MINUTES - ORBA Steering Committee Conference Call - 26 November 2018

1. Call to Order - Participants began to dial in around 1:00 PM EST on 26 November, 2018. C. Somerville called the conference call to order at approximately 1:03 PM EST.

2. Roll Call

Steering Committee Members Present: Richard Harrison, Carey Johnson, John King, Heather Mayfield, Robin Peak, Chuck Somerville, Harry Stone, Jeff Thomas

Steering Committee Members Absent: Ron Brooks, Laurel Cornell, Brian Farkas, Marty Hettel, Sarah Hippensteel-Hall, Chris Lorentz, Kari Mackenbach, Mike Steinmaus

ORBA Advisors Present: Brandon Brummett, Michael Donahue, Jeff Frey, Megan Thompson

ORBA Advisors Absent: David Bailey, Meagan Barnes, Peter Cinotto, Noel Clay, Gus Drum, Amy Frantz, Cullen Grasty, Hank Jarboe, Cullen Jones, Deb Lange, Jim Lazorchak, Thomas Maire, Andrew Reed, Ronny Sadri

3. Adoption of the Agenda - C. Somerville recommended the addition of three items to the Unfinished Business section of the agenda: the proposed Research & Education working group; a communication framework for ORBA; and discussion of an ORBA liaison to AWi.

4. Approval of the Minutes from the 17 October 2018 Meeting- minutes of the previous Steering Committee conference call were approved by consensus and as presented.

5. Report from the Chairperson - C. Somerville mentioned that Vice-Chair Harry Stone had been invited to attend the biennial partnering meetings with representatives of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on 27 November 2018 in Nashville, TN.

Discussions of the planning of ORBA meetings for 2019, and progress on the Planning Assistance to States (PAS) were deferred until the Unfinished Business part of the agenda.

6. Regular Reports from Other Committee Members a. Update from Financial Chairperson (Brian Farkas) - B. Farkas absent, no report. CS

mentioned that H. Stone's travel to Nashville had been approved under regular ORBA procedures for rapid approval of limited budget travel

b. Update from the Website Team (John King/Megan Thompson) - J. King discussed the need for a more aggressive use of social media, including Twitter and Facebook. It was noted that an ORBA Facebook page existed. It was recommended that we reach out to Carolyn Hefner for information on site access and management. For the existing webpage, it was requested that Steering Committee members contact Megan Thompson with updates to member biographies.

c. Update from the AWi Liaison (Open Position - no report)

d. Update from ORBCRE Liaison (Chris Lorentz) - written update provided by C. Lorentz prior to the phone call. "As far as an update from me as the ORBCRE Liaison, I am working on closing out the invoices and other accounting items associated with the recent ORBA Summit/ORBCRE Symposium, and will then process check requests for both ORBA and ORBCRE to share in the revenue generated from the registration and exhibitor fees. Other than this, Heather [Mayfield] and I are reaching out to Terry Chang to continue the discussion around a potential Research and Education Working Group. Also, I'll remind everyone that the 2019 ORBCRE Symposium is scheduled to take place at Ohio University - Athens. The dates are TBD."

7. Reports from Working Group Leaders a. Sustainable Growth & Competitiveness (Harry Stone) - Report out from the 2018

ORBA Summit/ORBCRE Symposium [written summary attached, Agenda #7a] b. Water Quality, Availability and Management (Richard Harrison) - Report out from the

2018 ORBA Summit/ORBCRE Symposium [written summary attached, Agenda #7b] c. Restoration and Protection (Sarah Hippensteel Hall/Chris Lorentz) - C. Lorentz

provided by email a brief summary of the discussions at the 2018 ORBA Summit/ ORBCRE Symposium:

As Objective 1 was addressed in previous recent meetings of this working group,

the majority of our time was spent on Objective 2: "Prioritize stream systems within the ORB for restoration ofnatural variability in river and stream flows and water surface elevations in floodplain features and propose regional strategic elements to achieve objective."

