[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 12913]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                     BAN DUMPING IN THE GREAT LAKES

  (Mr. KIRK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, this week I am introducing bipartisan 
legislation to ban dumping in the Great Lakes. Along with my Democratic 
colleague Dan Lipinski, we are moving the Great Lakes Water Protection 
Act because the number of beach closings in Illinois rose from 213 in 
2003 to over 600 in 2004.
  There were over 140 beach closings in my district alone last year. 
Our bill, supported by the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the Sierra 
Club and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago, sets a 
Federal date certain to ban dumping in the source of our drinking 
water. Fines under this bill would support building new sewage control 
projects to protect the lake.
  I want to give a special thank you to a member of my staff, Ms. 
Kristy Cole, who drafted this legislation. As she leaves the Congress 
for a Northwestern JD/MBA program, we will now gather bipartisan 
support for this commonsense environmental reform.

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