Northeast-Midwest Institute Policy Research

06/12/2026

On June 4, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing on Advancing Environmental Protection Through Science and Technology. The subcommittee observed EPA’s newly established Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions (OASES). The hearing centered on the program’s role in advancing the EPA’s long-term research priorities, as well as addressing concerns of administrative interests potentially undermining unbiased scientific research and evidence-based policy making.

Environment Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Scott Franklin (R-FL) opened the hearing by explaining that OASES is tasked with facilitating interagency coordination, advancing applied scientific research, and providing regulatory support.

Rep. Gabe Amo (D-RI) noted that the Trump administration, under EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, has moved to dismantle the EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD), and he was worried that outside interests could exert greater influence over the agency’s priorities.

Dr. Maureen Gwinn, Deputy Associate Administrator for Science for OASES, asserted that the EPA’s scientific research is conducted with “clarity, transparency, and peer review.” Dr. Gwinn did acknowledge that administration priorities guide the EPA’s work.

Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) illustrated her concern by detailing EPA’s treatment of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS): the EPA encouraged regional offices to disregard IRIS and develop their own toxicity values, disregarding the existing criteria that is grounded in thorough scientific research and review, discrediting the scientific rigor OASES claims to bring to the EPA.
Read more in NEMWI’s newsletter:

Email from Northeast-Midwest Institute Sea lamprey event on Wednesday, House Approps advanced Interior-Environment bill, committees discuss NOAA legislation and the Blue Economy   NEMWI Weekly Update

06/11/2026

Last Monday. the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a subcommittee hearing regarding the blue economy; across many maritime industries the blue economy was valued at $470B and created 2.4 million American jobs in 2022. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), subcommittee chair, led this discussion with Ranking Member Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE).

Sen. Blunt Rochester cited proposed NOAA budget cuts of more than $1 billion, which she argued would limit the agency’s capacity to support sustainable seafood production.
The most contested policy was the Jones Act Waiver, which mandates that all goods shipped between U.S ports must be carried on U.S. built, crewed, and flagged vessels. the Jones Act Waiver, now the longest standing waiver in American history totalling 150 days, will weaken domestic trade, market certainty, and the long-term viability of the American blue economy.

Nathan Wardwell, managing partner of JOI surveys, revealed that over 46% of U.S coastal and Great Lakes waters are unmapped. To address this problem, Reps. Lisa McClain (R-MI) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) introduced The Great Lakes Mapping Act of 2025, which would invest $250 million to map the Great Lakes, delivering environmental and economic benefits to the region.

Read more on Great lakes mapping in NEWMI’s Issue spotlight:

Issue Spotlight: Great Lakes Mapping By Rachael Stein, Northeast-Midwest Institute Intern and Graduate Student at the University of Colorado at BoulderThe Great Lakes hold about 20 percent of the world’s freshwater and supply drinking water to over 40 million people in the U.S. and Canada. They ge...

06/11/2026

Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2026 also highlighted the growing role of technology in marine conservation and the unexpected collaboration of actors. Conference exhibits featured shipwreck imaging and preservation by GIS experts and historians, and open-source mapping tools created in joint efforts within the Whale and Vessel Safety Taskforce that track the spatial distribution of marine species over time. The panels underscore the importance of cross-industry collaboration to promote marine understanding, innovation, and effective policy creation.
Read more about marine research from here:

Email from Northeast-Midwest Institute Sea lamprey event on Wednesday, House Approps advanced Interior-Environment bill, committees discuss NOAA legislation and the Blue Economy   NEMWI Weekly Update

06/10/2026

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee advanced the FY2027 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act and the FY2027 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. Both fund critical accounts for the Great Lakes region.

The Interior-Environment Act would cut EPA funding by 20%, a $1.8B budget reduction from FY2026, but it maintains funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $369 million, equal to FY2026 levels. The Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds stand at a combined $2.1 billion, down 24% from FY2026. Core State Revolving Fund programs would remain mostly flat since cuts would be concentrated in Congressionally Directed Spending.

The THUD bill would direct $92.2B to the total discretionary budget, a 10.4% reduction compared to FY2026 levels. The THUD bill would increase funding for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation by a modest $4.1M. It would also fund the Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program at $538.2 million, a $15.1M cut from total FY2026 funding.

These federal funding bills will shape what is possible for Great Lakes restoration, water infrastructure, and maritime transportation as the appropriations process continues.

Follow NEMWI’s reports on the House Appropriations bills:

Appropriations for Key Regional Programs After the markup and release of appropriations bills from the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, the Northeast-Midwest Institute prepares fact sheets highlighting their impacts on key regional programs. Listed below are the fact sheets from the 20...

06/10/2026

At , speakers emphasized that coastal resilience depends on sustained investment in science, infrastructure, and environmental policy.

