Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member Mr. Bishop for
yielding and thank the chairman Mr. Gibbs, and, obviously, my colleague
Mr. Joyce, who just spoke.

I rise in support strong support of H.R. 5764.

Since the creation of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, our
Nation has made great strides in reviving and protecting our Nation's
greatest freshwater treasure, our Great Lakes.

Still, despite progress, this past summer presented a stark reminder
of the unfinished challenge, as a toxic algal bloom shut off the fresh
drinking water to over half a million people and businesses in Ohio and
Michigan for 3 days across Lake Erie's western basin, the largest
watershed in the entire Great Lakes.

The public, though shocked, was orderly and beneficent. We didn't
have riots or civil disorder.

During that 3-day crisis, astoundingly, we learned communities along
the lake were not equipped locally to test the water so vital to their
own survival. Two precious days were wasted sending and resending vials
and samples 5 hours away to EPA labs, and then back and then back
again. This simply is unacceptable. Proper testing equipment on Lake
Erie is fundamental, fundamental to a response time commensurate with
the challenge that remains before us.

The Lake Erie community needs its own water testing equipment and
certified lab. Already local universities and health departments have
been assembling key components of necessary equipment for a certified
lab. It is incumbent upon the GLRI to help us find a way to provide the
remaining $147,000--not million--$147,000 we have to deliver.

To date, the lack of response from our Federal agencies is
astounding. Lake Erie's water quality is an emergency due to the toxic
algal blooms.

When we see Federal agencies diverting hundreds of millions of
dollars abroad to dams in Afghanistan to deliver freshwater, yet
somehow our own EPA can't identify funds to protect the American people
who live along Lake Erie and Lake Michigan and draw their life source
from it, I stand aghast.

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Ms. KAPTUR. When our water crisis occurred, the U.S. EPA didn't even
show up or have personnel on the ground. I asked, ``Where is Homeland
Security funding to help during the crisis and after?'' No show. As far
as I am concerned, they are asleep at the wheel. Wake up.

As we prepare for a new spring thaw and the increasing rains that
will come, feeding the algal blooms, the GLRI presents the hope that I
still have that a solution can be found to counter the agency dithering
that our region has experienced throughout this harrowing environmental
crisis.

Surely, America can do better. I really think the chairman Mr. Gibbs,
from the State of Ohio, and my dear colleague Mr. Joyce, from the State
of Ohio, they live at the other end of the lake, but they get the
problem. God bless you. And I thank the ranking member, Mr. Bishop from
the east coast, who understands how important freshwater is to sustain
life in this country. It shouldn't be this hard.

Thank you so very much for this bill. I rise in strong support.

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