Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are the jewel of Upstate New York and an economic engine that creates jobs. Louise has been a tireless advocate for the Great Lakes. Louise knows that the Lakes are a leading economic driver for communities across Upstate New York, and part of what makes Upstate New York such a special place to call home. That’s why Louise has led the effort to secure more than $1.2 billion for Great Lakes preservation and restoration, including dredging.

Louise is an original co-sponsor of HR 2273, the Great Lakes Navigation System Sustainability Act. This legislation would establish a single, comprehensive Great Lakes Navigation System for budgeting purposes. It would take all the individually authorized commercial and recreational navigation projects in the Great Lakes and recognize them as a unified entity to ensure adequate funding. This legislation also creates a program to help reduce the harbor maintenance backlog. It does not create any new spending – instead uses existing funds from the underutilized Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to establish a cost-share program that makes these funds available by giving priority to harbors that provide a 50% cost-share for a Great Lakes Navigation System project. The bill is a bipartisan effort by Louise and her Democratic colleage, Rep. Brian Higgins, and Republicans Candace Miller, Bill Huizenga, and Dan Benishek.

Louise is also a cosponsor of H.R. 600, the Great Lakes Nutrient Removal Act. This bill would amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a program to provide grants to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and municipalities in such states to upgrade eligible municipal wastewater treatment plants with nutrient removal technologies.

Furthermore, the legislation would require the EPA Administrator to give priority to plants at which nutrient removal technology upgrades would: (1) produce the greatest nutrient load reductions at points of discharge, (2) result in the greatest environmental benefits to the Great Lakes System, and (3) help meet the objectives related to nutrients outlined in Annex four of the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.  Under the legislation, an eligible plant would be defined as one that has a permitted design capacity to treat an annual average of at least 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day, and is located within the Great Lakes System in any of such states. To control costs to taxpayers, the legislation would prohibit the federal share of expenses from exceeding 55% of the total cost of upgrading such plants.

Learn More:

Great Lakes Task Force and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

Dredging & Short Sea Shipping

Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act

In the News

June 7, 2013: Slaughter, Higgins Introduce Legislation to Support Our Great Lakes Waterway