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FY2001 - 2002 Request for Preproposals

Appendix II
PURPOSE AND GENERAL PRIORITIES

Purpose. This document is a resource to assist the network of State, Tribal, Federal, and non-governmental organizations which together constitute the Great Lakes program. It identifies joint environmental priorities of the governmental partners of the Great Lakes Program. The Great Lakes Program brings together Federal, state, tribal, local, and non-governmental partners in an integrated, ecosystem approach to protect, maintain, and restore the chemical, biological, and physical integrity of the Great Lakes. The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) with Canada provide the basis for our international efforts to manage this shared resource. Additional responsibilities are defined in Section 118 of the Clean Water Act, Section 112 of the Clean Air Act Amendments, and the Great Lakes Critical Programs Act of 1990.

By publishing these Great Lakes Priorities each year, GLNPO seeks to:

• implement that mission by fostering development of appropriate projects.
• achieve the objectives of the 1992 Great Lakes 5-Year Strategy.
• maximize the opportunity for developing joint partnerships between agencies and non-governmental organizations to achieve common environmental objectives.
• provide program and funding guidance such that State and Tribal agencies are able to efficiently prepare grant proposals in concert with other program planning activities.
• identify joint priorities so that Great Lakes Program partners can use them in internal planning and so that grant proposals can be targeted at opportunities for the most significant environmental improvement.
• reduce the administrative burden associated with competing for individual project grants at various, unpredictable times throughout the funding cycle.

The Great Lakes Priorities do not replace general USEPA National guidance or guidance developed by the Regional Program Offices. Rather, it is a supplement to annual planning processes and should be used to facilitate planning Great Lakes activities in concert with other program planning efforts. This document is also intended to provide linkages among USEPA and other Federal Great Lakes programs.

GENERAL GREAT LAKES PRIORITIES

The Great Lakes Basin is home to 33 million people, including more than one-tenth of the population of the United States. It contains some of the world's largest concentrations of industrial capacity; agricultural land; forests; dunes; wetlands; and 141 globally rare plant and animal species. The Lakes themselves constitute the largest system of fresh, surface water on earth, containing 20% of the world's supply. They are sensitive to a range of pollutant sources, including runoff, waste, industry discharges, and disposal leachate. Their size increases their vulnerability to atmospheric deposition. Pollutants bioaccumulate and are retained in the system for decades - outflows are less than 1 % annually and water retention ranges from 2.6 years in Lake Erie to 191 years in Lake Superior.

Great Lakes Program partners are united in their efforts, as set forth in the U.S./Canada Water Quality Agreement, to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem. This mission is supported through:

• Reducing toxic substances, with an emphasis on persistent, bioaccumulative substances.
• Protecting and restoring vital habitats.
• Protecting biological integrity; restoring and maintaining diverse living populations.

To achieve those objectives, a nested structure of Great Lakes activities is managed and implemented by an alliance of Federal, State, Tribal, and non-governmental agencies. This structure fosters cross-program and cross-agency integration of programs at a variety of scales; from Areas of Concern to issues of lakewide and those of basinwide concern. Thus, the Great Lakes priorities include a variety of tools and focuses, including:

A. Toxics Reduction

Great Lakes Water Quality Guidance. Since the 1995 publication of the landmark Great Lakes Water Quality Guidance, for the first time requiring water quality standards to be developed on an ecosystem basis, EPA has completed reviews of six state programs tailored to protect Great Lakes water quality, finding Minnesota and Pennsylvania to be fully consistent with federal water standards and the Guidance. Priority Activity: Implementation.

Binational Toxics Strategy. The Strategy, a ground breaking international toxics reduction effort, targets a common set of persistent, toxic substances for reduction and virtual elimination from the Great Lakes. It focuses on pollution prevention efforts, using voluntary and regulatory tools to achieve reductions, and contains reduction challenges for a targeted set of substances, e.g., mercury, PCBs, dioxins/furans, and certain canceled pesticides. In FY2000, EPA published reports detailing actions which could reduce emissions of Dioxin, PCB, Mercury, HCB/B(a)P, and OCS. EPA continued its public-private partnership with the Chlorine Institute and its member companies which are the leading consumer of mercury in the U.S. economy. During the first three years of the Chlorine Institute's voluntary mercury initiative, this industrial sector reduced consumption of mercury by 42% (on a production adjusted basis). In FY2000, EPA also partnered with one firm on a voluntary mercury air emissions study. Priority Activities: Each targeted substance will be addressed at the appropriate phase of an analytical framework which consists of information gathering, analysis of current regulations/ initiatives, identification of options, and implementing reduction actions.

