[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8439]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     GREAT LAKES LEGACY ACT OF 2008

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, last week, my colleagues from the Great 
Lakes and I introduced the Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2008. This bill 
will reauthorize the Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2002, which 
significantly benefited efforts to clean up contaminated areas of the 
Great Lakes.
  The focus of the Legacy program is to clean up ``Areas of Concern'' 
in the Great Lakes. These are sites that do not meet the water quality 
goals established by the United States and Canada in the Great Lakes 
Water Quality Agreement. The primary reason that these areas fail to 
meet water quality goals is the result of contaminated sediments from 
industrial activity. This contamination results in fish advisories, 
degradation of fish and wildlife populations, taste and odor problems 
with drinking water, beach closures, and bird and animal deformities or 
reproductive problems.
  The existing Legacy program has funded several projects throughout 
the region to remove contaminated sediments in Areas of Concern. In 
fact, almost 800,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediments have been 
removed since the program was created in 2002. This is material that 
has been safely removed from riverbeds so that it no longer poses a 
threat to human health or the wildlife.
  Still, there are 13 Areas of Concern in the State of Michigan alone. 
The environmental problems are far too grave considering the fact that 
the Great Lakes holds one-fifth of the world's freshwater, supplies 
drinking water to tens of million people, and provides a $5 billion 
fishery. They threaten the Great Lakes as a source of potable water, as 
a recreational resource, as a commercial asset, and as a natural 
habitat.
  The bill that we have introduced would build on the existing Legacy 
program in several ways. It would increase the authorization of 
appropriations from $54 million to $150 million annually in order to 
clean up the Areas of Concern within 10 years. The bill would give the 
EPA greater flexibility to manage funds by allowing the EPA to 
distribute funds directly to contractors and would not require States 
to maintain previous year's funding levels at a site. Under this bill, 
eligible projects would be expanded to include habitat restoration. 
Many Areas of Concern cannot be delisted until habitat restoration work 
is done. Also, the bill would give the EPA the discretion to provide 
Legacy Act funds to demonstration and pilot projects. Finally, the bill 
would clarify the role of polluters in participating in future 
projects.
  We have been working for decades to try to clean up the Areas of 
Concern. This bill was drafted based on recommendations from a 
coalition of environmental and industry groups that are working to 
protect and restore the Great Lakes, and I want to thank them for their 
dedication. I hope that my colleagues will support this legislation to 
continue progress on cleaning up these sites and protecting our 
precious Great Lakes for the use and benefit of citizens throughout the 
Midwest and across Nation.

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