Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer my full support for
H.R. 5764, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2014. The
reason is simple, Mr. Speaker: the Great Lakes are a national and
economic treasure in the U.S., which contains one-fifth of the world's
freshwater supply.

The GLRI is the most important, significant, and productive effort to
date to protect these five lakes that provide drinking water and jobs
for millions of people. It is crucial that the GLRI be formally
authorized at $300 million for the next 5 years to ensure that the
great work already done is not lost.

This does not add any new spending and will continue to make sure
necessary resources are available.

GLRI is an action-oriented, results-driven initiative targeting the
most significant problems within the basin, including invasive species
like Asian carp, toxins and contaminated sediment, nonpoint source
pollution, and habitat and wildlife protection and restoration.

The programs are working, and the GLRI will ensure we have healthy
Great Lakes, while boosting the economies in this vast region.

The Great Lakes are one of the jewels of the United States. When I
talk about the Great Lakes to people who are not from the region, I
make sure to point out their benefits are twofold: economic and
environmental.

Let me give you a couple of statistics that will illustrate how
important it is that we make this critical investment.

Six quadrillion. We are not talking about a little freshwater here.
There are six quadrillion gallons of water in the Great Lakes basin.
Let's let that number soak in.

$62 billion. The Great Lakes basin supports a diverse range of
industries and small businesses, and that is how much is generated by
wages in the industry in the Great Lakes region.

Thirty million. That is the number of people who live within the
Great Lakes basin and rely on them for safe drinking water,
transportation, and recreation.

$14 million. That is how much money in GLRI funds that was spent to
clean up the Ashtabula River, in the heart of my district. Because
these programs are working, I was able to see the Ashtabula River taken
off the EPA's designated list of places that are ``areas of concern'' a
couple of months ago. That is a really big deal for northeast Ohio.

1.5 million. That is how many jobs are directly related to the Great
Lakes.

3,500. That is how many diverse species of plant and wildlife call
the Great Lakes home.

Finally, the last and most telling statistic for you today is the
number three. Three is the number of days that residents of Toledo in
my home State of Ohio were unable to drink the water in their homes
because of the harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. The water
in Lake Erie was literally green. That is unacceptable.

This is a clear reason why we need to pass this bill and authorize
GLRI--with bipartisan support--because no American should ever be
afraid to drink the tap water in their own home.

Supporting this bill will lock in the programs that work to ensure
our Nation's largest bodies of freshwater are protected and will
continue to be protected in the future.

Before I close, I want to thank Chairman Shuster, as well as my
colleague and dear friend from Ohio, Representative Gibbs, and the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for their help on this
bill. We have spent a lot of time working on this issue, and I am very
grateful for their assistance.

I would also like to thank Majority Leader McCarthy for scheduling
this important bill for floor consideration.

I am very excited the GLRI enjoys so much bipartisan support from
Great Lakes Members here in Congress. When we make these investments in
our Great Lakes, results are produced for our constituents, the
environment, and businesses throughout the vast region.

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Mr. JOYCE. It is critical we formally authorize GLRI so that people
who live in Toledo or Mentor or Conneaut in my district don't have to
worry about days ahead without fresh drinking water.

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