During the meeting, Donovan Henry and Collin Moratz (cc'd here) with the USFW's Ohio River Fish Habitat Partnership program discussed their previous work in identifying priority areas within the OR Basin. Given the overlap of their work with Objective 2 and Objective 3, we asked them to share their data and methodology with the working group which we could use as a guide moving forward. As I receive this information, I will share it with you. Or they are welcome to send it to all of us directly.

d. Enterprise and Infrastructure (Kari Mackenbach) - no report

8. Unfinished Business a. ORBA Meeting/Event Planning - C. Somerville provided a document titled Concept

for Annual ORBA Events and discussed the proposal [attached, Agenda #8a] b. PAS Agreement - next steps - H. Stone and R. Harrison briefly discussed the status of

the PAS Agreement. More information on the status and implementation of the PAS will be discussed on the next Steering Committee call.

c. Working Group Membership - Discussion of this topic, and how it relates to the PAS agreement will be discussed on the next Steering Committee call.

d. Proposed Research and Education Working Group - discussion postponed

e. Communication Framework - discussion postponed f. AWi Liaison -discussion postponed

9. New Business - no new business discussion due to time constraints

10. Adjourn - the meeting was adjourned at approximately 2:05 PM

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OHIO RIVER BASIN ALL I o\NC:

Sustainable Growth & Competitiveness Working Group Outbrief

October 18, 2018

Attending: Mike Steinmaus, ORBA Steering Committee (Watershed Groups); John King, ORBA Steering Committee and WVDEP; Amy Babey, USACE; Eric Fitch, Marietta College; Debra Waller Messer, Boone County S& W Conservation; Gus Drum, USACE (retired); Harry Stone, ORBA Vice-Chairperson

SG&C Working Group Mission Statement: For high priority issues and opportunities, recommend strategies and coordinate actions leading to development and persistence offirms or industries in the region that grow global exports and achieve large national or global market shares. Such strategies and actions will recognize that the Ohio River Basin (ORB) can provide a competitive advantage for existing and emerging industries that benefit from availability ofresources and ecosystem services, lower cost, enhanced transportation, and a higher quality oflife. The importance ofsustaining our ecosystems, water quality, and quality oflife to ensure competitive advantage for years to come will be built into recommended strategies and actions.

SG&C Working Group Breakout Session Agenda

• Quick Introductions • Context and Status of Working Group: Mission and Goals • Discussion and Consensus: High Priority Regional Challenges for Each Goal • Discussion and Consensus: Initial Strategic Actions for Each Priority Challenge (as time

allows)

Notes

The SG&C Working Group focuses on three ORBA goals: healthy, efficient (vibrant) economy; world-class recreation; and climate change adaptation (resilience). These goals are stated as follows

(D Vibrant Economy: Sustain a water use system to efficiently and effectively support agricultural, industrial and energy productivity. { A(<.l. - N\.f FtS R6Sfo~t1-si;: Pt~ 1-t<:>Vro)

@World Class Recreation: Enrich the quality oflife for people and recreation-based economies by maintaining and enhancing riverine, lake and wetland-associated recreation within the basin.

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.J!t fl'~ { Resilience: Ensure that knowledge and communication ofregional system changes enable timely ~ \f~adaptation ofBasin-wide trategies related to ecosystem protection and restoration;

development; irifraslructure: and water re. ources management.

For each of the goals, challenges were discussed that had been identified as a priority by one or more organizations focused on the goals. The Working Group was also asked to identify any challenges that they believed were of higher priority than those challenges previously identified.

Priority challenges for ORBA focus were to be regional in nature or those where significant synergy and efficiency can be achieved though multi-state (regional) collaboration. Challenges that could be addressed at the state or local level were excluded as Basin-wide challenges.

