WRITTEN
TESTIMONY OF
DR. STEPHEN B. BRANDT
DIRECTOR, GREAT LAKES ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LABORATORY
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
WATER RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT
OF THE
HOUSE
TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 20, 2004
Mr.
Chairman, and Members of the Subcommittee, good morning, and thank you for
inviting me to discuss the contributions made by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to water quality improvement and restoration
in the Great Lakes, and coordination of such actions with other federal
agencies and state and local governments.
I am Dr. Stephen Brandt, Director of NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental
Research Laboratory (GLERL), headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The
Great Lakes are one of the earth’s greatest
treasures and one of the Nation’s most important aquatic resources from an
economic, geographic, international, ecological, and societal perspective. Many complex challenges lie ahead for the Great
Lakes. The Great Lakes
continually face extremes in natural phenomena such as storms, erosion, high waves, high
and low water levels, and climate variability, all of which influence water
quality and efforts to restore habitat.
Population growth in the region will continue to increase stresses on
the Great Lakes, adding to the complexity of
management issues. The one thing that we
can predict with near certainty is that the Great Lakes
ecosystem will continue to change and pose a challenge for effective use and
management.
On Tuesday, May 18, 2004, President
Bush issued an Executive Order establishing a Great Lakes Interagency Task
Force to promote regional collaboration of national significance for the Great Lakes. The
Department of Commerce is one of the federal agencies on this interagency task
force, and the Department looks forward to working with our partners in the
federal government, and with state and local interests in the Great
Lakes region.
In the early 1970s when Lake Erie was declared dead, the solution, based on best
available science, was relatively clear: nutrient loading must be reduced. Our ecological understanding and
technological know-how have significantly improved since the 1970s. The Great Lakes
have a large, complex and economically important user base and are heavily
impacted by
human
activities with resultant multiple stresses.
Many parts of the lakes are highly eutrophic and have needs for ecological
prediction in oxygen deficiency, harmful algal blooms, recreational and
commercial fisheries production, invasive species and extreme natural events
(high winds, storms, dramatic changes in water influx). It is
clear that future successes will depend on a holistic, ecosystem approach.
NOAA’s ROLE IN THE GREAT
LAKES
NOAA’s
mission is: “To understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment and
conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our Nation’s economic,
social and environmental needs.” One of
NOAA’s four primary goals is to, “Protect, restore and manage the use of
coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management.” NOAA has environmental stewardship,
assessment, and prediction responsibilities in the Great Lakes. NOAA conducts physical, chemical, and biotic
research and environmental monitoring and modeling, providing scientific
expertise and services to manage and protect Great Lakes
ecosystems. The research NOAA conducts
helps improve the understanding and prediction of Great
Lakes processes, including the interdependencies with the
atmosphere, water and sediments. In
addition, all of NOAA's offices play a vital role to support the economy of the
Great Lakes through NOAA's strategic themes,
i.e., ecosystem, weather and water, climate, commerce and transportation.
The
Great Lakes ecosystem is one of the most
clearly definable regional entity under NOAA’s purview and mission
responsibilities, and it has a long history of interagency partnerships and
collaborations. The Great Lakes
region has also led the nation for decades in innovative management strategies
that have spanned thousands of miles, and provide a
large-scale testing ground for new science and management.
NOAA
has over 15 Congressional mandates that guide its specific ecosystem research
and water quality and restoration responsibilities in the Great
Lakes. NOAA is mandated to
provide research, monitoring and coordination throughout the Great Lakes Basin
on ecosystem issues such as water resources, invasive species, foodweb
dynamics, pollutants, hydrology, hydrodynamics, ice, water quantity and quality
and so forth. NOAA’s programs in the Great Lakes work in partnership with one another, and
with other federal and state agencies to provide comprehensive science,
management, and technical assistance tools to foster comprehensive
environmental stewardship of the area.
