Great Lakes Public Forum 2013

As called for in the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the governments of Canada and the United States convened Great Lakes Public Forum, with the International Joint Commission, to:

• Provide an opportunity to discuss and receive public comments on the state of the lakes and binational priorities for science and action; and
• Provide an opportunity for the International Joint Commission to discuss progress reporting.

The Forum is meant to be a periodic venue for significant public input into the implementation of the amended Agreement. It will occur once every three years.

The 2013 Forum was held as two sessions at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center in conjunction with Great Lakes Week.

Remote access to the Forum was provided by means of a webinar.

Written comments were accepted through October 15, 2013.

Agenda

DAY 1: Monday September 9, 2013 (5:00 pm)
(Wright Ballroom)

1. Introduction of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett – Cameron Davis, Senior Advisor to the Administrator, U.S. EPA
2. Welcome – Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (5 minutes)
3. Purpose of the Forum – Susan Hedman, Great Lakes National Program Manager, U.S. EPA, and Mike Goffin, Regional Director General, Ontario Region, Environment Canada (10 min)
   1. Purpose of Forum (PDF) (6 pp, 408 K)
4. State of the Lakes 2008 – 2011– Nancy Stadler-Salt, Environment Canada and Paul Horvatin, U.S. EPA (40 min)
   1. State of the Great Lakes from 2008 to 2011 (PDF) (48 pp, 4.8 MB)
5. Recent Accomplishments of the Parties – Mike Goffin and Susan Hedman (40 min)
   1. Canadian Accomplishments Supporting the GLWQA (PDF) (8 pp, 1.3 MB)
   2. U.S. Government Progress Report on Great Lakes Restoration (PDF) (56 pp, 8.3 MB)
6. IJC Assessment of Progress Report of the Parties – Lana Pollack, Chair, U.S. Section, and Gordon Walker, Commissioner, Canadian Section, International Joint Commission (20 min)
7. Break (15 min)
8. Public Comments on State of the Lakes (2 hours)

DAY 2: Tuesday September 10, 2013 (2:30 pm)
(Crystal Ballroom)

1. Introduction to Day 2 – Mike Goffin, Regional Director General, Ontario Region, Environment Canada (5 min)
2. Proposed Priorities for Binational Science and Priorities for Binational Action– Mike Goffin and Susan Hedman, Great Lakes National Program Manager, U.S. EPA (1 hour)
   1. Proposed binational Great Lakes 2013 to 2016 science and action priorities (PDF) (31 pp, 3.3 MB)
3. Public comments on Proposed Priorities for Binational Science and Priorities for Binational Action (1 hour 20 min)
4. Next Steps – Susan Hedman (5 min)