President Obama, Congress Act to Restore Great Lakes

Calling All Great Lakes House Members To Support GLEPA

Our Great Lakes firebrand Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.) introduced a bill that could be the biggest, best thing to happen to the Great Lakes since, well, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Last week, in conjunction with the US Senate, Rep. Ehlers brought the Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection Act of 2010 to the US House. The Act rolls all the major restoration programs into one and would allow the fight against invasive species, the clean up of toxic hot spots and other restoration priorities to be funded once every five years instead of on an annual basis.

In the past, our Great Read More » »

Urging All Great Lakes Senators To Cosponsor GLEPA

Last week Great Lakes Senators introduced legislation that would pool together all the Great Lakes funding programs into one bill that would be voted on once every five years. The Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection Act of 2010 would provide a sustained stream of money to fight invasive species, clean up toxic hot spots and address restoration priorities in a way that lets us focus on getting the work done and not on asking Congress for appropriations each year.

In the past, our Great Lakes lawmakers would annually introduce the Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act, a legislative translation of the Read More » »

Landmark Great Lakes Bill Would Provide Permanent Stream of Funds

If all goes well, funding for Great Lakes programs, from toxic clean up to the fight to stop invasive species from entering the lakes, will all be rolled into one legislative package that will create a permanent funding source for restoration efforts. US Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and George Voinovich (R-OH) are poised to introduce the Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection Act of 2010 today.

“This monumental legislation adds momentum to Great Lakes restoration and sets in place a framework for the future,” said Lynn McClure, co-chair of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition and Midwest Regional Director for the National Parks Read More » »

Long-Range Thinking Could Save Chicago From Asian Carp Catastrophe

The Chicago Tribune ran a story about the economic damage that closing the locks would cause to the cities summer tourist industry. The Army Corps is considering limiting the number of times the locks are opened and closed to hamper the spread of the Asian carp into Lake Michigan. But worrying over this tourist season is short- term thinking because if the fish get a foothold in the canals and eventually the lakes the tourism industry will suffer a much more serious blow.

The reason is simple: no one will want to take tour boats through a sea of Read More » »

HOW coalition urges Congress, federal agencies to step up efforts to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes

WASHINGTON, D.C. (FEB. 25) — The co-chair of the Healing Our Waters®-Great Lakes Coalition today called on Congress to declare the Asian carp an imminent threat to the Great Lakes and direct federal agencies to separate the carp-infested Mississippi River system from Lake Michigan.

Testifying before the Senate Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Water and Power, coalition co-chair Andy Buchsbaum urged Congress to give the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers a new mission: Stop the movement of live organisms between the Mississippi River system and the Great Lakes.

The Healing Our Waters®-Great Lakes Coalition, which represents 114 conservation groups and other organizations Read More » »

Message From Congress: Keep Carping

Sixteen years ago, that is when Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.) first started asking his colleagues in Congress to deal with the Asian carp threat. “When I first learned about the Asian carp in the Mississippi, I thought good grief, we have to do something about this. They will get there (the Great Lakes)…but I could not get people excited about it and that is one of my chief frustrations of my life,” Ehlers said at a meeting this morning.

Had Congress listened to Ehlers back then we would not be faced with the difficult and expensive choices of closing locks and Read More » »

One Voice

The Great Lakes Governors, the Great Lakes Commission and the Healing Our Waters- Great Lakes Coalition are joining forces to ask Congress and the President to save the Great Lakes from the Asian carp and continue to invest in restoration.

“The Asian carp have brought us back to reality,” said Andy Buchsbaum, co-chair of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, “they threaten to overwhelm a lot of the progress we’ve seen. That threat is not just to the Great Lakes and the fishery, it is also to our unity and our ability to work together. We have succeeded so far Read More » »

Stop the Carp: In Unison GL Commission Calls for Separation of Basins

The Great Lakes Commission – including Illinois – unanimously approved a resolution calling for Congress and the US Army Corps of Engineers to establish ecological separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds as the long-term strategy to keep the carp out of the Lakes.

HOW Co-Chair Andy Buchsbaum called the resolution “a very strong step forward in promoting actions needed to stop the Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes.”

This historic move urges Congress to give the Corps authority and funding to finish up the study of ecological separation. The resolution also calls for quickening the timetable for Read More » »

It’s Lobby Season and the Great Lakes are on the Agenda

Healing Our Waters Coalition Members are arriving in Washington DC today to launch an aggressive lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill. It is true that HOW comes to the Capitol City to pay our Senators and Representatives a visit annually, but this year, we have a lot of really big fish to fry. The Asian Carp are threatening years of restoration efforts; the White House has cut Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funds by $175 million; and we need to support an EPA reauthorization bill.

Since November, the entire nation has been focused on our Asian Carp problem, but we still have not Read More » »

The Great Lakes are the Talk of the Town

It is a big week for the Great Lakes, not only are HOW members flying into Washington today to encourage lawmakers to continue to support restoration, but the Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday morning. THIS IS BEING RESCHEDULED NEW TIME TBA.

The Senate EPW Committee will be investigating the science behind federal efforts to control the Asian carp and stop them from getting a foothold in the Great Lakes. NY Sen. Kirsten Gilligbrand is a member of the EPW and she has been pushing for the closure of the locks via a new piece of Read More » »