Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grants Awarded To Michigan Projects

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants for projects in Michigan to improve water quality and reduce excess nutrients that contribute to harmful algal blooms in Great Lakes watersheds, including Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The restoration projects in Michigan are:

• $350,000 to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality For Nutrient Reduction in the River Raisin and Lake Erie Basin: This project will reduce agricultural sources of nitrogen and phosphorus by 30 -50% through the installation of 133 water control structures on 4,000 – 5,000 acres of tilled cropland. Environmental benefits will include a reduction in nitrate and dissolved reactive phosphorus loadings from the treated areas to the River Raisin watershed and the Western Lake Erie Basin. This project builds on an earlier GLRI project which promoted voluntary best management practices designed to reduce nutrients from agricultural operations in the Raisin River watershed.
• $265,980 to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to Reduce Sediment and Nutrients Entering the Western Lake Erie Basin: The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will use this funding to increase implementation of effective conservation practices on farm fields to significantly reduce the quantity of sediment and nutrients discharged into the Western Lake Erie Basin. The project will prevent 30,400 tons of sediment, 42 tons of phosphorus and 67 tons of nitrogen from entering Lake Erie tributaries; 176 acres of wetlands will be restored.
• $499,741 to the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Initiative for the Kids Creek Stormwater Reduction Project: This project will improve water quality on a major tributary to Kids Creek, an impaired stream in the Grand Traverse Bay watershed, by replacing underground culverts and channelized ditches with a natural meandering channel. The new stream channel will eliminate 73,000 square feet of impervious area, establish 27,000 square feet of floodplain and create a 15- to 30-foot-wide buffer. Green infrastructure will also be installed to further reduce stormwater and sedimentation impacts to Kids Creek.
• $995,204 to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for Kawkawlin River Targeted Phosphorus and E. Coli Reduction: This project will implement best management practices (BMPs) identified in the Kawkawlin River Watershed Management Plan. The BMPs include installing six miles of agricultural buffers, 1,700 acres of wind barriers, 1,000 feet of livestock exclusion fencing and planting 6,000 acres of cover crops. This project is expected to prevent E. coli, 15,491 pounds of phosphorus (30 % of the load reduction goal for the watershed) and 10,921 tons of sediment from reaching Saginaw Bay each year.
• $798,282 to the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly for Restoration of Riparian Areas in the Muskegon River Watershed: This project will reforest more than 400 acres of riparian land, restore 150 acres of streambank using native vegetation, put 150 acres of revegetated or natural riparian land into conservation easements, develop 14 forest stewardship plans and implement proper erosion control best management practices at four riparian sites in high priority sub-watersheds of the Muskegon River. This project is expected to prevent 100 tons of sediment, 1,000 pounds of phosphorus and 6,000 pounds of nitrogen from reaching the Muskegon River, the Muskegon Lake Area of Concern and Lake Michigan each year.
• $189,376 to Michigan State University for Locating and Targeting High-Impact Farm Fields to Reduce Phosphorus Discharges: This project will provide electronic mapping technology to agricultural conservation technicians (such as federal and state natural resource agency employees) that will help the technicians identify and target farm fields that are especially prone to high rates of phosphorus discharge. The technicians can then begin working with the owners of these targeted fields and encourage the implementation of conservation practices such as cover crops and improved management of phosphorus and drainage water. As a result of this project, conservation practice implementation can be focused on farm fields having the greatest impacts on water quality, ultimately resulting in a reduction of soluble phosphorus loading in the Saginaw basin.

Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Michigan to obtain environmental permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs. For further information contact Caltha LLP at info@calthacompany.com or Caltha LLP Website

Revised Great Lakes Agreement Signed

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Canada’s Minister of the Environment have signed the newly amended Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement The agreement, first signed in 1972 and last amended in 1987, is binational effort to protect the world’s largest surface freshwater system and the health of the surrounding communities.

The revised agreement will facilitate United States and Canadian action on threats to Great Lakes water quality and includes measures to anticipate and prevent ecological harm. New provisions address aquatic invasive species, habitat degradation and the effects of climate change, and support continued work on existing threats to human health and the environment in the Great Lakes Basin such as harmful algae, toxic chemicals, and discharges from vessels.

The overall purpose of the Agreement is “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters” of the Great Lakes and the portion of the St. Lawrence River that includes the Canada-United States border. Both governments sought extensive input from stakeholders before and throughout the negotiations to amend the Agreement. Additionally, the amended Agreement expands opportunities for public participation on Great Lakes issues.

Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Michigan to obtain environmental permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs. For further information contact Caltha LLP at info@calthacompany.com or Caltha LLP Website

Draft Guidance On Corps of Engineers Wetlands Rules

The US Corps of Engineers and US EPA have issued “Draft Guidance on Identifying Waters Protected by the Clean Water Act”. The Guidance interprets two key Supreme Court decisions on the applicability of the Clean Water Act to wetlands. The Draft Guidance addresses both wetlands and waterbodies and is limited to whether the federal Clean Water Act applies; it does not determine what state laws or regulations might apply. Following the 60-day public comment period, EPA and the Corps intend to finalize the Guidance and then initiate formal rulemaking.

Under the Draft Guidance, federal jurisdiction would apply to wetlands that are 1) adjacent to either traditional navigable waters or interstate waters; 2) directly abut relatively permanent waters; or 3) are adjacent to jurisdictional tributaries to traditional navigable waters or interstate waters if there is a “significant nexus”

The federal jurisdiction would apply to waterbodies that are 1) traditional navigable waterbodies; 3) interstate waterbodies; or 3) non-navigable tributaries to traditional navigable waters that are relatively permanent tributaries to traditional navigable waters or interstate waters if there is a “significant nexus”

The applicability to the category of “other waters”, including some that are physically proximate to other jurisdictional waters and some that are not, will be based on fact specific circumstances

Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Michigan to obtain environmental permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs.

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MDEQ Wetland Protection - EPA Review of Section 404 Program

In 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a report on its informal review of Michigan’s EPA-approved Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 wetlands program. Michigan is one of only two States to receive approval to administer the CWA Section 404 program. Michigan’s Section 404 program is implemented by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).

In 1997 EPA conducted a review of Michigan’s approved CWA Section 404 program which identified deficiencies in the program that required corrective action. In the July 31, 2008 Notice, EPA again identified a number of deficiencies in Michigan’s program. MDEQ has agreed to address the deficiencies listed by EPA through a number of means, including seeking legislative amendments to Michigan’s wetlands statute, Part 303 (Wetlands Protection) of the Michigan Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA).

EPA took issue with a number of activities that Part 303 exempts from the requirement to obtain a wetlands permit, but that are not exempted from the CWA’s requirements, including exemptions for:
(i) agricultural activities;
(ii) drain creation and improvement; and
(iii) iron and copper mining tailings basins.

To address these deficiencies, MDEQ has agreed to seek legislative amendments that would limit the agricultural exemption, delete the agricultural drainage exemptions, delete the exemption for iron and copper mining tailings basins; and to delete the exemption for utility maintenance activities.

MDEQ committed to initiating the legislative corrective actions in early 2009 and to completing them within 36 months. EPA will review the status of MDEQ’s corrective actions within 36 months after the Notice to determine whether Michigan’s Clean Water Act Section 404 wetlands program approval should be revoked.

Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Michigan to obtain environmental permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs.

For further information contact Caltha LLP at
info@calthacompany.com
or
Caltha LLP Website