Today I joined U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider to celebrate the completion of contamination cleanup at Waukegan Harbor, which moves the harbor one step closer to being removed from a binational list of the most contaminated sites on the Great Lakes.

Waukegan was designated by the International Joint Commission on the Great Lakes as an Area of Concern (AOC) in the 1980s. Since then, many have called the harbor the worst PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) contaminated site in the United States. The completion of the environmental cleanup of Waukegan Harbor is a critical first step to spurring economic redevelopment in Waukegan and Northern Illinois. This restoration has cleared the way for business development, property value increases, and a significant economic boost for the region, and is a huge milestone in the years of work between federal, state, and local stakeholders.

Since being elected to Congress in 2000, I have worked alongside of federal, state, and local stakeholders to ensure completion of the harbor cleanup and advance economic development in Waukegan and Lake County. Beginning in 2001, I worked to bring community leaders together with state and federal stakeholders to develop the cleanup action plan of Waukegan Harbor. In 2002, I was an original cosponsor of H.R. 1070, the Great Lakes Legacy Act, introduced by Rep. Vern Ehlers. Signed into law in 2002 and reauthorized in 2008, The Great Lakes Legacy Act provided federal support through the EPA Great Lakes National Program Office for the cleanup and prevention of further contamination at sites across the Great Lakes region, including at Waukegan.

The cleanup of Waukegan Harbor and economic revitalization of Waukegan have remained a priority for me for more than fourteen years, and today I am proud to announce that more than 150,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment has been removed or capped from Waukegan Harbor, completing the work required to ultimately remove the harbor as an AOC along the Great Lakes.

For more information on my work to preserve the Great Lakes, please visit my page on the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, of which I am a co-chair.