Great Lakes Congressional Watch

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 » »

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 » »

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 » »

Asian Carp Get Hearing on Hill

In the midst of back-to-back snowstorm that have disabled Washington, several members of the House Transportation Committee met for a hearing on the Asian Carp crisis.

But even though the audience was small, the news was not – the Federal Government is strongly considering permanently separating the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins as a long-term solution to the carp crisis. In the short term, the Army Corps refuses to shut the locks until they have been able to complete a study of the impact of doing so, not just on the carp and the lakes Read More » »

Does The White House Plan Add Up to Zero Tolerance for Asian Carp?

The White House has promised a zero tolerance policy toward new invasive species and they believe that the draft Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework released today at the summit meeting with Great Lakes Governors is proof positive that they are taking this issue seriously.

White House Counsel for Environmental Quality Chief, Nancy Sutley described the multitier plan of defense as evidence of an unparalleled federal effort. Charles Wooley, deputy regional director for the Fish and Wildlife Service pronounced with conviction “we are doing everything humanly possible to keep these fish out of Lake Michigan.”

Except shutting the locks. Michigan’s Governor Jennifer Read More » »