Razor-Thin Victory For Climate Change; 50/50 split among Great Lakes Fencesitters

In a narrow victory, the US House passed the first ever bill to deal with the affects of climate change on the Great Lakes. It will also provide future dollars toward protection and restoration efforts. In the end, eight republicans joined in the “yes” vote (two from the Great Lakes districts we asked you to call!) as well as several of the Great Lakes fencesitters. The final vote was 219 to 212.

The day of the vote, we asked you to contact twelve of the Great Lakes lawmakers that had not made up their mind yet and remind them that the legislation will significantly help the lakes combat the ravages of climate change. All but one of the dozen lawmakers have districts that border the Great Lakes. In the end, six voted for the legislation and six voted against it. Following is a breakdown of the yeas and nays from the GL list:

A Yes Vote for the Climate Change Bill
John McHugh (R-NY)
Mark Kirk (R-Ill)
Milissa Bean (D-Ill)
Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Marcia Fudge (D-OH)

A No Vote Against the Climate Change Bill
Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
Peter Visclosky (R-IN)
Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
Tom Petri (R-Wisc.)
Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich. – his district isn’t on the lakes but he sure is a Great Lakes Champion.)

Thank you for those who called or wrote – it made a real difference that will be experienced in the Great Lakes for future generations.

They Did It! Obama’s Restoration Initiative Gets Thumbs Up

The US House approved President Obama’s historic commitment to Great Lakes restoration with a vote of 254 to 173. The $475 million investment will now head to the US Senate for a vote after the July fourth weekend.

Michigan’s Rep. Bart Stupak (D) voted in favor of the restoration funding today. “The Great Lakes are a national treasure and Michigan’s greatest resource. Our economy, health and way of life depend on protecting both the quality and quantity of Great Lakes water.” But even Rep. Stupak noted that the $475 million is just a down payment and much more will be needed to fully restore the Lakes. “Although we know much more funding will be needed, this is an encouraging and important start,” he added.

Yesterday the US Senate Appropriations Committee approved $400 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

“The urgent threats to our Lakes and our economy demand federal action. We are hopeful that with such strong support from Great Lakes members, the initiative will be fully funded at $475 million when the House and Senate reconcile their two bills,” Chad Lord, policy director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.

House Approves $475M Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

*press release

Great Lakes Restoration Advances in Congress

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (June 26)—The effort to restore the Great Lakes advanced in the U.S. Congress, as the House of Representatives today approved $475 million to fund a new Great Lakes Restoration Initiative first proposed in President Obama’s budget.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations yesterday approved $400 million for the initiative as part of its 2010 Interior and Environmental Protection Agency funding bill.

“We applaud the House of Representatives, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-Wis.),  Senate Interior Subcommittee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and all our Great Lakes appropriators for advancing Great Lakes restoration and economic recovery,” said Chad Lord, policy director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “The urgent threats to our Lakes and our economy demand federal action. We are hopeful that with such strong support from Great Lakes members, the initiative will be fully funded at $475 million when the House and Senate reconcile their two bills.”

The House of Representatives vote was 254-173. For details on how each member voted, see: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll475.xml

The $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative strives to clean up contaminated sediments which threaten public health; prevent the introduction of invasive species which cost the region at least $200 million per year in damages and control costs; prevent run-off and other pollution responsible for beach closures; and restore habitat that is the foundation of the region’s multi-billion-dollar outdoor recreational economy.

The full Senate will take up the spending bill after the July 4 break, which begins tomorrow. Senate appropriations committee members from Great Lakes states include Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Arlen Specter (D-Penn.), and George Voinovich (R-Ohio).

U.S. representatives from Great Lakes states who serve on the appropriations committee include David Obey (D-Wisc.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), John Murtha (D-Penn.), Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.), Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Jesse Jackson (D-Ill.), Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Chaka Fattah (D-Penn.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio).

For Immediate Release:
June 26, 2009

Contact:
Jordan Lubetkin, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, 734-904-1589
Chad Lord, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, 202-454-3385

Urge Great Lakes Congressmen To Vote For Climate Change Bill

As the US House nears a historic vote on climate change legislation, several Congressmen with districts on the Great Lakes are still on the fence as to whether or not they will support the bill. The America’s Clean Energy and Security Act promises to help the Great Lakes by protecting the lakes from the predicted devestating affects of climate change as well as providing money toward restoration goals.