The following criteria were presented and accepted as a basis for prioritizing challenges:

• Magnitude of ecological or economic • Safe drinking water impacts impact of taking action or failing to take • Security impacts action • Political and legal feasibility

• Physical/chemical water quality impacts • Equity and gender issues • Biodiversity/ecosystem impacts • Economic growth or loss impacts • Sociological/cultural impacts • Technical feasibility • Degree of public tolerance • Cost of option • Health impacts • Permanence of the change

Goals and High-Priority Challenges

The following challenges and strategic steps were presented. By consensus, the challenges were endorsed as priorities for inclusion in a regional strategy. The strategic steps were noted as appropriate, but time did not allow for fully vetting and prioritizing the strategic steps. The challenges and potential strategic steps follow.

Vibrant -conomy Basin-wide Challenge: Regional marketing of ORB to industry needing energy ater (consumptive or non-consumptive) and water transportation.

It was noted that no regional collaboration has been identified that is working on a strategy to address this challenge. The Appalachian Regional Commission has an economic development focus in "coal country" of the Basin, but appears to provide local grants within the Basin rather than address regional issues. Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments is multistate, but focused in the Cincinnati area. Inland Rivers Ports and Terminals appears to have a basin-wide perspective related to river commerce development. Emerging organizations, such as the Central Ohio River Business Association, have economic development interests, but there does not appear to be a truly Basin-wide economic development collaboration.

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Early Potential Strategic Steps:

• The GIS Atlas, being pursued by the Water Availability and Management Working Group, could identify brownfields/redevelopment opportunities within the Atlas to support marketing. [This recommendation came from panel discussion with Ohio and West Virginia economic development organizations at the 2017 ORBA Summit.]

• Update and promote the water-based ecosystem services and values (economics) as developed for the Ohio River Basin pilot climate adaptation study to support benefit cost analysis. [This concept has been expressed by a number of organizations. Without a clear understanding of these values, decisions may be inefficient.]

• Prepare a basin-wide study of potential hydropower capability of basin reservoirs and locks and dams under various scenarios. [This arose from the 2009 USACE Reconnaissance Study that involved substantial collaboration.]

• Prepare a study on the potential and barriers to expanded river commerce including container on barge. [With the declining trend in coal shipments in the Basin, container on barge has been suggested as an approach to increase river-borne commerce. This is a very complex challenge that needs to be understood.]

World-class Recreation Opportunities Bain-wide Challe:nge: Regional market development for Ohio River Basin nature and culture based recreation and tourism.

With the exception of the Ohio River Fisheries Management Team (ORFMT), no regional organizations have been identified with a focus on nature-based recreation and tourism. Key regional issues that the ORFMT is addressing, e.g., Asian carp and overfishing, best fit with the Restoration and Protection Working Group. America Outdoors Association previously communicated that their organization had no resources to collaborate on regional promotion of nature recreation and tourism in the Ohio River Basin. Likewise, the Appalachian Regional Commission, that has a multi-state Tourism Advisory Council, previously indicated that development strategy and execution was at the state and local level.

Early Potential trategic Step: A report is needed for regional water-based recreation, its economic value, and geolocation data. [This has been proposed and refined in prior Working Group discussions.]

Resilience Challenge: Ensure that knowledge and communication ofregional system changes enable timely adaptation of Basin-wide strategies related to ecosystem protection and restoration; development; infrastructure; and water resources management.

During discussion it was recommended that the summary description "climate change adaptation" be revised to "change adaptation." Another summary word proposed, and used here, is "resilience." While climate change is viewed as an important issue, the Working Group feels that it is too narrow for the goal. The Basin should prepare for other non-linear system changes, such as power grid disruption.

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Early Potential Strategic Steps:

• Communicate potential climate impact adaptation strategies to river cities and communities. • Engage Silver Jackets in planning for regional adaptation to climate and to identify other non­

linear threats to the regional ecological and economic system.

It was noted that Silver Jackets are focused on flood risk management. While the collaboration appears to have the right agencies to address other threats, it would involve a significant change in the "charter" of the organization.

