GLIN==> Senators Levin, Stabenow Sponsor Great Lakes Environmental Restoration Act

["List Manager" <adminpst@great-lakes.net>]

See http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=232928 or
http://stabenow.senate.gov/press/2005/030705GreatLakesRestorationAct.htm



     Senators Levin, Stabenow Sponsor Great Lakes Environmental Restoration 
Act

     March 7, 2005


     WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Debbie Stabenow, 
D-Mich., joined five of their Senate colleagues last week in sponsoring 
bipartisan legislation to increase funding for Great Lakes ecosystem 
restoration. The Great Lakes Environmental Restoration Act, S. 508, would 
authorize $6 billion over 10 years for new Great Lakes grants. The 
legislation would also codify into law the Great Lakes Federal Interagency 
Task Force, created by Executive Order in May 2004, to strengthen 
coordination of federal Great Lakes activities.

     "While the Great Lakes made strides after environmental protections 
were put in place 30 years ago, progress in the last 15 years has been very 
slow," said Levin. "This legislation would provide the federal commitment of 
funding and resources to keep pace with the restoration needs of the Great 
Lakes. The Great Lakes are a unique and valuable resource and Congress must 
act to enhance their restoration and protection."

     "As a Michigan senator, I feel a special responsibility to protect the 
Great Lakes. They are not only a source of clean drinking water for more 
than 30 million people but are also an integral part of Michigan's heritage 
and its economy," Stabenow said.

     "Ultimately, we need to make restoration of the Great Lakes a national 
priority, similar to what was done for the Florida Everglades, and this 
legislation moves us in that direction," she said. "By setting priorities 
for restoration projects, and providing essential funding, this important 
legislation will help restore and protect our great national treasures - the 
Great Lakes."

     The Great Lakes Environmental Restoration Act would do the following:

     Grants. The bill would restore the Great Lakes ecosystem by 
authorizing up to $600 million annually for 10 years in competitive grants 
administered by Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Great Lakes National 
Program Office. These grants would be in addition to the existing federal 
efforts in the Great Lakes. The Program Office, in consultation with the 
Great Lakes Environmental Restoration Advisory Board, would award grants to 
states, municipalities, and other applicants. At least one project in each 
Great Lake state would be funded each year. Every Great Lakes state would 
receive a minimum of 6 percent of the total available funding each year, and 
no state could receive more than 30 percent of the total funding each year. 
Additionally, grants would have to address one or more of the designated 
Great Lakes restoration priorities designated by the Advisory Board.

     Advisory Board. The governor-led Great Lakes Environmental Restoration 
Advisory Board would be comprised of Great Lakes governors, mayors and local 
officials, and federal agencies, along with Native American tribes, 
environmentalists, industry representatives, and Canadian observers. This 
Advisory Board would determine the priority issues for grants issued under 
the Great Lakes Environmental Restoration Grant Program and advise the 
Program Office on the grant proposals that should be funded.

     Interagency Task Force. The bill would codify the Great Lakes Federal 
Agency Task Force, created by Executive Order, to strengthen coordination of 
federal Great Lakes activities. The EPA would lead the Council and 
participants would include the key federal agencies involved in Great Lakes 
work such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Army Corps of 
Engineers, and Fish and Wildlife Service. The bill would also codify the 
existing Great Lakes Regional Collaboration process to ensure the 
preparation and oversight of the development and implementation of the 
comprehensive restoration action plan.

     Monitoring. The Great Lakes National Program Office, in coordination 
with other federal agencies and Canada, would develop indicators of water 
quality and related environmental factors in the Great Lakes, as well as a 
network to monitor those indicators regularly throughout the Great Lakes 
basin. The Program Office would report to Congress on the changes in water 
quality after initial benchmark data is collected within four years, and 
again every two years thereafter.

     Senator Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, introduced the Great Lakes Environmental 
Restoration Act. DeWine and Levin are co-chairs of the Senate Great Lakes 
Task Force. Other original cosponsors include Senators Evan Bayh, D-Ind., 
Richard Lugar, R-Ind., Herb Kohl, D-Wisc., and Mark Dayton, D-Minn.