Air Toxics. Atmospheric deposition is one of the two most significant pathways of toxic pollutants into the Great Lakes. EPA Regional work continues with the States, the Office of Air and Radiation, the Office of Research and Development, GLNPO, the Office of Water, and others on a dual track approach to address the air pathway.

The first track seeks emission reductions through voluntary programs, such as the Binational Toxics Strategy, and regulatory programs, such as development of technology-based emission standards for air toxics (i.e. MACT standards). Associated priorities include delegating of authority of Clean Air Act Title III activities to the Region 5 States, allowing the States to implement and enforce the MACT standards; increasing compliance activity on a selection MACT standards; and working with the States and OAR to develop and implement risk-based initiatives including the Urban Air Toxics Strategy and the residual risk program.

Work also continues along a second track to develop multi-media strategies and studies under the Great Waters atmospheric deposition program, in order to ensure continued progress in reducing sources and loadings of atmospheric deposition to the Great Waters, and to further reduce the environmental and public health effects. These studies rely on a balanced effort of emissions inventory development and ambient monitoring, which provides input and verification data for multi-media modeling of transport and deposition. Such information can be used to assess the need for further emission reductions. The Lake Michigan Mass Balance Study and the Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load Air Deposition Pilot Projects are examples of ongoing multi-media initiatives addressing air toxics. Much of the activities concern the atmospheric deposition of mercury to lakes and land, a national priority and a global concern. Associated priorities include:

• Inventory and Monitor. Assist States in (i) developing the Great Lakes Regional Air Toxics Emissions Inventory to identify and characterize the air emissions of 188 hazardous air pollutants from point, area and mobile sources, and (ii) building their capacity to monitor persistent air toxics for purposes of establishing ambient trends, calibrating atmospheric deposition models, and assessing and characterizing air emissions from sources.
• Toxics Modeling. Continue research on toxic pollutant modeling in order to better understand the fate and cycling of toxic pollutants through the Great Lakes ecosystem and enhance modeling capabilities throughout the Great Lakes Basin. In particular, link models from different media, including air, water, sediments, and biota, to simplify and enhance the prediction of relative loadings from air and water to waterbodies and subsequent effects on human and ecosystem health.
• Long Range Transport. Assess and identify long-range transport of substances from sources outside of the Great Lakes, including contributions from regional, continental, and global sources per the Great Waters Report.
• Control Technologies. Further investigate the development of cost-effective control technologies for mercury as well as other pollutants (both end-of-pipe controls and pollution prevention options).

Contaminated Sediments. Efforts continued in FY 2000 to address contaminated sediments, a major source of fish and wildlife contamination in the Great Lakes, contributing to impairments to over 2,000 miles (20 percent) of shoreline and to the fish consumption advisories in place throughout the Great Lakes. On the U.S. side of the border, sediments have been assessed at 36 Great Lakes locations. Some 2,500,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment have been remediated through enforcement and/or cooperative or partnership approaches during the past four years. Records of decision were entered and remediation efforts initiated and/or completed in FY2000 that address significant portions of the AOCs, particularly at: Ashtabula Harbor (OH); Saginaw River, Manistique, Kalamazoo River, and Pine River (MI); and Sheboygan (WI). (See http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/sediments.html for more.) Contaminated sediments must be cleaned up - before these sediments move downstream or into open waters, which makes them inaccessible and cleanup impossible. Associated priorities include: (i) provide communities with technical assistance, especially in Areas of Concern, to clean up contaminated sediments in their rivers and harbors through application of regulatory authorities and cooperative approaches including on-the-ground cleanup, remedial design, and field work and assessment; (ii) prioritize Regional sediment sites and develop a Regional Sediments database; and (iii) improve the process for managing dredged materials from navigable waterways.

B. Ecological (Habitat) Protection and Restoration. Much of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem has been permanently altered by anthropogenic stressors, but viable remnants of most of the biological components remain. Habitat priorities are focused on efforts to:

• Protect ecosystems possessing ecological importance, ecological integrity, bio-diversity, or rare ecological occurrences from adverse impacts of anthropogenic stressors.
• Restore physical processes, ecological structures, and functions to formerly degraded ecosystems that have the potential to be ecologically significant.