Take a look at the list of lawmakers below and please call the Capitol Switchboard 202-224-3121 if any are from your state and urge s/he to protect the lakes by voting in favor of ACESA.

Great Lakes Fencesitters:
John McHugh (R-NY)
Kathy Daholkemper (D-PA)
Mark Kirk (R-Ill)
Milissa Bean (D-Ill)
Peter Visclosky (D-IN)
Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich. – his district isn’t on the lakes but he sure is a Great Lakes Champion.)
Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
Thomas Petri (R-Wisc.)

Do you live in Marcy Kaptur’s district?

Great Lakes Rep. Marcy Kaptur is reported to be leaning toward voting “no” tomorrow on the America’s Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), but she remains officially undecided. Ohio has been the focus for opponents of the legislation that would do much to help contain climate change in the Great Lakes and pay for restoration projects while providing new jobs. Perhaps, Rep. Kaptur has not heard how the bill would help the lakes and therefore her very district.

Rep. Kaptur was one of the ten Ohio lawmakers called into a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to discuss the bill. Other Ohio lawmakers who attended and are still on the fence include Reps. Steve Driehous, and Charlie Wilson, Marcia Fudge and Mary Jo Kilroy and John Boccieri. Ohio is a big coal state and suffers from 11 percent unemployment – they have been the target of lobbying efforts by the coal and utility lobbyists.

If Kaptur is your Rep or if you are a Buckeye please call the Capitol Switchboard 202-224-3121 and ask for her office and let her know that as a constituent you support the bill because it will help restore the Great Lakes and provide new jobs.

In Climate Debate: Great Lakes States are Targeted

The extreme tug-of-war going on in Congress over the Climate Change legislation has moved its battlefront to the Midwest. A cadre of Republican Congressmen against America’s Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) are targeting Great Lakes lawmakers in an attempt to pry their votes away from the Democratic majority in the US House.

Playing on regionalism, the Republican’s led by Ohio’s John Boehner are arguing that the bill meant to create clean energy jobs while confronting global warming will actually harm coal producing and farm states in the Midwest and South. Advocacy groups working for coal and big industry are circulating maps that misrepresent which states would win and lose if the bill becomes law. They are extremely interested in picking off votes from Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as the rest of the Great Lakes states. The vote will be held on Friday.

This legislation is critical to Great Lakes restoration. Climate change promises to make all the problems in the lakes much, much worse as well as bring new dangers to our largest source of surface fresh water. The funding in the bill would encourage clean energy jobs – a new market for Great Lakes states – we can become world leaders again in this emerging industry. The bill would also generate funding to protect and restore the Great Lakes. We need this legislation and we need it yesterday.

Those working against the bill are also planning to make this legislation the “big” issue in the next Congressional campaign. As they have in the last several election cycles, they will continue to try and use any vote to demonize Democrats as “liberals” loyal to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) – the Queen of left wing politics, according to many conservatives.

So, if they can’t convince our Great Lakes lawmakers to vote against the bill because -as they are saying – it would drive up utility bills and place financial burdens on farmers, then they will use the vote against the Congressmen in the next election cycle.

They are playing dirty (covered in soot) and they aren’t thinking about the future of this nation and the future of our fresh water reserves. They are only thinking in two year election cycles and that isn’t good for anyone let alone Great Lakes restoration. If you can spare a minute, please call your Great Lakes lawmakers and ask them to support the Great Lakes by voting for America’s Clean Energy and Security Act. The Capitol Hill switchboard is: 202-224-3121.

President’s Great Lakes Initiative Makes it Past First Senate Hurdle

The US Senate Committee charged with marking up the President’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative approved it yesterday providing $400 million for the initiative. The US House Appropriations Committee approved $475 million last week.

The $400 million is a huge victory because it represents the most that the US Senate panel could give toward the initiative as they have a smaller amount to spend on the committees programs.

