WASHINGTON – January 21, 2011 - Senator Chuck Grassley said today that eight Iowa counties have received a primary natural disaster designation and 27 Iowa counties have received a contiguous disaster designation from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, due to severe storms that occurred in 2010.

The following eight counties were named primary natural disaster counties due to severe storms that occurred from May 1 to September 20, 2010: Iowa, Jackson, Johnson, Louisa, Madison, Scott, Sioux and Washington.

The following 25 counties were named contiguous disaster counties due to severe storms that occurred from May 1 to September 20, 2010: Adair, Benton, Cedar, Cherokee, Clarke, Clinton, Dallas, Des Moines, Dubuque, Guthrie, Henry, Jefferson, Jones, Keokuk, Linn, Lyon, Muscatine, O'Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Polk, Poweshiek, Tama, Union and Warren.

The following two counties were named contiguous disaster counties due to severe storms that occurred from June 17 to November 1, 2010: Winnebago and Worth.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, farm operators in both primary and contiguous counties are eligible to be considered for assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA).  This assistance includes FSA emergency loans and the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program.  Producers have eight months from the date of the secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loan assistance.  The department says the FSA will consider each application on its own merit by taking into account the extent of losses, security available, and repayment ability. Local FSA offices can provide affected farmers with further information.

"These emergency loans are available to help farmers recover from losses caused by storms in 2010," Grassley said. "I encourage all affected farmers in Iowa to apply for assistance."

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The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), in consultation with other federal agencies, Native American tribes, state agencies, local governments and non-governmental organizations, is conducting the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS) pursuant to Section 3061(d) of Water Resources Development Act of 2007. GLMRIS will explore options and technologies, collectively known as aquatic nuisance species (ANS) controls, that could be applied to prevent ANS transfer between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins through aquatic pathways. See the map on the right to view the location of these basins and the GLMRIS study area. Learn more about GLMRIS.

www.glmris.anl.gov

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Midwest Congressional delegation called on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) this week to provide in Fiscal Year 2012 the highest possible level of funding for the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System, an under-construction water system that will serve rural communities in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota. The budget for the 2011 Fiscal Year (FY10) allotted only $2 million for the project, a level that will not allow it to award new construction contracts and will not cover the cost of inflation.

"If the project were to remain at the enacted FY10 funding level, Lewis & Clark estimates the system would not be completed until 2048. That is simply too long for our citizens to wait for something as simple as clean water," the letter reads. "OMB must lead the way in making sure that this project is a priority, otherwise the investment already made by taxpayers and state and local partners will be in jeopardy."

When completed, the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System will provide treated water to 300,000 people in its member municipalities and rural water systems in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota.

The full text of the letter is below.

Dear Director Lew:

As you make your final decisions about funding levels in the Administration's FY2012 budget, we write to urge you to provide the highest possible level of funding for the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System.

We are grateful that your staff took the time to meet with members of the Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota delegations in September.  As we relayed to your staff, this is a critical juncture for the Lewis & Clark Rural Water project.  If the project were to remain at the enacted FY10 funding level, Lewis & Clark estimates the system would not be completed until 2048 (please see enclosed chart). That is simply too long for our citizens to wait for something as simple as clean water.

The federal government's commitment and contributions are vital to its success.  Previous appropriations and the $56.5 million the project received through the 2009 Recovery Act have helped make up two of the four years the project was behind schedule and will ensure completion of the system's water treatment plant.  However, a project of this scope and complexity requires consistent annual appropriations and advance planning.  The project sponsors have assured our offices and the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) that they can responsibly obligate significantly more than $35 million in FY2011.  We fully appreciate the balancing of priorities that must be considered while putting together the Administration's budget, and accordingly, ask that you recognize this as a priority and include the highest amount of funding possible for Lewis & Clark in the upcoming FY2012 budget.