C. Ecosystem tools and approaches, addressing both toxics and habit:

Lakewide Management Plans (LaMPs). USEPA and its partners are working to restore and protect the biological, chemical, and physical integrity of the Great Lakes. "LaMP 2000" documents, available from http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/gl2000/lamps/index.html , identify priorities being addressed through lake management teams for each of the Lakes including:

• Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan is the second largest Great Lake by volume and the only one entirely within the United States. The basin contains the Nation’s third largest population center, the world’s largest concentration of pulp and paper mills, and 40 percent of the Nation’s steel making capacity. Fruit and grain production, as well as water-based recreation, are also important to the area’s economy. The lake provides safe drinking water for 10 million people and fish for food, sport and culture. Its basin extends from the colder, forested north woods to the more temperate southern dune and swale system and contains significant natural features and rare habitat, including 40 percent of the coastal wetlands of the entire Great Lakes system. The Lake Michigan LaMP found the ecosystem an outstanding natural resource of global significance, yet under stress and in need of special attention. The lake has 10 AOCs and the LaMP documents 14 beneficial use impairments on the local, regional and/or lakewide levels. Although many efforts have been undertaken to remediate the damage, particularly in the area of chemical pollution at legacy sites, human impacts continue to impair the ecosystem. Toxic air deposition and nonpoint source pollution are significant problems, Fish advisories remain in effect. In some areas drinking water sources are vulnerable to contamination and beaches are closed periodically due to high bacteria counts. Unique habitats are fragmented by poor land-use practices, including uncontrolled development. Contaminated sediments threaten nearshore waters and wildlife. Many aquatic nuisance species have entered and spread within the ecosystem causing irreversible damage and demanding immediate attention. Priority Activities: Chapter 6 and Addendum 6-A of the Lake Michigan LaMP 2000 contains The Goals and Objectives, Strategic Agendas and Lake Michigan Action Examples for 2000-2002 that reflect details and examples of actions to implement the 15 recommendations listed in the Lake Michigan LaMP 2000 Executive Summary.



• Lake Ontario. There have been significant improvements since the 1960s and 1970s, when colonial waterbirds experienced nearly total reproductive failures due to high levels of toxic contaminants in the food chain. Following actions to ban and control contaminants entering the Great Lakes and GLWQA renewal, levels of toxic contaminants have decreased significantly, and colonial waterbird populations have overcome most of the recognized contaminant-induced impacts of 25 years ago (i.e., their eggshells show normal thickness, they are reproducing normally, and most population levels are stable or increasing). However, bioaccumulative toxics persist in sediment, water, and biota at levels of concern for some fish species and for higher order predators. The Stage I (problem definition) LaMP was finalized in May, 1998 and a draft LaMP document was published in April 2000. Priority Activities: The LaMP workgroup will continue work with its partners to implement the binational workplan laid out in the LaMP, including adoption of ecosystem indicators. through work such as presenting 11 indicators from SOLEC 2000 to the public. Top priority will be given to activities that lead to the (i) identification of inputs of LaMP critical pollutants (PCBs, DDTs, mirex, mercury, dieldrin, and dioxins) from air deposition, tributaries, point sources, and watersheds; (ii) protection and restoration of significant nearshore, tributary, wetland, or coastal habitats in the Lake Ontario Basin; (iii) reduce critical pollutant inputs through TMDLs based on the mass balance model; (iv) further refinements to the mass balance model for PCBs such as the effects of air deposition; (v) development of models for other pollutants (vi) impairment, restoration, and ecosystem indicator linkages/relationships between Lake Ontario and its Areas of Concern (vii) determination of delisting for 4 beneficial use impairments of Lake Ontario cited in 1998 Stage I document. Other priorities include reducing fish advisories and delisting AOCs.



