Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, let me be clear, this amendment does not kill the bill or send it back to committee.

If this amendment is adopted, the bill will immediately be voted on for final passage.

This amendment is about protecting the Great Lakes, one of America's greatest treasures and important natural resources. For those of us who represent these States adjacent to the Great Lakes, we know and understand that any harm done to our lakes threatens the economy and the health of our citizens.

Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario make up the largest freshwater system in the entire world. Our Great Lakes hold 95 percent of America's freshwater and 20 percent of the freshwater on the planet.

Over 30 million people rely on the Great Lakes for their drinking water. There is an estimated 1.5 million jobs that are directly connected to the Great Lakes, and these jobs generate $62 billion in wages.

Over 40 years ago, this critical ecosystem and economic engine was on the verge of collapse. Time magazine reported in August 1969: ``Lake Erie is in danger of dying by suffocation.'' The days when polluters dumped toxic chemicals into the air and water without consequence are over.

Because of the responsible cleanup policies like the Clean Air Act, the health of the Great Lakes has improved, but threats to the Great Lakes have not disappeared. Air pollutants like mercury are emitted from power plants and continue to fall on the ground, wash into the water, and build up in quantities that threaten the brain development of young children and place limits on the amount of fish that we can consume.

Rising mercury levels is one of the mounting threats that motivated an unprecedented coalition into action. Governors of the eight Great Lakes States, Republicans and Democrats, along with local officials and leaders from tribal nations, nonprofits and the private sector came together to save the Great Lakes.

Early last decade, they created a plan for environmental restoration and economic recovery of the Great Lakes. In 2004, President Bush responded to this bipartisan effort by issuing an executive order that called the Great Lakes ``a national treasure,'' and he directed his Cabinet to establish an interagency task force to report these State and local efforts.

Now, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota never agree about politics, and they certainly don't agree on football, but as members of the Council of Great Lakes Governors, they agree on the need to reduce air and water pollution in the Great Lakes. Years of planning and partnership in the Great Lakes region and in Washington are now making a difference on the ground through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The initiative is protecting drinking water, it's restoring fish and wildlife habitat, and it's supporting the growth of small businesses that depend on healthy waters. The work under way is 300 projects across this region.

Now, my role as a legislator from the Great Lakes region is to do no harm to this effort. The TRAIN Act will make the enforcement of many of the environmental protections uncertain, and it will create confusion in the EPA about which public health efforts they can pursue.

And my amendment does not give the EPA any new authority. Instead, it directs the EPA to use its existing authority to do what Republican and Democratic Governors, mayors, State legislators and other elected officials in the Great Lakes have agreed upon must be done: protect drinking water and protect public health.

Our job in Congress is to protect the Great Lakes, not to undo the hard work of all these Governors and, yes, industry leaders. My amendment makes it clear that the TRAIN Act will not prohibit this work from moving forward.

Let me be clear, my amendment does not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If this amendment is adopted, it will immediately be voted on on final passage.

Regardless of your position on the TRAIN Act, this amendment makes the bill stronger. Regardless of how you feel about the TRAIN Act, I'm sure you agree Congress should protect the safety of drinking water and continue to ensure the viability of the economic interests of the Great Lakes.

Again, let me be clear. This amendment does not kill the bill. It does not send it back to committee. If this amendment is adopted, it will immediately be voted on for final passage.

Colleagues, let us work together, let us pass this amendment, and let us restore the Great Lakes. Let us protect America's public health.

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