Efforts to repeal environmental rules face hurdles
DETROIT — A former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency litigator told those attending a major Great Lakes symposium Wednesday that it’s unlikely President Donald Trump’s attacks on environmental programs will amount to much in the short term.
Bernadette Rappold spent 15 years with the U.S. EPA, including a stint as director of the agency’s special litigation and projects division in its Office of Civil Enforcement, where she was in charge of enforcing the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and other landmark environmental laws. She returned to the private sector in 2013 and now is a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig, a global firm with more than 2,000 attorneys in 38 offices around the world.
Her plenary address in Detroit at the third annual Great Lakes Economic Forum, organized by the Council of the Great Lakes Region, emphasized the molasses-like pace of governmental change because of ways laws are written.
Mr. Trump’s high-profile efforts to repeal the Waters of the United States rule, which applies to wetlands, and the Clean Power Plan, which tightens restrictions on coal-fired power plants, won’t stop either in their tracks, Ms. Rappold said.
“The president and executive agencies can’t just tear up a rule,” she said. “Rulemaking is a laborious process. This is not simply a case of, ‘Tear up the rules we don’t like.’ This will involve a process.”
She said if the Trump administration succeeds with its plans for a 31 percent cut to the EPA budget, it would likely result in a 25 percent reduction in the agency’s staff on top of a 25 percent reduction that has been phased in over several years.
The administration’s plan to eliminate the $300 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative would devastate the lakes region and affect cross-border relations the United States has with Canada, Ms. Rappold said.
“This is a pretty bold budget cut the president has proposed for the [U.S.] EPA,” she said.
Ms. Rappold said she believes the Great Lakes have strong enough bipartisan support to keep those and other draconian cuts from occurring.
“If the Great Lakes fall into ruin, that’s a problem,” she said. “If those lakes are allowed to be sullied, it not only hurts the environment — of course — but also this incredible economic engine. The Great Lakes are important in their own right, but also because they’re an economic driver.”
Also speaking on the forum’s final day were Lana Pollock and Gordon Walker, respective U.S. and Canadian chairs for the International Joint Commission, a State Departmentlevel agency that has helped the United States and Canada resolve boundary water issues since 1909.
Ms. Pollock said the lakes face far different challenges than when the two countries signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972 to reaffirm their mutual commitment to protect them.
“It’s made more difficult by climate change. Warmer waters are an issue,” she said, also noting heavier downpours that push algaeforming nutrients into the water and biological changes brought by zebra mussels and quagga mussels.
“If people don’t insist the GLRI funding continues, every community will feel it. If you put half the money in, you’ll get half the results,” Ms. Pollock, a former activist, said. “If the public and businesses go quietly into the night, all is lost.”
Mr. Walker said one of the big changes is the growth of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. He said they especially affect western Lake Erie because of its warmth and shallowness.
“They don’t seem to milk 60 cows anymore,” Mr. Walker said of the agriculture industry. “Six thousand cows is more like it. What happens to all of that [manure]?”
Andrew Bond, senior manager for Deloitte LLP, released a global tourism report that showed the Great Lakes region does well but has shown an uneven performance despite 4 percent annual growth.
He said there is a huge opportunity to expand tourism in the region.
Tourism accounts for 9 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, Mr. Bond said.
“Globally, tourism is a powerhouse. We’re talking about a significant, significant industry,” Mr. Bond said. “The Great Lakes region is well-positioned to capitalize on this growth.”