[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11156]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         GREAT LAKES THREATENED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Higgins) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, the Great Lakes are one of the most 
overlooked and unappreciated national assets. They are the largest 
source of freshwater in the world and contain 20 percent of the 
freshwater on Earth.
  The Great Lakes face many challenges. Agricultural runoff, sewer 
overflows, and other pollution makes its way into the Great Lakes from 
across the northeast and the Midwest, leading to unsafe water quality 
and public health concerns. Also, invasive species hitch a ride in the 
ballast water of oceangoing vessels, like the zebra mussel, or swim up 
the Mississippi River, like the Asian carp, and threaten to alter the 
lakes' fragile, closed ecosystem.
  In recognition of the importance of the Great Lakes and to combat the 
threats to their health, in 2010, 11 Federal agencies announced a plan 
to implement the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, an ambitious 
action plan to remove toxins, clean up the lakes, and protect them from 
further pollution and invasive species.
  I am concerned that funding for this important program has been 
uneven. It was funded at $475 million in fiscal year 2010, fell to $300 
million this year, and is funded at just $250 million in the fiscal 
year 2012 Interior Appropriations bill the House will consider next 
week.
  However, the mere existence of this special cleanup funding is 
evidence that Congress and the administration recognize the Great Lakes 
are a unique natural resource that deserves protection.
  In 1969, the Cuyahoga River famously caught fire, symbolizing the 
abysmal water quality of the water in the Great Lakes basin. 
Legislation from the Clean Water Act and the Great Lakes Restoration 
Initiative has gone a long way toward returning the lakes to good 
health. However, the Great Lakes face a new threat beyond water 
quality: the diversion or removal of water from the Great Lakes basin.
  In recognition that due to national and global trends, the value of 
freshwater will increase, as will the incentive to remove it from the 
Great Lakes, the eight States that border the Great Lakes entered into 
a compact with each other and two Canadian provinces on the use of 
Great Lakes water. Congress ratified the agreement, and it was signed 
into law by President Bush in 2008.
  Among the most important provisions of the compact are restriction on 
the removal or diversion of water from the Great Lakes basin. The 
underlying goal was to prevent any one State from plundering the 
freshwater in the Great Lakes.
  So it is with great concern that I learned yesterday that the Ohio 
State legislature had passed legislation to permit businesses to remove 
5 million gallons of water a day from Lake Erie. In New York, we are 
about to adopt a far more reasonable limit by requiring a permit for 
the withdrawal of 100,000 gallons per day. The Ohio bill, if adopted, 
would violate the spirit of the historic Great Lakes compact and force 
a race to the bottom among the eight signatory States, which will 
result in an accelerated level of diversions and further reduce the 
water level in the Great Lakes beyond the impact of Ohio businesses. 
Such an outcome is unacceptable.
  The consequence of such a large scale removal of water from the Great 
Lakes basin would have a devastating environmental and economic impact 
in my community. Water levels in the Great Lakes are already on the 
decline, and the additional large-scale removal of water will lead to 
algae blooms and reduced water quality, negatively impacting aquatic 
wildlife and the associated fishing industry, and reduce recreational 
boating and commercial shipping activities.
  In my community of western New York, this action would threaten the 
progress we are making in Buffalo toward reclaiming the waterfront as 
an engine of recreational and economic opportunities.
  I wrote to Ohio Governor John Kasich yesterday encouraging that he 
conclude, as have his predecessors Bob Taft and George Voinovich, that 
this legislation poses a danger to the health of our greatest regional 
asset, and suggesting that he veto this ill-advised legislation. I hope 
that he will heed that advice so advocates for the Great Lakes can 
focus attention on the restoration initiative and on cleaning up the 
lakes instead of having to fight to protect them from massive 
withdrawals of freshwater for profit when the issue was supposed to 
have been settled years ago.
  Now more than ever, it is critical that the Great Lakes remain 
vigilant and united against the threat of water diversion.

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