We were disappointed that the Administration's budget recommendation for Fiscal Year 2011 included only $2 million, a level that will not allow the project to award any new construction contracts and does not even come close to covering the cost of inflation.  It is also frustrating that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recommended such a low amount and continues to use the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as a justification for not funding the project at pre-stimulus levels.  

This project, as required by the authorization, is a cost-share project.  OMB must lead the way in making sure that this project is a priority, otherwise the investment already made by the taxpayers and state and local partners will be in jeopardy.  

In recognition of the significant impact of this project, the local members and the three states involved have pre-paid millions of dollars to make this project a reality.  In fact, the states and 20 local communities and rural water systems - including those in Minnesota and Iowa - have already committed 99.6 percent of their share requirement totaling $109 million. Please note that the people of Iowa and Minnesota have received no water despite having paid in full their shares of $7 million and $5.4 million, respectively.

As well as spurring economic development in the three-state region, the project is critical to ensure residents in the tri-state area have adequate, clean drinking water.  When completed, Lewis & Clark will deliver high-quality and dependable drinking water through its members to more than 300,000 tri-state area residents covering a service area the size of Connecticut.   

In addition to requesting the highest possible level of funding, we ask that you share with us the steps being discussed to ensure the appropriate and responsible prioritization of Bureau of Reclamation projects across the country.  Since construction on the Lewis and Clark project has been underway since 2003, we believe it should remain a top priority and be completed before new Bureau of Reclamation projects are initiated.  It makes sense to complete the project and make sure our investment is well managed.  We also ask that you provide us with a list of new starts projects recommended by OMB and by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees for Fiscal Year 2011.  We would like this information no later than January 1, 2011.

We appreciate your consideration of this request.   Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about the Lewis and Clark Regional Water System project.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (IA)
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN)
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (IA)
U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (SD)
U.S. Senator John Thune (SD)
U.S. Senator Al Franken (MN)
U.S. Representative Steve King (IA)
U.S. Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD)
U.S. Representative Tim Walz (MN)

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State College, Pa. -- 9 November 2010 -- AccuWeather.com reports signs point toward an arctic cold outbreak beginning the third week of November in the Northwest, expanding to much of the eastern half of the U.S. before Thanksgiving.

The cold wave will have people turning up their heat and perhaps scrambling to stock up on wood and fill up on heating oil.

Snow and a freeze-up accompanying the cold blast may lead to travel problems.

The air will have tremendous shock value, given the complacency in the weather now over the Plains and much of the Southeast.

It appears building cold air over Siberia will soon move eastward through the Arctic over the next week or so, then drive southward through North America during week three of the month.

Alaska would feel the cold around mid-month.

Next, steering currents would then drive frigid air southward through western Canada into the Northwest and northern Rockies.

A large high pressure area at the core of this air could be preceded by an upslope snow event during the third week of the month that would spread snow from Great Falls, Mt. to Cheyenne to Denver.

It is possible this invasion of cold air would first spin up a major storm over the middle of the nation, where it comes in contact with unusual warmth building in the East.

Whether or not a wrapped-up storm with wind-driven rain, severe thunderstorms, and a Midwest blizzard comes to pass before the cold reaches the East remains to be seen. However, that too is a possibility.

It is looking more and more likely that the coldest air of the season so far, with strong winds, may greet people during the weekend prior to Thanksgiving from the Plains to the Atlantic Seaboard.

AccuWeather.com and its team of long range forecasters (Joe Bastardi, Paul Pastelok and Joe Lundberg) first alerted you about this possibility last week.

The details on how cold the weather will get from place to place will unfold over the next week.

Most likely, once the cold reaches the East, temperatures will rebound in the Northwest.

AccuWeather.com is expecting a stormy, wintry December over the northern tier of the U.S. It appears this outbreak will set the stage for that pattern.

The late October windstorm and now the crazy storm that struck New England from the northeast Monday are examples of the volatility potential of the weather pattern.

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com

Roberti@AccuWeather.com