Several
of NOAA’s activities in the Great Lakes
specifically relate to water quality improvement and restoration. For example, NOAA:
•
Predicts impacts of pollution and coastal development
on sensitive habitats and resources, including maintaining
contaminant-monitoring sites in Green Bay, and
Lakes Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, Erie and Ontario to determine
contaminant trends;
•
Works with states to analyze changes in coastal land
cover and plan habitat restoration and conservation;
•
Collects, analyzes and distributes historical and
real-time observations, and predictions of water levels, coastal currents and
other meteorological and oceanographic data;
•
Provides scientifically sound information on ecosystem
processes to improve management decisions and mitigate human impacts;
•
Develops and implements techniques and products to
improve severe storm forecasting, and provides the weather and flood warnings,
forecasts, and meteorological and hydrologic data used by research,
environmental management, transportation, and community interests in the Great
Lakes;
•
Provides surveying, nautical charts, and other
navigation services for safe shipping and boating;
•
Acts on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce as a
natural resource trustee for the public to protect and restore aquatic species
and their habitats, and associated services such as safe navigation and
transportation, recreation, commercial fishing, shoreline stabilization, and
flood control;
•
Partners with universities through the National Sea
Grant College Program and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory to
encourage stewardship of Great Lakes coastal
natural resources by providing funding to, and conducting joint projects with
area universities for research, education, outreach and technology
transfer;
•
Partners with state Coastal Zone Management programs to
work with local communities and state agencies to preserve, protect, develop,
restore, and enhance coastal zone resources, providing research, education, and
protection of coastal and estuarine areas; and,
•
NOAA's environmental satellites and NOAA's National
Data Centers support Federal, state and local efforts that contribute to the Great Lakes economy and environmental monitoring. The Great Lakes CoastWatch node provides
observations in the Great Lakes and supports
thousands of users with the following typical applications: fisheries
management, recreational fisheries support, water quality, education/research,
and transportation enhancement. Support
for the developing Integrated Ocean Observing Systems Regional Alliances in the
Great Lakes will come from NOAA
CoastWatch. Additionally, NOAA's
Satellites and Information Service, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy and U.S.
Coast Guard, operates the National Ice Center (NIC). The NIC is responsible for producing Arctic
and Great Lakes ice analyses and forecasts that support a variety of customers
in the Great Lakes region. For example, the NIC’s weekly ice analyses
are used by both the U.S.
and Canadian Coast Guard to assess the ice conditions across the entire Great Lakes region.
NIC also supports state governments in the Great Lakes Basin
with specialized support, as necessary.
Currently,
NOAA is appointed to chair the International Joint Commission’s Council of
Great Lakes Research Managers. The
International Joint Commission has overall water quality responsibilities for
the Great Lakes. The Council of Great Lakes Research Managers
has responsibilities to coordinate Great Lakes Research related to water
quality. As one example of their
efforts, the Council hosted an international, interagency workshop on April
28-30, 2004, to set up a formal framework for a Research Coordination Strategy
for the Great Lakes. They will also be hosting
a workshop this fall to set up an integrated, international buoy-based
observing system for research in the Great Lakes.
NOAA
restoration activities include wetlands banking, rehabilitation of Brownfields
sites, restoration of coastal wetlands and other habitats, establishing
protected areas, using dredged material to enhance fish and wildlife habitat,
improving water quality, fisheries management, and prevention and control of
invasive species.