Next Steps:

Working Group Teleconferences will be held to further refine and prioritize the strategic steps.

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Ohio River Basin Alliance (ORBA)

Water Quality, Availability and Management (WQA&M) Working Group October 18, 2018 Meeting Summary

Attending: Chuck Duritsa, ORSANCO and ORBCRE; Robin Peak, TV A River Management and ORBA Steering Committee member; Heather Davis, National Wildlife Federation and ORSANCO Watershed Organizations Committee member; Jason Heath, ORSANCO; Jeff Thomas, EPRI and ORBA Steering Committee ·member; and Richard Harrison, ORSANCO, ORBA Steering Committee member and WQA&M Work Group Co-Chair.

WQA&M Working Group Mission Statement: The Ohio River Basin Alliance Water Quality, Availability, and Management working group will support and help ensure and promote the wise use and protection of high quality, water resources within the basin. The working group will collaborate with other organizations, agencies and groups who have these parallel objectives as part oftheir missions, authorities, and activities that effectively manage high quality water resources to create an environment that supports: a safe and abundant water supply; aquatic life; fish consumption; recreation; economic development; transportation; flood damage reduction; to help improve the quality oflife ofthose living, working and visiting within the Ohio River Basin.

WQA&M Working Group Objectives and Deliverables: 1) Support ORSANCO 's mission to protect the water quality ofthe rivers, streams and waters ofthe Ohio

River basin. 2) Incorporate Ohio River Basin water quality, availability and management recommended priorities,

strategies and actions developed by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), leveraging its numerous partnerships and extensive stakeholder involvement process.

3) Support the development of sustainable funding to help protect the water quality, availability and management ofthe Ohio River basin water r<~sources.

WQA&M Working Group Current Goals: 1) Develop GIS Mapping and Data Platform for Ohio River Water Quality monitoring site mapping and

associated data including Assessment and Volunteer data. 2) Develop funding source for Water Management and Availability work utilizing ORSANCO 's existing

Water Resources Committee.

WQAM Working Group Meeting Agenda: I) Quick Introductions - Name and Organization 2) Context and Status of Working Group: Mission and Goals 3) Working Group Charter Objectives and Deliverables 4) Working Group Current Charter Goals 5) Next Steps

Meeting Summary: The work group members completed introductions and Working Group Chair Richard Harrison provided some background on ORBA, the current status of the Working Group, its overall mission, and broad goals

,. : as an ORBA Working Group.

The group discussed the Working Group Charter Objectives and Deliverables as well as some of the challenges the Working Group currently has associated with maintaining good communication with members.

Chair Harrison then provided some detail on the current status of the Working Group's current Charter Goals. Working Group attendees concurred with the goal to develop a GIS Mapping and Data Platform for Ohio River monitoring site mapping and associated data and the need to develop a geographical repository for volunteer data whether from watershed groups or other volunteer data sources. The consensus of the group was that it is appropriate for the various federal partners that maintain GIS mapping for their respective agencies to meet and help determine who should host the GIS base mapping. The USACE and USGS were discussed as potential candidates. It is important to ensure that all federal partners can access and utilize the mapping platform before starting on actual site mapping and data collection. The Working Group also discussed creating links to data sites on the GIS mapping platform as opposed to trying to update data for the various organizations and agencies that maintain their own data.

Chair Harrison also provided some detail for the goal to develop a funding source for Water Management and Availability for the Ohio River Basin utilizing ORSANCO's existing Water Resources Committee framework. Harrison provided the current status of ORSANCO's Water Resources Committee and its goal of securing Foundation or other funding to continue the work of this Committee utilizing ORBA as a Basin wide framework. The hope is that funding can be achieved to underwrite the costs of hosting two or three meetings annually and developing a broad Water Resource framework for the Basin. Preliminary feedback from some Ohio River Basin states indicates that there is support for a collaborative effort to discuss current Ohio River Basin efforts related to Water Availability and Management.

