Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act to clean up lakes, protect them against invasive species and pollution

WASHINGTON – Congressman Vernon J. Ehlers introduced major legislation today that aims to enhance Great Lakes cleanup efforts, protect the lakes from harmful aquatic invasive species, preserve wetlands and other aquatic habitats around the lakes, and bolster Great Lakes research and monitoring. The Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act (H.R. 500) follows recommendations developed by federal, state, and local officials, as well as hundreds of non-government officials, in the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. The plan for protecting and restoring the lakes was developed in 2005.

      “The policies in this strategic plan are urgently needed to help preserve the delicate ecosystem of the Great Lakes,” said Congressman Ehlers. “For years, I have urged my colleagues in Congress to recognize the importance of the Great Lakes; fresh water is America’s most valuable natural resource.  I expect my colleagues will fully realize the importance of the lakes, and hope they will soon act on the Regional Collaboration’s important recommendations by passing this bill.”

The bill number, H.R. 500, is symbolic of the five Great Lakes. It would:

·         Fight the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species by establishing mandatory ballast water management rules; create a screening process for importation of live organisms; and provide critical research, education and outreach programs.

·         Strengthen the Great Lakes Legacy Act by increasing funding for the cleanup of contaminated sediment to $150 million per year; and to reduce mercury levels in the Great Lakes basin by establishing a grant program in which the EPA could award up to $10 million per year for cleanup efforts.

·         Assist states and communities with protecting coastal regions by reauthorizing a program for technical assistance to small treatment facilities; reauthorize the State Revolving Loan Fund for $20 billion over five years to help communities improve wastewater infrastructure; and authorize funding for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to restore Great Lakes waterfront areas.

·         Improve wetlands, which in turn would protect streams and waterways from run-off pollution. Wetlands serve as natural filters, and this bill would reinstate wetland protection by clarifying Congress’s original intent that the Clean Water Act should protect all waters of the United States.

·         Enhance Great Lakes research and monitoring by directing several federal agencies to prepare an annual research plan in collaboration with private and public university researchers; increase funding for NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Science center.