NOAA’s
restoration role includes advising on cleanup of contaminated sites, working
with states and others to fund habitat restoration projects, and conducting
research and monitoring activities. The
issues involved in large contaminated sediment sites are multifaceted and often
controversial, resulting in assessments and cleanups that can take ten or more
years to complete. NOAA, through the
Coastal Resource Coordination program, works with our partner agencies to
promote remedies that will protect the aquatic environment, build restoration
into clean up actions, and reduce overall injury to natural resources to speed
their recovery. By working cooperatively
at sites with cleanup and trustee agencies, local groups, and potentially
responsible parties, NOAA decreases contaminant loads, reduces risks to protect
sensitive species, and improves and restores habitat function. In addition to cleanup, there is often a need
to restore natural resources that have been injured by contaminant
releases. This can be accomplished
through NOAA’s trustee authority to cooperatively address liability, to assess
natural resource damages, and to restore natural resources. NOAA is currently working on cleaning up and
restoring 15 hazardous waste sites in the Great Lakes
region. One example is the Fox River Superfund Site in Wisconsin, where the trustee agencies completed a final
Joint Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for the Lower Fox River and
Green Bay in
June 2003. One settlement for natural
resource damages at the site provides for the immediate acquisition and protection of more than 1,060
acres of wetland and upland habitat, and $8.5 million for additional habitat
acquisition and protection, specific recreational enhancement projects, and
other water quality improvement, fishery enhancement, and habitat improvement
projects, consistent with the site restoration goals.
NOAA
partners with state governments through the Coastal Zone Management program, a
unique, voluntary federal-state partnership that provides a proven basis for
protecting, restoring, and responsibly developing the Nation’s important and
diverse coastal communities and resources.
The Coastal Zone Management Act balances state and national interests in
the management of our unique coastal resources, for conservation and
responsible development. A major premise
of the Coastal Zone Management Act is that the management of uses and resources
of the coastal zone is best achieved at the state and local level, within a
national framework. Great
Lakes state Coastal Zone Management programs support and
coordinate with local governments, tribal agencies, and community organizations
on developing watershed management plans and protecting and managing critical
coastal areas, such as coastal wetlands.
Through
the Coastal Zone Management program, NOAA supports states, including all Great
Lakes states except Illinois, through financial assistance, mediation,
technical services and information, and participation in state, regional, and
local forums to improve water quality, provide public access to coastal
resources, manage coastal hazards, restore coastal habitat, and integrate
coastal management at a local level.
NOAA is also currently working with coastal states to develop a national
coastal management performance measurement system. The first phase of the project, a national
framework, was completed in June of 2003.
A joint state-federal working group has been established to identify
specific indicators that will show the results of coastal management efforts in
the states.
An
example of recent restoration efforts is the Great Lakes Coastal Restoration
Grant program, which was funded through a $30 million appropriation in fiscal
year 2001. More than 70 local government
units have partnered in this program and are working on a variety of
restoration projects, including contaminated sediment cleanup, invasive species
removal, dune and marsh restorations, acquisition of critical habitat, and
storm water management projects.
The
following are examples of projects funded through the Great Lakes Coastal
Restoration Grants:
·
In
Geauga County, OH, the Geauga Park District was awarded
$190,000 in federal funding to restore Silver Creek, reduce bank erosion,
create wetland habitat areas, and reduce sediment transport downstream.
· The
Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) received $100,000 in federal
funding to restore wetland habitat in the Dunes Creek watershed in Porter
County, Indiana. The project further
evaluated the project’s impact in reducing loadings of the bacteria E.coli
to the beaches at Indiana
Dunes State
Park. The
Save the Dunes Council is working with the IDNR, Indiana Geological Survey and
the National Lakeshore on this project.
·
A grant for approximately $340,000 was
made to the City of Duluth, Minnesota to complete the cleanup of solid waste
dumped on the bank of Sargent Creek, a tributary to the St.
Louis River. The
remediation removed approximately 50,000 tons of waste material from the
stream, stream bank, and ravine.
NOAA
promotes a science-based approach to water quality improvements and restoration
and NOAA’s research provides critical information toward this end. NOAA conducts a variety of research and
monitoring applicable to restoration and water quality and coordinates
activities on significant intergovernmental issues. GLERL conducts research applicable to
water quality improvement and restoration and coordinates significant
intergovernmental issues. NOAA’s
partnership with Sea Grant Colleges, government, and the private sector offers
an integrated program of research, education, and technical assistance that
promotes the restoration of degraded coastal habitat.
