Mississippi River Basin Blog: Mississippi River Basin Water Resource News of the Week

~Virtual Newspaper for an Aquatic World~

USGS, State Officials To Brief Congress, the Public on Assessment and Health of U.S. Streams

The Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Water Environment Federation will co-host a public briefing at the U.S. Capitol on July 19, on new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) findings about the ecological health of the Nation’s streams. During the briefing, USGS National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program and state officials will describe the results of a national assessment of stream health, along with challenges and successes related to assessing aquatic life impairment and restoration. The presentations will emphasize the importance of assessing various stream health indicator and stress factors, and the implications the study findings have for establishing protection and restoration priorities. According to a USGS release announcing the briefing, the national survey was "unprecedented in the breadth of the measurements that were made - including assessments of the condition of three biological communities (algae, macroinvertebrates and fish) as well as streamflow, pesticides, nutrients and other factors." To read more about the study and its findings, and briefing details, follow this link.

Capitol Hill Next Week - What to Watch For
Following a week off for the Fourth of July recess, the U.S. House and Senate will be back in session next week, and here is a listing of activities currently scheduled for the week relating to Mississippi River Basin natural resources (the page will be updated throughout the remainder of the week).

No "Mississippi River Basin Water Resource News of the Week" Next Week

Your FNB ("Friendly Neighborhood Blogger") will be vacationing ocean-side next week, and no River-related news will be happening at all. So, the Mississippi River Basin Water Resource News of the Week will take a one-week hiatus, along with the FNB. River Basin news will resume the following week, along with a July 19 "News of the Week" summary of those events.

Notable @UpperMiss Twitter Postings for the Week
Water Quality -

William & Mary Environmental Law & Policy Review: Could Endangered Species Act Help with Nonpoint Nutrient Pollution? http://ow.ly/mD6L9
EPA amends 2009 determination requiring numeric nutrient criteria for Florida (nationwide implications) http://ow.ly/mA6lI
Mississippi River makes Weather Channel's list of "World's Most Polluted Rivers" http://ow.ly/mzY4a
Record nitrate spike tests Des Moines, Iowa water supplies ow.ly/mxJLC
Des Moines (Iowa) Water Works may sue government if state and USEPA fail to limit surface water source nitrates ow.ly/mCG5M
House and Senate Appropriators Are at Odds Over Clean Water Act Jurisdiction Rules ow.ly/mxz15
EPA may suggest new rules to help guarantee state revolving fund borrowing for green-infrastructure projects ow.ly/mxyH3
Blue-green algal bloom hits Kentucky's Taylorsville Lake ow.ly/mxvSa
Mississippi River beaches in LaCrosse County, Wisconsin tested "unsatisfactory" for bacteria seven times during June http://ow.ly/mAfSg
Minnesota officials and environmental leaders concede stopping water contamination requires a new message ow.ly/mCGtX
American Farm Bureau Federation: EPA erred in regulating large-scale animal feeding operation stormwater discharges ow.ly/mCnjd
Kansas DOT to pay civil penalty to settle three alleged construction site Clean Water Act violations ow.ly/mCjJA
Southeast Indiana Soil and Water Conservation Districts breaking new ground in water quality trading http://ow.ly/mGI0w
Wetter spring season could account for larger "dead zones" this year; trend could be amplified due to climate change ow.ly/mGzbQ

Water Resource Management (Floodplains, Dams, Navigation, Wetlands, Flooding, Supplies, etc.) -

Sen. McCaskill (D-MO) to introduce infrastructure bill to invest in, cut permitting "red tape" for roads, bridges, locks, dams http://ow.ly/mGqAE
Upper Mississippi River Basin Association position paper on Investment and Key Issues for Commercial Navigation http://ow.ly/mDl5c (PDF file)
Water policy stakeholders take different approaches in moving integrated water management and related policy forward http://ow.ly/mA7LS
Mississippi River flooding continues in Muscatine, Quad Cities area, Iowa ow.ly/mxwsS (video)
High Mississippi River waters and fast currents have officials warning boaters to be extra careful http://t.co/bPO9V8qAjU
Farming Carbon: Study Reveals Potent Carbon-Storage Potential of Constructed Wetlands http://ow.ly/mD5oq
Minnesota: Restoring Wetlands is part science, art and patience http://ow.ly/mD5M3
Water resource stresses are partly product of what we do in cities and suburbs: pricing, wasting and using water ow.ly/mCFmW
Missouri River is among nation's most vulnerable rivers, along with many others Midwesterners frequent bit.ly/17MYAiW

Farm Bill-

Broad coalition of 532 organizations urge House Speaker to pass comprehensive farm bill before current law expires ow.ly/mAqRj
House plans to take up farm bill again in July: Rep. King (R-IA-4) http://ow.ly/mzYEO
Splitting the farm bill: Culling SNAP from farm programs gains momentum with Heritage backing. dld.bz/cscpK
Capitol Hill newspapers report House Majority Leader Cantor considering separating nutrition programs from farm bill ow.ly/mxnVE
Indiana Congressman pushing to split nutrition from farm bill is finding "a lot of interest" from fellow Republicans http://ow.ly/mzXfO
NY Times: failure of farm bill last month reflects the declining clout of farm lobby and the once-powerful committees ow.ly/mCmpY
Farm lobbyists push back against drive to split food stamps and farm subsidies from the farm bill ow.ly/mCmat

