Great Lakes Water Quality Board
Summary of Discussion for 163rd Meeting
Peachtree Inn, Kingston, Ontario
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
| U.S. Members Present | |
| Lori Boughton | Pennsylvania, DEP, Meadville, PA |
| Gary Gulezian (Interim Co-Chair) | U.S. EPA, Chicago, IL |
| Thomas Easterly | Indiana DEM, Indianapolis, IN |
| George Elmaraghy (for J. Koncelik) | Ohio EPA, Columbus, OH |
| Robert Townsend (for J. Mikol) | New York State DEC, Buffalo, NY |
| David Ullrich | Great Lakes Cities Initiative, Chicago, IL |
| Canadian Members Present | |
| Paul Glover | Health Canada, Ottawa, ON |
| Michael Goffin (Interim Co-Chair) | Environment Canada, Downsview, ON |
| Charles Lalonde | Ontario Min. Agriculture and Food, Guelph, ON |
| Craig Mather | Aurora, Ontario |
| Jean Painchaud | Quebec Min. of Environment, Quebec City, QC |
| Ian Smith (for J. Smith) | Ontario Ministry of Environment, Toronto, ON |
| Peter Thompson | Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sarnia, ON |
| Observers Present | |
| Kai Chen | IJC Windsor, ON |
| Alison Kennedy | Environment Canada, Downsview, ON |
| Gail Krantzberg | IJC Windsor, ON |
| Kelly Montgomery | TRCA, Toronto, ON |
| Derek Muir | Environment Canada |
| Henri Selles | Ontario Min. of Environment, Toronto, ON |
| Secretary | |
| John Gannon | International Joint Commission, Windsor, ON |
3.0 Review of Minutes and Action Items of WQB 162nd Meeting
There was insufficient time to review the minutes of the 162nd meeting and Board Members and observers were requested to send Gannon comments and corrections within two weeks.
Action Item: Comments and correction on 162nd meeting minutes to Gannon by COB Wednesday, June 29, 2005.
4.0 Advice on Agreement Review
Gannon provided a summary on the progress in completing the two documents on the Watershed Approaches Workshops, prepared on behalf of the Board: Watershed Approaches Workshop Summary by workshop facilitator, James McKenzie; and Survey of Watershed Planning in the Great Lakes by Dr. Kai Chen.
Action Item: Circulate two Watershed Approaches Workshop draft reports for WQB review and comment.
It was questioned whether the responsibilities under the Agreement encompassed the watershed issues. It was noted that the purpose of the Agreement (Article II) encompasses the waters of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem, and RAPs and LaMPs embody an ecosystem approach to protecting and restoring beneficial uses. Watershed plans are establishing objectives for their own specific piece of geography that may have influence on protecting and restoring water quality downstream in the Great Lakes. On the other hand, LaMPs are setting objectives that watershed plans may need to follow to more explicitly protect and restore the Great Lakes.
A wide-ranging discussion on Great Lakes governance ensued. It was noted that the SAB has been working on land use issues for approximately 6 years. It is likely that the WQB will not have a definitive statement developed on this issue in time for the 2003-05 Priorities Report, but there is time to provide advice on the Agreement review. In fact, the two federal governments may have difficulty in dealing with the governance and watersheds issues and, therefore, this is a good role for the WQB.
There was some confusion and uncertainty concerning the WQB's obligations and deadlines for the 2003-05 Priorities report, the 2005-07 Work Plan, and advice on Agreement review.
Action Item: Develop WQB "road map" of activities showing interrelationship and targets, and timelines.
Dr. Chen has completed a draft of ecosystem approach terminology and its application to the Great Lakes.
Action Item: Circulate draft ecosystem approaches terminology document for documents review sub-group and WQB review and comment.
History of the Agreement
Gannon received the draft history of the Agreement document from Dr. Jennifer Read. This draft is currently being circulated among those who were interviewed in preparing her report. Following any further revisions, this report will be circulated for WQB review and comment.
Action Item: Circulate draft history of the Agreement for WQB review and comment.
Document Review
Mather and Thompson completed reviews of documents pertinent to developing WQB advice in Agreement review (Lee et al. (1982) and Hartig et al. (1998)). There is need to continue and complete this activity. The sub-group may want to consider adding the SAB governance documents (noted above) to this action item.
Action Item: Document review sub-group complete review of documents pertinent to developing WQB advice in Agreement review.
WQB Questionnaire
A second draft of the questionnaire to WQB members and observers was reviewed and discussed. The questionnaire will be conducted by Gannon over the phone and the results will be used internally by the Board to help gauge the importance and relevance of the Agreement to jurisdictional and agency programs and policies in the Great Lakes.
A number of changes in the questionnaire were suggested. The revised questionnaire should be circulated to the WQB co-chairs and the document review sub-group for review and comment. Once the questionnaire is finalized, Gannon will send it to the WQB members only (members may choose to delegate the response to their WQB observer), requesting a date and time to conduct the telephone interview.
Action Item: Circulate final questionnaire and arrange for telephone interview with WQB members.
Meeting/Retreat
The next face-to-face WQB meeting will be a "retreat", foregoing the regular business meeting in favor of a facilitated round table discussion. The dates of Tuesday and Wednesday, September 27-28 were selected and Lori Boughton suggested that the Board hold the meeting at the newly opened Tom Ridge Center in Erie, PA. Selected members from other Agreement Boards/Council will be invited. The focus of the discussion will be: What are the current and future needs in the Great Lakes basin? Based on those needs, what programs and activities should be in the Agreement? What role should the WQB play in the Agreement?
Action Item: Finalize logistics and agenda for the next meeting/retreat; develop facilitator contract.
5.0 2003-2005 WQB Priorities Report and 2005-2007 Work Plan
Gannon informed the Board that a draft of the 2003-2005 priorities Report is due at the end of July for WQB review and comment. A revised draft needs to be submitted to the Commission by August 19th with publication slated for end of September/early October. A draft outline (Attachment 5) was circulated to stimulate discussion.
It was recognized that some of the items on the outline may carryover into the Board's 2005-07 work plan and, therefore, it was important to raise questions and make observations in this report; translation to policy advice may come later. It was recommended that Gannon annotate the outline and circulate to the Board with indication of which items in the outline are closure and continuation. Gannon was directed to focus on those items in the priorities report that represent closure (i.e., a summary/record of what the Board has accomplished during the past two years).
Action Item: Revise and annotate 2003-05 WQB Priorities Report outline for WQB review and comment.
8.0 Annex 2 Work Group
It was reported that three documents are being reviewed by the Annex 2 work group: RAP Consultation Report, LaMP public participation document and the Expert directory.
Action Item: Annex 2 Work Group to continue to work on Expert Directory and complete reviews of RAP consultations and LaMP public participation documents.
