Issue Position: The Environment-Environmental Stewardship

Issue Position

For the last decade, I have been leading an effort known as the Western Lake Erie Basin Partnership.

This partnership has created a regional collaboration where the various federal, state and local governments are negotiating a plan for restoring the watershed.

By planning at the watershed level, governments and nonprofits leverage dollars more effectively, planning with the strategies of their partners at the same table.

While Lake Erie has a long way to go, this partnership has formalized the process for highlighting the natural wonders of Ohio's North Coast.

Great Lakes Restoration

With tens of millions of people relying on the water resource of the Great Lakes and a $5 -- 7 billion recreational fishing industry in the region, the economic benefits of restoring the integrity of the lakes are unending.

Gulf Coast Cleanup

The BP oil spill along the Gulf Coast is one of the worst ecological disasters in our nation's history, exceeding the Exxon Valdez spill in the late 1980's in both economic and ecological damages.

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