Great Lakes Water Quality Board
Summary of Discussion for 170th Meeting
By Teleconference
Monday, December 3, 2007
| U.S. Members Present | |
| Gary Gulezian Interim Co-chair | U.S. EPA, Chicago, IL |
| Lori Boughton | Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, Meadville, PA |
| Ken DeBeaussaert | MI Department of Environmental Quality, Lansing, MI |
| Tom Easterly | Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management, Indianapolis, IN |
| George Elmaraghy (for C. Korleski) | Ohio EPA, Columbus, OH |
| Suzanne Hanson | MN Pollution Control Agency NE Region, Duluth, MN |
| David Ullrich | Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Cities Initiative |
| Marcia Willhite | Illinois EPA, Springfield, IL |
| Canadian Members Present | |
| Jim Vollmershausen Co-Chair | Environment Canada, Toronto, ON |
| Sharon Bailey | Ont. Min. of Environment, Toronto, ON |
| David E. Boerner | Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, ON |
| Michael Goffin | Environment Canada, Toronto, ON |
| Craig Mather | Aurora, ON |
| Peter Meerveld | OMAFRA, Guelph, ON |
| Observers Present | |
| Cindy Warwick | Foreign Affairs and International Trade Can., Ottawa, ON |
| Erin Carroll | International Joint Commission, Windsor, ON |
| Mark Elster | U.S. EPA – GLNPO, Chicago, IL |
| Eric Boysen | Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, ON |
| Bev Ritchie | Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, ON |
| Carolyn O'Neill | Ontario Ministry of Environment, Toronto, ON |
| Liaison | |
| Joel Weiner | International Joint Commission, Ottawa, ON |
| Secretary | |
| John E. Gannon | International Joint Commission, Windsor, ON |
3.0 Review of Minutes and Action Items of WQB 169th Meeting
Gannon suggested booking the next face-to-face WQB meeting noon-to-noon April 14th and 15th in conjunction with the IJC semi-annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The Board agreed this would be a good time.
Action Item: Send memo to IJC about WQB April 14th and 15th, meeting in Washington, D.C. and suggest the IJC–governments meeting on accountability be held the afternoon of the 14th.
6.0 Other Business
6.1 Climate Change Report
Gannon summarized Linda Mortsch's response to WQB's inquiry on whether to update WQB 2003 Climate Change Report. Gulezian explained that climate change was not a specific priority during 2007-2009. Commissioners want to see climate change component factored into each of the five priorities. Is that sufficient in terms of climate change? He asked for recommendations from Board? What is needed in terms of expertise, time, and attention to climate change issues?
Mather brought to the attention of the Board a report he worked on for MOE and Pollution Probe that is on how source water protection planning should take climate change into account. The report was to be used by conservation authorities in Ontario.
Action Item: Make source water planning report available to WQB.
It was felt that there is a lot of climate change information available that is newer than the WQB Climate Change Report. Hence it was suggested that using the IJC website or developing a new web site with links to credible and up-to-date reports could be an alternate approach to updating the WQB report.
A number of coastal workshops were held around Ontario, focusing on climate change in the Great Lakes and municipal climate change adaptation.
Action Item: Make CD's of workshops on climate change available to WQB.
How the WQB should proceed on the climate change issue or how much of the Board's time should be devoted to it remains unclear. Maybe this should be further discussed at the next WQB meeting, putting together some options, resource requirements, etc. All six Boards of the IJC are to look at climate change as one of the overarching issues for the 07-09 priorities. Chair Gray asked if there was enough emphasis on these issues in the draft nearshore report.
It was concluded that the WQB should have something to say about an issue as important as climate to the Great Lakes, and especially nearshore impacts. The challenge with so much interest now on the climate change issue is how the WQB can make a value-added difference?
Action Item: WQB sub-group volunteered to explore WQB options for actions on climate change and report back to the full board prior to next meeting.
6.2 Sustainable Cities Report
At the Chicago WQB meeting, it was noted that a contractor would be commissioned to revise the draft. Ray Tomalty, a professor at the University of Montreal, was selected. He is using the previous draft by Isobel Heathcote and is attempting to re-focus the report on impacts on water quality as recommended by the WQB and others.
It was reported that the SAB is meeting in two weeks and one of the action items is to look at a revised draft. It is requested that the Board members be able to review the report before it got near to a final draft.
Action Item: Make draft of Sustainable Cities report available to WQB members before it is near final.
6.3 Phosphorus Loadings Database
Gannon explained that the phosphorus loadings database (early 1970's through the mid 1990's) has been housed at the GLRO for many years. Prior to the 1987 Protocol, IJC was more involved hands-on in assisting the Parties with Agreement implementation. One of the things that the office did was maintain the phosphorus loadings data from all of the jurisdictions, and develop phosphorus loadings estimates that were published in Appendix A of WQB biennial reports. After the mid -1990s, this all stopped. The archived data at the GLRO is now in many different formats and difficult to access and interpret.
IJC technician, Terry Verzosa, had retired; she is the only person at the GLRO who is familiar with the database and Gannon expressed his concern that the database would be lost. The GLRO still gets regular requests for data, but currently there is no one to satisfy requests. Terry Verzosa has expressed willingness to do the necessary work on contract. The WQB endorsed the importance of this work.
Action Item: Proceed with contract to reformat and archive the GLRO phosphorus loadings database for transfer to the Parties.
Action Item: Canadian Co-Chair to contact John Carey on where the database should be archived in Canada.
7.0 Next Meeting
Gannon brought up the need for the WQB to continue AOC consultations. The WQB has not held one since June 2005 (Bay of Quinte). At the last WQB meeting it was suggested that the session be held in the Buffalo-Niagara region in June. It needs to be decided which AOC we want to consult with and to get this event on the calendar.
Action Item: In consultation with EC, EPA and NY determine location, timeline, and presenters for WQB-AOC consultation in the Buffalo-Niagara region.