GLERL
is NOAA’s largest presence in the Great Lakes. It is a multi-disciplinary coastal laboratory
that has taken an ecosystem approach.
Its mission is to “conduct high-quality research and provide scientific
leadership on important issues in both Great Lakes
and marine coastal environments leading to new knowledge, tools, approaches,
awareness and service.” GLERL
provides a solid scientific understanding and leadership for wise use and
management of Great Lakes and coastal marine
environments. GLERL’s research includes
water quantity, water quality, water level predictions, waves, ice,
circulation, climate change, contaminants, coastal observations and
forecasting, satellite imagery, sediment movements, food webs, environmental
and ecological prediction, and invasive species. GLERL staff are encouraged to develop cooperative
research projects with other agencies focused on specific major environmental
issues in keeping with NOAA's mission and goals. GLERL
has a long tradition of partnerships and currently has active programs with
over 150 institutions spread across 27 states, 19 federal agencies, 50
universities and a number of state, private, local and foreign agencies. The NOAA Cooperative Institute for Limnology
and Ecosystem Research based at the University
of Michigan allows NOAA to work
effectively with any Great Lakes
Basin University.
NOAA
Sea Grant university scientists develop and implement methods to restore
habitat, protect the public and improve water quality. NOAA Sea Grant extension agents deliver
credible science-based information to the public and empower coastal
communities to undertake well-planned coastal development that preserves and
promotes restoration of critical coastal habitats. For example, Wisconsin's
Brown County,
with funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is rebuilding the Cat Island
chain of barrier islands in Green Bay
to restore these important habitats for fish and wildlife. Sea Grant habitat restoration and coastal
engineering specialists have provided habitat designs, identified potential
water quality impacts, and helped determine acceptable PCB levels in the
dredged material used for construction of the islands. Other examples of Sea Grant activity include:
·
Sea Grant
outreach specialists work to be sure the risks from contaminants in the
environment and in seafood are communicated to the public. In Indiana
and Illinois,
seafood advisories are being translated into three languages to reach an
additional half-million people who have difficulty with English, some of whom
rely on fish for a large portion of their diet.
·
Sea Grant played
a significant role in the early stages of Chicago’s
Calumet Restoration Initiative, a plan to rejuvenate what was once a major
wetland complex by reviving the industrial sector as well as cleaning up
contaminated marshes, wetlands, and industrial sites. A Sea Grant funded study identified three
candidate sites in the Calumet area for
concurrent brownfield redevelopment and ecological rehabilitation, one of which
has now been chosen for the future site of the project’s environmental
center. The planning of the Ford Calumet
Environmental Center
has involved the input of a diverse assemblage of environmentalists, community
groups, industry representatives, bird watchers and educators.
·
The Ohio Sea Grant College Program is
developing the Ohio Clean Marinas Program, a proactive partnership
designed to encourage marinas and boaters to use simple, innovative solutions
to keep Ohio’s
coastal and inland waterway resources clean.
The Program assists these operators in protecting the resources that
provide their livelihood — clean water and fresh air. The basic goal of the Program is pollution
prevention by making marinas and boaters more aware of environmental laws,
rules and jurisdictions, and to get as many marinas as possible to follow best
management practices and to be designated as “Clean Marinas.” The Ohio Clean Marinas Program is a partnership with the Ohio
Department of Natural Resources, Division of Soil and Water Conservation (Ohio
Coastal Management Program) and Division of Watercraft; Ohio Department of
Health; Ohio Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers; Lake Erie Marine Trades Association and marina and yacht club
owners and managers.
Aquatic invasive species are a global threat that affects
the economic security, management, and uses of our coastal ecosystems. To maximize the benefits and effectiveness of
NOAA’s research investments towards understanding, preventing, responding to,
and managing aquatic species invasions in U.S.
coastal ecosystems, the agency established the NOAA National
Center for Research on
Aquatic Invasive Species in July 2003.