The Working Group then discussed next steps. One of which is to communicate the results of this meeting to other Working Group members. The Working Group determined that the best means for communication with its members is probably to utilize email. Chair Harrison will develop a meeting summary from this Working Group session and distribute it to the ORBA Steering Committee members as well as the Working Group mailing list.

The Working Group discussed how to better integrate its work with ORSANCO and currently the best means is to utilize ORSANCO's current Technical Committee as well as interaction with states in the Basin that are not currently members of ORSANCO. The upcoming Ohio River Basin Restoration Strategy will provide an excellent opportunity to facilitate this effort. Harrison outlined this exciting project and the goals associated with developing a Basin wide strategy that can be utilized for communication to stakeholders, funders, Congress and other key groups. Robin Peak with TV A River Management agreed to go back to her organization and discuss how TV A can best be involved in this effort. Heather Davis with the National Wildlife Federation agreed to serve as a liaison with the ORSANCO Watershed Organizations Advisory Committee to convey the need for their collaboration with the Basin Restoration Strategy development and the need to develop a framework for all Ohio River Basin Watershed Organizations to participate with this effort. Harrison will reach out to ORSANCO member state and non-member state Water Directors to introduce the Restoration Strategy project to them and to determine how best to communicate as the project moves forward.

Chair Harrison thanked the Working Group attendees for their participation and willingness to work on ongoing WQA&M activities.

Concept for Annual ORBA Events

Odd Year (2019): Summit away from Cincinnati

• First event: ORSA partners with the USAGE on ORBIT with collaboration/commission leaders/liaisons/agencies/states as ORSA recommended speakers and participants in ORBIT (timing: winter/early 2019; location: Huntington Corps District)

[Will USAGE be doing congressional visits in February? If so, then early ORBIT would still be helpful in shaping messages. If USAGE visit is later, ORBIT could be delayed]

~ PA..S­• Second event: Briefing of Ohio River Basin Congressional Caucus and l=lill visits with s1Cn-l1r-l&

GGl-laboration/commission leaders/liaisons/agencies/states as ORBA selected participants .,};

(February, 201 Q) [not an ORBA-led or coordinated visit, but could include ORBA leadership?] ,,,.~~~

• Second Event: Joint ORBCRE Symposium/ORSA Summit)rnt.i.ting_aLBA.Mer:nbe~and marketing the event beyond Members; modeled on 2018 hirn.lng :_summ~r or fall 2orn n ,.efi~ Athens, OH [not in Greater Cincinnati; ensure that extremes o Basin are host sites; one SC -"~ member voted for Pittsburgh over Athens, which would mean separation from ORBCRE]

• Third Event: Briefing of Ohio River Basin Congressional Caucus and Hill visits with collaboration/commission leaders/liaisons/agencies/states as ORBA selected participants. Content specifically informed by discussions at ORBA/OBCRE meeting (October or November, 2019)

Even Year (2020): Summit in Cincinnati

• First event: ORBA partners with the ORBIT with collaboration/commission " leaders/liaisons/agencies/states as ORBA recommended speakers and participants in ORBIT (timing: winter/early 2020; location: Louisville Corps District)

• Second event: Briefing of Ohio River Basin Congressional Caucus and Hill visits with collaboration/commission leaders/liaisons/agencies/states as ORBA selected participants (February, 2020) [not ORBA-led, coordinated visit with USAGE]

• Third Event: Joint ORBCRE Symposium/ORSA Summit inviting all ORBA Members and marketing the event beyond Members; modeled on 2018 (timing: sumn;ier or fall in Greater Cincinnati) [Can be joint with ORBCRE when they are ~ati on -even years.]

• Fourth Event: Briefing of Ohio River Basin Congressional Caucus and Hill visits with / collaboration/commission leaders/liaisons/agencies/states as ORBA selected participants. Content specifically informed by discussions at ORBA/OBCRE meeting (October or November, 2020)

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