Agriculture -

PLOS ONE journal research article: crop yields not rising at a sufficient enough pace to meet projected demand by 2050 http://ow.ly/mzZmX
US farmers have planted the largest acreage of corn since 1936, despite a wet, cold spring that delayed fieldwork ow.ly/mxtNd

Climate and Weather -

July 2 U.S. Drought Monitor Map
Click to Enlarge

National Drought Mitigation Center, USDA and NOAA weekly U.S. Drought Monitor update (July 2) http://ow.ly/mDdvR
International insurance think tank publishes report on ocean warming and its implications for insurance industry ow.ly/mxHEF
"Nationwide Drought and Heat Wave" makes top 10 list of costliest 2012 climate disasters - $30.3 billion; 123 deaths ow.ly/mCtgN
Center for American Progress: "Shelter from the Superstorm: How Climate Preparedness & Resilience Saves Money & Lives" ow.ly/mCjVg
Unprecedented climate extremes marked last decade, says UN http://gu.com/p/3h3ap/tw

Biodiversity, Wildlife and Invasives -

Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit seeks Interior Department Endangered Species Act protections for 10 species ow.ly/mxzOj
Leader of Illinois mussel reintroduction effort pleased with progress ow.ly/mxwLA
Midwestern Governors Association convenes Minneapolis meeting to discuss combating aquatic invasive species ow.ly/mxs0Hn PDF file
EPA approves feedstocks from 2 invasive plants despite invasive potential warnings ow.ly/mClP4
EPA approves crops that environmentalists warn are invasive species for use in renewable fuel program http://ow.ly/mGqWo

Resource Extraction -

Sand rush: Fracking boom spurs rush on Wisconsin silica http://ow.ly/mGsDL

In the Cities -

Mayors ask Congress to limit EPA Clean Water Act permit enforcement against towns making integrated water management progress http://ow.ly/mA7cj

In the States -

Tennessee Agencies Partner To Offer Green Development Grants; Improve State Water Quality ow.ly/mxqNs

Resource Extraction -

As EPA slows pace of pending impact studies and policies, environmental groups seek stricter local fracking rules http://ow.ly/mA6Ky

Federal Budget -

They said the sequester would be scary. Mostly, they were wrong ow.ly/mxIcS
Senate Budget Chairwoman Murray wants GOP-Dem budget negotiations, sequester replacement before August recess ow.ly/mCjgz

Events - Information on all past and future events listed here can be viewed in the on-line calendar (here as a stand-alone calendar)

Growing Sustainable Communities Conference; Sept. 24-25; Grand River Center; Dubuque, IA ow.ly/mxr3e
Conservation In Action Tour July 9-10; Indian Creek Watershed in Livingston County, IL ow.ly/mCkUv
Meeting of the Advisory Group for the NAS Gulf of Mexico Program; July 24-25; New Orleans, Louisiana http://ow.ly/mDmny
Luncheon Seminar: “Food, Fuel and Plant Nutrient Use in The Future;” Washington, DC; July 23; details here: http://ow.ly/mGrO4

e-Newsletters, Publications and Journals -

Ecology Letters Special Issue: Ecological Effects of Environmental Change http://ow.ly/mA19D
July Newsletter of the U.S. Global Change Research Program and National Climate Assessment ow.ly/mxEWg
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Feedlot Update - June 28 covers Ag Water Quality Certification Program; other news ow.ly/mxsF8
Green Lands Blue Waters July e-news update on Sustainable Agriculture ow.ly/mCl7T
EPA Office of Water Water Headlines for the Week of July 2 ow.ly/mCjuY
EPA Climate Change and Water News for July 2013 http://ow.ly/mDGRb

Other news-

Several conservation groups, state agencies no longer want White River to be part of a new federal "Blueway" program ow.ly/mxuUC
Scientist argues in new book that as population keeps soaring, humans are the real threat to life on Earth ow.ly/mxm7f
Ultra-Green Inner-City Development Uses Oldcastle Precast Stormwater Management System and Belgard Pavers ow.ly/mxqvQ
MN DOT conducting research; expects pervious pavement road surfaces could be in wide use in five years ow.ly/mxqd4

Political Scene -

Kentucky Secretary of State decides to run against Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in 2014 for Kentucky US Senate slot http://ow.ly/mzWDx
Democrat Jim Mowrer to challenge Republican Rep. Steve King in Iowa's fourth Congressional district in 2014 election http://ow.ly/mAeun
With McCarthy nomination approval delay, the US EPA enters into its longest period without a permanent Administrator ow.ly/mxzsR
Senate seems likely to confirm Gina McCarthy as head of the Environmental Protection Agency in July ow.ly/mxpRE
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair calls for investigation of EPA's’s alleged "sue and settle tactics" ow.ly/mxu61

Last Word -