• Lake Superior. The largest fresh-water lake in the world by surface area, the lake basin is sparsely populated and relatively pristine. Through the Binational Program’s Zero Discharge Demonstration Program, the Lake Superior community will work with local industry and communities to reduce and eventually eliminate all discharges of targeted toxic substances to the Superior Basin. Priority Activities: Implementation of chemical reduction and ecosystem restoration actions and activities in the April Lake Superior "LaMP 2000" document. The chemical portion of the LaMP targets critical pollutants for eventual elimination in accordance with the tenets of the Zero Discharge Program. The LaMP 2000 document contains matrices of implementation actions for chemical reduction and ecosystem restoration. The ecosystem components include actions on habitat, terrestrial/wildlife, sustainability, aquatics and human health. Some examples of projects include development of integrated, basin-wide monitoring protocols, targeted reduction of burn barrels (dioxins), community/school/medical sector reduction of mercury, and protection and restoration of critical habitat.



• Lake Erie. The smallest, warmest, shallowest, and most biologically productive Great lake supports major industrial, recreational, and fishing uses. Stresses from urbanization, agricultural use, and invasive species impact habitat and threaten food sources. Priority Activities: (i) Critical Pollutants: Complete action plans for further reductions in PCBs and mercury levels and support action plan implementation, including pollution prevention efforts, sediment remediation, enforcement-compliance assistance, and support for RAP activities addressing PCBs and mercury. (ii) Habitat Protection/ Restoration: Complete action plans and support their implementation, including support for RAP activities addressing habitat. (iii) Problem Definition: Complete the development of ecosystem objectives and indicators, finalize beneficial use impairment assessments, and complete pollutant sources and loads analysis, in order to further develop and implement action plans to protect/restore the beneficial uses of Lake Erie. Further develop analysis of: human health impacts from Lake Erie (beach closings/fish advisories), long-range transport of pollutants, invasive species, use/impact of pesticides, nitrates trends/impacts, impacts of climate change, and impacts of water level changes. (iv) Public Involvement: Continue to support an active Public Forum, as well as other public involvement/outreach activities in the Lake Erie basin.



• Lake Huron. The third largest Lake by volume has the largest lakeshore (extending 3,827 miles), and is characterized by shallow, sandy beaches and the rocky shores of Georgian Bay. Lake Huron’s drainage area, which covers parts of Michigan and Ontario, is relatively large compared to the other Great Lakes. Because of the lesser degree of development in the watershed, environmental issues in Lake Huron are focused around reducing habitat impairment and/or destruction, as well as addressing the leveling-off of declines of toxic contaminants. The Lake Huron Initiative, led by Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and partially funded through a cooperative agreement with GLNPO, has identified issues and efforts toward ensuring a sustainable Lake Huron watershed. Priority Activities: Protecting key habitat, especially coastal wetlands, spawning reefs, and island habitat; prioritization of non-point source areas for funding through Section 319 and Clean Michigan Initiative funds; identification of dam removal demonstration projects to increase available fish habitat; the restoration of the Saginaw Bay ecosystem, including environmental dredging, non-point source controls, and habitat restoration; sea lamprey control, especially in St. Mary's River; support of clean-up efforts of Lake Huron tributaries, including AOCs; support of enforcement/compliance efforts to ensure reductions in atmospheric deposition; and the promotion of pollution prevention throughout the watershed.

AOCs and Special Places. Special attention is placed on geographic areas where beneficial use of water or biota is adversely affected or where environmental criteria are exceeded to the extent that use impairment exists or is likely to exist. The purpose of establishing "Areas of Concern" (AOCs) is to encourage jurisdictions to form partnerships to rehabilitate these acute, localized problem areas and to restore their beneficial uses.

• Through ecosystem-based efforts, reduce toxic substances and protect/restore beneficial uses in the AOCs through community-based environmental protection. In supporting such efforts the Agency aims to enhance public communication and focus and coordinate implementation of all relevant Federal, State, and local media programs.
• Target multi-media regulatory and non-regulatory actions to achieve risk-based environmental improvements in and around the Niagara River, Northwest Indiana, Greater Chicago, Southeast Michigan, Northeast Ohio, and on Tribal Lands.
• Promote and support brownfields initiatives, including information dissemination to assist brownfields redevelopment in AOC communities.

D. Support Federal-State-Tribal Partnership and Integration

• Develop the new Great Lakes Strategy, expanding the participation of partners and forging linkages with the Government Performance and Results Act.
• Improve State and Tribal capability to address Great Lakes environmental problems through a cross-program approach based on environmental information.
• Initiate coordinated post-State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference (SOLEC) indicator development, monitoring, information management, and reporting
• Provide broad access (including Federal and State agencies) to a common environmental database and analytical tools, facilitating Federal/State/Tribal information exchange.

 

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