During the “Restoring Heritage in Nature” session, Daniel Hayden, President and CEO of Restore America’s Estuaries, stated, “If we care about air and water quality, we have to have the policies that support it.” Later, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) discussed the importance of ocean data systems and warned against cuts to monitoring infrastructure, including the removal of more than 900 monitoring buoys off the coast of Oregon: https://www.axios.com/local/portland/2026/06/04/nsf-cuts-ocean-monitoring-buoy-removal
These systems collect life-saving data and help communities prepare for environmental change. Investing in marine monitoring and coastal infrastructure is critical to protecting both public safety and coastal economies.

Read NEMWI’s recap here: https://conta.cc/49PHe8h

Email from Northeast-Midwest Institute Sea lamprey event on Wednesday, House Approps advanced Interior-Environment bill, committees discuss NOAA legislation and the Blue Economy   NEMWI Weekly Update

06/09/2026

At , the “Fishing for the Future” keynote highlighted the strain facing fisheries along the nation’s saltwater and freshwater coastlines but also how a stronger connection to marine heritage could be a solution.

“We need to sell fishing (as an industry) and not just fish,” argued Jessica Hathaway from Local Catch Network.

Blake Price, Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, emphasized the challenges facing domestic seafood production, noting that seafood imports now account for roughly 80% of U.S. seafood sales (2023) while wild-caught production continues to decline. Panelists discussed how U.S. policy could support domestic seafood producers and increase the number of American fishermen. Panelists identified caps on seafood imports as a solution, but also emphasized the cultural significance of the fishing career to young people.

NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler highlights how the fishery industry is dealing with an aging workforce and declining youth engagement “the average age of a [fishing] captain is 62 years old.” A NOAA Fisheries national crew survey in 2023 supports this statistic and also reported that in 2018, only 11% of the crew members surveyed are between the ages of 18 and 24. But those who are engaged are passionate about the career: 68% of crew members surveyed, when asked whether “fishing is ‘just a job‘ to them,” disagreed or strongly disagreed. To recruit more fishermen, panelists said, captains and crew should seek to educate K-12 youth and highlight the importance of the fishing industry to the American identity.

This discussion underscored the importance of policies that support domestic fisheries, strengthen local seafood markets, and help coastal communities remain connected to heritage.
Read more from NEMWI here: https://conta.cc/49PHe8h

Email from Northeast-Midwest Institute Sea lamprey event on Wednesday, House Approps advanced Interior-Environment bill, committees discuss NOAA legislation and the Blue Economy   NEMWI Weekly Update

06/09/2026

Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2026 celebrated its 25th anniversary last week, bringing policymakers, fishery professionals, ocean researchers and historians to Washington, D.C. to discuss the importance of protecting the ocean for American identity and society.
This year’s theme, “Voyages and Breakthroughs,” focused on America’s maritime legacy and new conservation strategies that are being developed to promote sustainable human-ocean interactions. Across the sessions, speakers emphasized the importance of ocean policy to the economic and cultural vitality of roughly 95 million Americans who live in coastal counties along the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Great Lakes.
Read NEMWI’s recap on here:

Email from Northeast-Midwest Institute Sea lamprey event on Wednesday, House Approps advanced Interior-Environment bill, committees discuss NOAA legislation and the Blue Economy   NEMWI Weekly Update

06/08/2026

Join the Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission on Wednesday, June 10th, from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. in Cannon House Office Building 330 for a Capitol Hill event on invasive sea lamprey in the Great Lakes.

Sea lampreys are one of the Great Lakes region’s most environmentally and economically damaging invasive species. Learn how the development of a lampricide from Great Lakes Fishery Commission has reduced lamprey populations 90% from their pre-control levels, which has preserved the $5 billion Great Lakes fishery.

Attendees will have the opportunity to hold a live sea lamprey, enjoy a sea lamprey cookie, and learn more about how science-based control efforts help protect Great Lakes fisheries.

Tell your colleagues!

05/03/2026

The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces and the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation held a hearing Wednesday titled Revitalizing Shipbuilding and the Maritime Industrial Base.

The Trump administration's proposed budget request calls for $65.8 billion in funds to build a total of 34 ships, with 18 of those ships being battle force ships, and 16 being non-battle force ships.

Read more here:

Email from Northeast-Midwest Institute Committees continue to hold budget hearings   NEMWI Weekly Update  April 27th, 2026   Trump Administration Releases FY2027 NOAA Budget, Faces Congressional Scr

05/02/2026

Hearings with the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies last week highlighted key issues with the Trump administration’s proposed budget for the U.S. Department of the Interior. Topics discussed include domestic energy development, public lands management, tribal responsibilities, and environmental protections.

The proposed FY2027 budget totals approximately $16.1 billion, $200 million below the FY26 enacted level.

Find out more here:

Email from Northeast-Midwest Institute Committees continue to hold budget hearings   NEMWI Weekly Update  April 27th, 2026   Trump Administration Releases FY2027 NOAA Budget, Faces Congressional Scr