[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 30 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S1171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Mr. Voinovich, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. 
        Brown, of Ohio, Mr. Franken, Ms. Stabenow, and Mr. Durbin):
  S. 3073. A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to 
protect and restore the Great Lakes; to the Committee on Environment 
and Public Works.
  Mr. LEVIN. Today, I introduced the Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection 
Act as co-chair of the Great Lakes Task Force with Senator George 
Voinovich and several of our colleagues here in the Senate and in the 
House. This bill is important for our efforts to protect and restore 
the Great Lakes now and for future generations. The Great Lakes are 
vital not only to Michigan but to the nation. Roughly \1/10\ of the 
U.S. population lives in the Great Lakes basin and depends daily on the 
lakes. The Great Lakes provide drinking water to 40 million people in 
the U.S. and Canada. They provide the largest recreational resource for 
their 8 neighboring States. They form the largest body of freshwater in 
the world, containing roughly 18 percent of the world's total. Only the 
polar ice caps contain more freshwater. They are critical for our 
economy by helping move natural resources to the factory and to move 
products to market.
  While the environmental protections that were put in place in the 
early 1970s have helped the Great Lakes make strides toward recovery, a 
2003 GAO report made clear that there is much work still to do. That 
report stated: ``Despite early success in improving conditions in the 
Great Lakes Basin, significant environmental challenges remain, 
including increased threats from invasive species and cleanup of areas 
contaminated with toxic substances that pose human health threats.'' 
More recently, many scientists reported that the Great Lakes are 
exhibiting signs of stress due to a combination of sources, including 
toxic contaminants, invasive species, nutrient loading, shoreline and 
upland land use changes, and hydrologic modifications. A 2005 report 
from a group of Great Lakes scientific experts states that ``historical 
sources of stress have combined with new ones to reach a tipping point, 
the point at which ecosystem-level changes occur rapidly and 
unexpectedly, confounding the traditional relationships between sources 
of stress and the expected ecosystem response.''
  Asian carp represents a massive threat and a number of important 
actions are required to deal with it. The zebra mussel, an aquatic 
invasive species, caused $3 billion in economic damage to the Great 
Lakes from 1993 to 2003. In 2000, 7 people died after pathogens entered 
the Walkerton, Ontario drinking water supply from the lakes. In May of 
2004, more than 10 billion gallons of raw sewage and storm water were 
dumped into the Great Lakes. In that same year, more than 1,850 beach 
closures in the Great Lakes. Each summer, Lake Erie develops a 6,300 
square mile dead zone. There is no appreciable natural reproduction of 
lake trout in the lower four lakes. More than half of the Great Lakes 
region's original wetlands have been lost, along with 60 percent of the 
native forests. Wildlife habitat has been destroyed, diminishing 
opportunities necessary for fishing, hunting and other forms of outdoor 
recreation.
  These problems have been well known for several years, and this bill 
is an effort to address those problems. First, the bill authorizes the 
President's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a multi-agency effort, 
which provides the needed federal funds to federal programs as well as 
non-federal partners through grants.
  Building on past success, there are a number of programs that need to 
be authorized and reauthorized in federal law. For instance, the bill 
authorizes the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, established by 
Executive Order in 2004, so that the many federal agencies operating in 
the Great Lakes will coordinate with each other. Restoring the Great 
Lakes involves many stakeholders including the Federal Government, 
states, cities, tribes and others, and Congress needs to be sure that 
the Federal agency efforts are in order.
  The bill also reauthorizes and expands the Great Lakes Legacy program 
which has been extremely successful and has cleaned up about 900,000 
cubic yards of contaminated sediments at Areas of Concern throughout 
the Great Lakes. This is a partnership program which requires a non-
federal cost-share to address the legacy of contaminated sediment in 
our region. The Legacy program expires at the end of 2010.
  The bill reauthorizes the EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office 
which has been and will continue to be a key to moving forward with 
Great Lakes protection and restoration. This office has been the lead 
in renegotiating the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, implementing 
the Great Lakes Legacy program, and implementing its own grant program.
  Finally, the Great Lakes region needs a process for advising the EPA 
and other Federal agencies on Great Lakes matters. While there have 
been various advisory groups that have been pulled together over the 
years, there has never been a standing advisory entity, and that has 
been a gap in the governance and management of the Great Lakes. This 
bill authorizes a new advisory group to provide expertise to the EPA on 
goals and priorities for Great Lakes restoration and protection.
  The Great Lakes are a unique American treasure. We are but their 
temporary stewards. We must be good stewards by doing all we can to 
ensure that the Federal Government meets its ongoing obligation to 
protect and restore the Great Lakes.
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