[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 18, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2251-S2252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Coast Guard Authorization Bill

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I thank both Senator Thune and Senator 
Cantwell for their exchange back and forth. I especially appreciate 
Senator Cantwell's work. I grew up an hour and a half away from Lake 
Erie and saw, in the 1960s, what that lake looked like. For 10 years, I 
lived in a home near Lake Erie, and I saw the improvements we made. 
This bill, unfortunately, with that amendment sets us back.
  We need to keep invasive species out of Lake Erie, and we need to 
pass a Coast Guard bill. There is no reason we can't do both. I want to 
speak to that in a moment.
  First, I want to speak on how vital Lake Erie is to my State. Fifty 
percent of the fish in all the Great Lakes consider Lake Erie their 
habitat. The water is critical to farming, clean energy development, 
industry, and regional economic competitiveness. From tourism in 
Catawba and Put-in-Bay, to fishing in Marblehead, to vacations and 
family reunions at Maumee Bay State Park, Lake Erie benefits our 
communities and creates jobs in Ohio.
  For more than half a century--I am going back to when I was a kid in 
the 1960s and saw what Lake Erie looked like--keeping our lake healthy 
has been a constant struggle. Where I lived on Lake Erie, the lake was 
about 50 to 60 feet deep. Moving west toward Toledo, the lake is about 
30 feet deep. Contrast that with Lake Superior, which is 600 feet deep, 
and you can see the challenge of keeping Lake Erie clean, and you can 
see the vulnerability of that lake. That is the reason for the algal 
blooms. That is the reason that Lake Erie has had the most difficult 
issues facing its aquatic life. Runoff that causes harmful algal blooms 
and invasive species are threats we battle every year.
  That is why Senator Portman and I came to this floor and fought back 
against the President's budget 2 years in a row when the President was 
going to cut close to $300 million from the Great Lakes Initiative. Two 
years in a row, Senator Portman and I fought back against it because we 
know that cleaning up Lake Erie is something we did in the sixties, but 
keeping Lake Erie clean is something we do in the seventies, eighties, 
nineties, into this century, and into this millennium.
  The Great Lakes are home to more than 185 non-native species. By some 
estimates, invasive species cause $5 billion in damages to the Great 
Lakes every single year. A provision that would make our fight against 
invasive species harder has been added to the bill to reauthorize our 
Coast Guard. That is why I voted no earlier today.
  As much as I want Coast Guard reauthorization, my first 
responsibility, other than looking out for working families in Ohio 
every day, is to keep the greatest natural resource in the country 
clean--my part of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie, the part that borders 
Ohio.
  This provision would make it easier for invasive species to enter our 
lakes, harm our drinking water, and threaten local jobs that depend on 
boating and fishing. Every year, I meet with the Lake Erie sea 
captains, boat captains. They talk about the beauty of the lake and the 
importance of the lake to their businesses and to all of us in Northern 
Ohio. This provision doesn't belong in the Coast Guard bill. The Senate 
did the right thing by blocking it.
  Again I say I strongly support the Coast Guard reauthorization. I 
want to see it passed. I agree with Senator Thune. I want it to be law. 
That is why it is critical that this provision be removed from the bill 
so Congress can move forward with supporting our Coast Guard without 
threatening the Great Lakes. Members of the Coast Guard surely think 
the same thing.
  This provision would eliminate the ability of Great Lakes States, 
such as Ohio, to set separate water quality standards to keep out 
invasive species. Tankers and cargo ships carry something called 
ballast water with them to help with stability and smooth sailing.

[[Page S2252]]

When they load on more cargo, they let out some of the water, and it 
flows out into whatever body of water they happen to be in at that 
time.
  Think about these ships. In some sense, they are luxury liners for 
invasive species. They might be picked up off the coast of Japan. They 
might be picked up in the Indian Ocean. They might be picked up in the 
South Atlantic Ocean. They end up coming down the Saint Lawrence Seaway 
carrying this water with invasive species from around the world, and 
they release them into Lake Erie or into Lake Ontario or Lake Michigan 
or Lake Superior or Lake Huron.
  It may not sound like a big deal if a ship takes on water with zebra 
mussels in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Russia and lets them out in 
Lake Erie, but those little mussels do major damage to our lakes and 
our economy. Local governments and taxpayers end up paying the price. 
This affects the beauty of Lake Erie and the cleanliness of its water. 
That is so important. It affects the economy because it costs local 
taxpayers money to clean up from these invasive species. They clog up 
water intake pipes. They spike costs for local ratepayers. They make 
toxic algal blooms worse. When drinking water gets contaminated, the 
local water utility has to clean it up, and they pass on the cost. The 
fishing and tourism industries rely on Lake Erie and feel that pain.
  As I said, I remember how polluted Lake Erie looked when I was 
growing up. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has made a real 
difference. We have made real progress cleaning up the lake's 
tributaries, from the Black River, to the Cuyahoga River, to the 
Ashtabula River, to the Grand River, to the Maumee River, the largest 
tributary feeding into any of the Great Lakes, draining 4 million acres 
west and south of Toledo. It has been a bipartisan success story.
  The Great Lakes region contains 84 percent of North America's surface 
freshwater and provides drinking water to tens of millions of 
Americans. It generates billions in economic activity. Why would we 
risk that? Why would we risk that by voting for this bill? That is why 
Senator Cantwell was right. We need to pass a Coast Guard bill. We need 
to keep invasive species out of Lake Erie. We can do both by stripping 
this provision from the bill right away and move it forward and pass 
it.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.