Publications:
ANEP Update

April 2001

LEGISLATIVE UPATE

Representatives Jim Saxton (R-NJ) and Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) have sent a letter to VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chair James Walsh (D-NY) and ranking Democrat Alan Mollohan (D-WV) asking for full funding of the National Estuary Program at the newly authorized level of $35 million. The letter was signed by 61 members of the House of Representatives. In May, appropriators will begin to make funding decisions on federal programs such as the National Estuary Program. 

NEP NEWS

The Center for the Inland Bays recently conducted its annual "State of the Bays" report at is quarterly Board of Directors meeting in Bethany Beach, DE.  The Delaware Department of Agriculture, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the Sussex County Council, the Sussex Conservation District, and the Delaware Nutrient Management Commission offered updates on progress towards implementation of the Inland Bays Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.  These updates were published in the spring edition of the Center for the Inland Bays' newsletter, which was distributed to more than 70,000 people. 

During the month of April the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary kicked off several major education/outreach initiatives.  These include a nonpoint source pollution prevention advertising  campaign (using the State of Washington's campaign) on public transit vehicles in Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and Delaware; storm drain marking programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware; the completion of the 2001 "Clean Water Begins and Ends With You" calendar drawing contest; the kick-off of www.DelawareEstuary.org; and a new 15-minute video entitled "The Delaware
Estuary - Cities to the Sea".  To learn more about any of these initiatives, please give us a call at 1-800-445-4935.

Long Island Sound Study - EPA approved the LIS TMDL on April 3, 2001. The TMDL will allow the Sound to meet water quality standards for dissolved oxygen by allocating portions of the allowable level of nitrogen to pipe-in-the-water point sources, such as sewage treatment plants, and nonpoint sources, such as stormwater runoff. The TMDL for the Sound identifies how much nitrogen sources in Connecticut and New York are allowed to discharge. In addition, nitrogen reductions from nonpoint sources such as urban stormwater runoff and atmospheric deposition will be quantified and specified. The TMDL, developed by the states of New York and Connecticut, builds on the 1998 agreement between EPA and the states to cut the amount of nitrogen pouring into the Sound by 58.5 percent by 2014. Nitrogen levels are directly linked to low levels of dissolved oxygen, a condition called hypoxia, which is the most serious water quality problem affecting the Sound.

The Isle of Wight Wildlife Management Area on Route 90 went from beast to beauty Sunday when some 120 volunteers wrestled 150 garbage bags full of junk from the tidal marsh and woods on the 232-acre island.  Sponsored by the Maryland Coastal Bays Program and the Parrot Heads of Ocean City, the cleanup yielded some interesting finds. A pool, tires, mounds of Styrofoam, plastic and glass were among the garbage collectors' quarry. The most common trash items were beer bottles and cans with an estimated 1,000 scooped from the muck. The  Maryland Department of Natural Resources provided the garbage bags needed for the effort and spent Monday gathering the 1.5 tons of trash.  The next scheduled Coastal Bays cleanup will take place June 2 at 10 a.m. when volunteers embark from the Assateague State Park boat ramp to comb the water for trash via canoe. Last year that cleanup, too, yielded more than a ton of garbage.

The Mass. Bays Program (MBP) sponsored an all-day workshop entitled "Improving the Outlook for the Bays" in February, '01.  This workshop provided an outstanding opportunity to renew existing commitments to the unique partnership coordinated by the Program and to use this forum to set our shared course for the future. The workshop focus was to re-evaluate and examine the niche of the MBP and to note our progress on the five Priority Action Items from our CCMP identified in our June, 1998 Implementation Planning Session.  In addition, we developed new actions and identified new roles for the MBP staff and our partners. The day ended with a much clearer vision for the Program, and a renewed commitment to the reality of partnership and communication as the basis for the MBP's future direction. 

ANEP NEWS

ANEP represented at the EPA National Water Program Planning Meeting:  The overall theme of the meeting held in Washington, D.C. during the week of April 30, 2001,  was improving coordination and integration of EPA's baseline Water programs, i.e., Wetlands, NPDES, Monitoring, TMDLs, SRF, WQ Standards, etc.  These baseline programs are often referred to as "stove-piped" due to their historic lack of connectivity and coordination.  ANEP Secretary Richard Ribb participated in a panel discussion at this meeting focused on improving EPA baseline program support for place-based programs, like the NEPs.  Other panel members included a Philadelphia Water Department official, an EPA Region 3 environmental programs director, and the director of a nonprofit groundwater protection and education organization. The panel members' remarks presented some consistent messages.  First, to recognize that the kind of integration and coordination that EPA seeks exists at the state, local and watershed level through the efforts of place-based programs with strong local commitment and connections.  Second, EPA programs should better connect with these place-based programs and learn from their successes.  A third recommendation encouraged EPA programs to support the coordination and integration of their (and other) programs by the entrepreneurial-minded place-based programs through planning and implementation processes like CCMPs or other watershed action plans and to facilitate ways to bring their resources to these programs.

CONFERENCES/ WORKSHOPS/ SYMPOSIUMS

On May 21-23, 2001, Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program will host a workshop for the seven NEPs bordering the Gulf of Mexico plus the Indian River Lagoon NEP. The purpose of this workshop is to discuss how FEMA programs can be integrated into the BTNEP  process. For more information, contact Sandra Helmuth at sandra_k@ldeq.org or call (800) 259-0869

EPA's Science Advisory Board "Public Values and Atmospheric Deposition" Workshop:  The Tampa Bay Estuary Program is being used as a "case study" in EPA's National Science Advisory Board (SAB) project entitled "Understanding Public Values and Attitudes Related to Ecological Risk Management".  The SAB is addressing concerns using social sciences and ecological risk management; specifically,

"How can risk managers at Tampa Bay use social sciences and ecological risk management together to protect water resources from atmospheric deposition"?  The SAB has asked a social scientist, economist, and a psychologist to develop a plan of study for Tampa Bay, to address this question.  The SAB is putting together a risk managers' panel to respond to the recommendations from each of the social scientists in a workshop setting.  A local government administrator and state water policy manager will be joining TBEP Scientist Holly Greening in representing Tampa Bay on the risk managers' panel at the two-day workshop taking place in Washington D.C. on May 22-23, 2001.  TMDLs (and how Tampa Bay is proposing to address them) will be an element of the discussion, in addition to how to get the public involved with understanding the links between atmospheric deposition and a healthy bay.  The workshop is free, but registration is required.  If you will be in Washington and would like to attend the workshop, please see particulars on the SAB Website at http://www.epa.gov/sab/presentation-1/index.htm