Interior Appropriations chairman Diane Feinstein (D-CA) told Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich) that she will support full funding during the conference negotiations. Sen. Levin has been working behind the scenes to ensure that the Senate Committee put as much money as possible into the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The full Senate appropriations committee will consider the bill Thursday afternoon. The US House is expected to vote on the House version for $475 million this week. Then the full US Senate is expected to vote on the Senate version sometime soon after the Fourth of July break.

So far, so good. Keep up the great work!

Bills to hit the Floor

The Great Lakes $475 million and the State Revolving Fund and EPA spending bills are due to hit the floor of the US House this week as well as see a mark-up session in the US Senate tomorrow.

A number of Republicans have had a difficult time choking down the increased spending levels on Interior and EPA budgets (even though spending is $25 million less than President Obama requested) and plan to fight back this week on the US House floor. They are expected to offer amendments that would reduce spending in a number of areas. And Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, Norm Dicks, told E&E Daily that the spending bills will be at the mercy of the mood of Congress this week.

There have also been rumors circulating that the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative could be in trouble. Some lawmakers have been considering taking some of the money to use in their own states.

The Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water SRF that pay for our nation’s water infrastructure have also come under attack. Ohio’s Steven LaTourette (R) and Virginia’s Jim Moran (D) have teamed up and attached an amendment requiring federal contractors to pay the prevailing wage to workers. This promises to draw contention during the debate.

Other funding levels of concern that are included in the spending bill are: The Fish and Wildlife Services will get $1.64 billion, the National Park Service should get $2.72 billion and the National Wildlife Refuge System is expected to get $503 million to deal with climate change.

Over 1,000 Tweeters follow Great Lakes restoration on Twitter

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Yeah? Then follow us! You’ll join over 1,000 people getting updates from this blog, useful and interesting Great Lakes news items, and Congressional action alerts.

Not hip yet? It’s easy to get started – sign up and join the great conversation going on among us Great Lakes wonks.

Good and Evil in the Great Lakes Clean Water Debate

Minutes after the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted in favor of the Clean Water Restoration Act, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) put a hold on the legislation setting the scene for a battle and possibly defeat on the US Senate floor.

“Despite changes, water bill faces certain demise in the Senate,” stated a press release sent by Matt Dempsey who works for the minority members of the EPW Committee. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking Republican on the Committee told reporters that the bill was a “dagger directed right at America’s heartland.”

Not a single republican on the EPW committee voted for CWRA – not even Great Lakes Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) – a man who knows how much CWRA will help the Lakes.

“Today’s debate suggests that they may have enough votes to sustain a filibuster,” said Chad Lord, legislative director for the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition.

The drama set to unfold on the Senate floor will reveal that the Republicans are more concerned that farmers, developers and industry stakeholders will have to deal with burdensome regulations than having clean drinking water for their constituents.

In reality, all that the compromise legislation does is remove the word “navigable” replacing it with “waters of the United States” returning the Clean Water Act to its original intent by protecting the same waters and wetlands intended in the law that President Nixon (read: Republican) signed in 1972.

Opponents have been making a “red herring” argument that CWRA will bring government regulators out to every watering hole and puddle in the States to wield unparallel power over anything wet. But if you read the bill it spells out exemptions that prove this rhetoric wrong. In fact, the bill does not regulate farm or stock ponds, irrigation ditches, drainage ditches, dredged or fill materials resulting from normal farming and ranching activates. The legislation also exempts agriculture and mining run off, as well as sewer facilities. The list of exemptions goes on and on.

What it does do is modestly protect the Nation’s drinking water and many local economies. It also protects Lake Michigan by keeping the streams and wetlands that feed the lakes free from dangerous pollution.

“Our most cherished iconic waterways, Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River, can only be as healthy as the streams and wetlands that feed and clean them,” Max Muller, program director at Environment Illinois, told Environment News Service. According to the same article, the US EPA estimates that more than half of Illinois streams are in danger of increased pollution if this bill fails – streams that provide drinking water for more than 1.6 million Illinois residents.

In the end, this debate can be boiled down to one question: are you for polluting our drinking water or against it?