The Center is a virtual center for the matrix-managed coordination of
existing research programs throughout NOAA and is administratively housed at
the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Center will foster partnerships to address prevention, early
detection, rapid response, and management of invasive species, major
restoration and water quality issue for Great Lakes
ecosystems.
The major pathways by which aquatic invasive species (AIS)
reach U.S.
ecosystems all involve human activities, especially commerce and trade. Costs to the U.S. economy of AIS have reached
100s of millions of dollars per year and are mounting. Solutions to problems
related to AIS will undoubtedly affect both the costs and policies related to
commerce and trade. Congress, in the Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control
Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-646) and the White House (Executive Order 13112, Invasive
Species, February 1999) identified aquatic species invasions as a growing
national problem requiring federal action.
NOAA is one of
several federal agencies given joint responsibility for developing and
implementing a national invasive species response and action plan. NOAA serves as co-chair of both the national
Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force and the Invasive Species Council. Therefore, it is appropriate and essential that
NOAA assures the effectiveness, and maximizes the value, of its research investment
on this issue. Coordination and advocacy for research within NOAA as well as
across agencies, and partnering with the academic and private sector are
essential to achieving this goal.
NOAA also provides monitoring and
other information useful for evaluating restoration needs and success. For example, NOAA’s Mussel Watch Program
analyzes contaminant levels in mussel tissue and sediments as a means of
tracking the health of Great Lakes
ecosystems. NOAA is also developing land
cover data for the entire coastal zone of the U.S. Great
Lakes. The land cover data are being developed for 2001, along
with retrospective land cover for 1996, to identify changes in the
landscape. These regional data sets can
help coastal managers monitor urban sprawl and changes to natural resources,
inventory wetland and wildlife habitat, and develop trend analyses.
NOAA
is supporting restoration planning for the Great Lakes
through grants to the Great Lakes Commission and the Northeast-Midwest
Institute. In partnership with the Great
Lakes Sea Grant Network, they are providing technical and scientific support to
the Region’s leadership in the development of a comprehensive ecosystem
restoration plan. The Institute is
reviewing the approaches that other regions have used to launch major ecosystem
restoration initiatives in order to provide guidance for Great
Lakes planning efforts. The
Commission and the state Sea Grant Programs are facilitating a series of state
and province focus groups culminating in a Great Lakes Restoration forum that
will identify restoration priorities and associated strategic actions. State workshops have already been held in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and New York, and will be scheduled for the other Great Lakes states later this year. This effort will help unify the many existing
strategic plans from partner agencies.
NOAA is working in partnership with EPA, states, and others in this
effort.
The
Estuary Restoration Act (ERA) (P.L. 106-457) was passed in 2000 to provide
financial and technical assistance for restoration projects, and to facilitate
coordination among federal and private entities that conduct restoration
activities. The Interagency Estuary
Habitat Restoration Council (consisting of delegates from NOAA, EPA, Department
of the Army, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Department of Agriculture)
administers the directives of the ERA.
The nearshore waters and wetlands of the Great
Lakes are classified as estuaries under the ERA, meaning that
these habitats and their associated ecosystems are eligible for Estuary Habitat
Restoration Program funding. As part of
its responsibilities under the ERA, NOAA has developed a national database of
restoration projects, including information on project goals, restoration
techniques, and monitoring results. The
database, released in early 2004, is publicly accessible over the
Internet. As part of our
responsibilities under the Estuary Restoration Act, NOAA has also developed
monitoring protocols to better assess the success of monitoring restoration
projects, which should be applied to restoration efforts in the Great Lakes. These
monitoring protocols include a core set of indicators of ecosystem function
specific to each habitat type to allow an accurate evaluation of restoration results.
Some
other NOAA activities include: