[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 160 (Thursday, September 27, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H9100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   GREAT LAKES RESTORATION INITIATIVE

  (Mr. HIGGINS of New York asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS of New York. Mr. Speaker, since 2010, Congress has 
invested $2.5 billion to fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a 
program that has protected and restored the largest source of fresh 
water in the world.
  A new study coordinated by the Great Lakes Commission and conducted 
by the University of Michigan has shown restoring our waterways is also 
restoring economic opportunity in the once struggling Great Lakes 
region. Every Federal dollar invested is producing three to four times 
that amount in regional economic growth and activity.
  Thirty years ago, the Buffalo River was declared biologically dead 
and ecologically destroyed because of industrial dumping of toxic waste 
directly into the river. In Buffalo and western New York, Great Lakes 
Restoration Initiative investments in and around the Great Lakes and 
the Buffalo River have led to more than $100 million in private sector 
investments along the water's edge, new residential demand, increased 
tourism, and a waterfront rebirth.
  Time and again, I have stood on this floor and fought to maintain the 
Great Lakes restoration funding, and this is why: the investments made 
are bringing our waterways and our cities back to life.

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