In closing days of 116th Congress, hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for Great Lakes protection

 

In the waning days of the 116^th Congress it didn’t seem like much good well and cooperation between the political parties was front and center.

An exception was the bipartisan passage of several hundred million dollars worth of expenditures that will directly – and indirectly- benefit the Great Lakes in general and Lake Erie in particular.

In par the cooperation had a backer Ohio’s junior senator Rob Portman. Portman helped shepherd a final bipartisan funding bill.

Among the specific points, Portman told this writer were:

$330 Million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: This portion is $10 million above the Fiscal 2020 spending level of $320 million, authorizing increased funding of $375 million in Fiscal Year 2022 and then increase the authorization by $25 million per year until it hits $475 million in Fiscal Year 2026.

Funding for the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act (HABHRCA): The HABHRCA program through FY2023, which has served as the federal government’s research and response toolkit for harmful algal blooms, including such freshwater bodies as Lake Erie, as part of the program.

$20 Million for the National Park Service (NPS) Centennial Act: The National Park Service Centennial Act legislation was signed into law in 2016 and authorizes the National Park Centennial Challenge Fund and the Second Century Endowment Fund, two public-private partnerships that are providing additional funding to help preserve the country’s national parks.

$4.9 Million for Migratory Birds: The Migratory Birds of the Americas Act provides the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) with financial resources needed to protect the migratory bird populations that make Lake Erie one of the nation’s premier birding destinations. This is important, Portman and others note, because the sport of birding contributes more than $20 million to Ohio’s tourism industry and attracts visitors from across the world each year. The bill will help sustain populations of migratory birds that face threats to their health and habitats.

$1.89 Million for Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act: The s provides critical resources to conserve and restore fish and wildlife populations in the Great Lakes. The legislation, which was signed into law in 2016 as part of the WIIN Act, reauthorizes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) program to partner with other federal agencies, states, and tribes to develop and execute proposals for the restoration of fish and wildlife resources in the Great Lakes basin.

And Protecting Lake Erie from Dredged Materials: Bipartisan language prohibits the Army Corps of Engineers from dumping material dredged from the Cuyahoga River shipping channel into Lake Erie without the approval from the State of Ohio that it is environmentally safe.

"I love the Great Lakes,” Portman said in an interview.

“Part of my childhood was on the Great Lakes, when I was a little kid fishing with my dad on the Great Lakes,” Portman said in his expanded views.

“You really can’t fish when the algal blooms come in because they’re so thick you literally can’t get a lure or bait through the algal blooms. And your boat has a tough time getting through it. This is a serious issue. At one point it got so serious in the western basin that it actually affected the water supply for the city of Toledo.”

Expanding on the last item, said Portman, the seriousness of the situation came into full view several years ago he remembers “going there with my pickup truck full of bottles of water to help hand out water because people couldn’t use the water.”

“They were even told not to allow their babies to have the formula be made from the water from the faucet because it’s too dangerous, too toxic because these algal blooms had gotten into the water system,” Portman said.

“That’s how scary this is if we don’t ensure that we are taking efforts at every level; state, local, private sector, and federal.”

Bluntly, says Portman also, “Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes now provide drinking water for 40 million people.”

“We want to be sure that that treasure continues, not just for recreation and fishing and swimming and so on, but also for the water supply for so many Americans.”

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com