Joyce Great Lakes Legislation Passes House of Representatives

Press Release

U.S. Rep Dave Joyce (OH-14) today applauded the House of Representatives bipartisan passage of his legislation, H.R. 223, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2016.

Joyce authorized the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) through 2021 to address some of the most serious issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of the entire Great Lakes basin. The watershed includes two nations, eight U.S. states, two Canadian provinces, and more than 40 tribes.

Joyce introduced the bill last year to protect the source of clean drinking water for 35 million Americans and to keep the lakes safe for families throughout the region.

"I believe water resources are the new gold," Joyce said. "As such we need to make sure we are protecting one of the greatest natural and economic resources of the nation."

The Great Lakes are home to more than 3,500 species of plants and animals and support more than 1.5 million jobs. Thanks to funding from the GLRI, more than 115,000 acres of wetlands and other habitat in the Great Lakes region have been restored, protected, or enhanced. Additionally, more than 250 dams and barriers were removed, allowing fish to access more than 3,800 miles of water.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative was launched in 2010. Mr. Joyce's legislation creates greater certainty for the program and allows the restoration work to continue. In particular, without an authorization, Great Lakes restoration efforts are at risk from changing administrative and congressional priorities.

"This legislation makes the Great Lakes a long-term priority," Joyce said. "The Great Lakes are home to 95 percent of the U.S. surface freshwater and we can't let its protection get bogged down in partisan politics."

There are 16 federal agency partners that work together on GLRI priorities that include: cleaning up toxics and areas of concern; combating invasive species; protecting watersheds; and restoring wetlands.

Mr. Joyce's legislation will mandate that the federal government, in conjunction with Great Lakes basin states, create and maintain a 5 year action plan. This plan will then be used as a blue print to determine funding projects in the future.

Also, included in the legislation is the creation/designation of a Harmful Algal Bloom Coordinator. The coordinator will help centralize and coordinate the government response to the algal bloom issue that harmed the City of Toledo and has been moving farther east along Lake Erie.

The legislation will also continue to help clean up of Areas of Concern (AOCs) under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement with Canada. AOCs are designated areas around the Great Lakes where the contamination is especially serious and the quality of the resource so degraded that special attention is needed. The United States has been working on the cleanup of 31 of these AOCs for over 20 years, and until the passage of funding for GLRI, only one had been cleaned up and removed from the list of AOCs. In the five years since GLRI was established, three additional AOCs have been removed from the list and all of the cleanup work needed to remove four more has been completed, including the Ashtabula River.

"I think the Ashtabula River cleanup is the perfect example of how the GLRI helped to get a much needed long term project over the last hurdle," Joyce said.

The legislation will also carry on the fight to protect the Great Lakes from the invasive Asian Carp. GLRI funds have been used to prevent Asian Carp from establishing self-sustaining populations in the Great Lakes ecosystem.

This authorizing legislation will provide a legislative vehicle for Congress to make the necessary investments in the Great Lakes annually for years to come. The GLRI Act helps ensure future success by targeting resources efficiently and effectively to improve water quality, protect the health of people and wildlife, create jobs, and uphold the region's quality of life.

"This legislation will help invest resources in the right areas and the right places," Joyce added.

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