Introduction of the Protection From Algal Toxins Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill to help address the grave threat posed to human health from ingestion of microcystin toxins. Four summers ago, a massive algal bloom exploded in western Lake Erie, which generated microcystin, a cyanobacteria that can cause liver damage, nausea, headaches, and skin blemishes in humans, and is known to be lethal to pets. Just in the last few months, ``do not drink'' advisories due to microcystin were posted in Salem, Oregon and Rushville, New York.

As elected officials, our first priority must always be the safety and health of our constituents. In that vein, this bill moves to ensure microcystin will no longer be a public health threat.

This bill amends the Safe Drinking Water Act by specifying that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must make a final determination on a maximum contaminant level goal and to promulgate a national primary drinking water regulation for microcystin toxin. It demands the EPA does this before or by the time the next round of determinations is due, in 2021.

I commend the EPA's work to date to generate a strategic plan for dealing with algal toxins and for publishing an advisory for microcystin. The strategic plan and current health advisory that EPA already released are a good beginning point. But we need a finalized regulation for the dangerous microcystin that endangers Toledoans every summer with Lake Erie's recurring algal bloom problem.

In addition to the threat they pose to public health, this bacterium casts a huge economic shadow over our vital and beautiful coast. Toledo's Water Crisis cost the city government over $200,000 in cleanup costs alone, not counting untold millions in lost business and ultimately lost tax revenue.

This concern is not isolated to Lake Erie. Millions of Americans across the country rely on drinking water from natural sources that are similarly threatened by increasing levels of nutrient runoff, and the resulting toxic algal growth. A recent study from USGS showed that algal toxins are present in over 1/3 of all lakes nationwide. Additionally, the EPA recognizes harmful algal blooms as a major environmental problem in all 50 states, with severe impacts on human health.

No one should ever have to worry whether the water coming from their tap is unclean or unsafe, no matter if you're in Toledo, Ohio; Flint, Michigan; Rushville, New York; Salem, Oregon, or anywhere else in America. This bill will make us all safer and I urge my colleagues to support it.

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