 days to comment and those comments will be published in an agency docket where the public can view them. The comment period is followed by months of final deliberations and synthesis of public input, including regulated community input and influence, before the final rule is published and becomes effective.

Urge Congress and the Administration to act quickly in 2011 to restore Clean Water Act protections for wetlands, streams, lakes, and headwaters that are vulnerable to pollution and destruction under the Supreme Court’s decisions.

Click here for a Summary of the CWA Guidance Key Points

Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council • 426 Bay Street, Petoskey, MI 49770

PH: (231) 347-1181 • Fax: (231) 347-5928 • www.watershedcouncil.org