The U.S. House this week is considering various legislative proposals allocating money to refurbish sewage plants, control invasive species and restore the Great Lakes:
* The full House late Wednesday voted 367-58 to pass a bill allocating $1.5 billion for direct grants to cities to upgrade aging sewer systems.
* The full House today is expected to act on a bill offering $14 billion in federal loan guarantees for municipal sewage treatment and water treatment plants.
* The House Subcommittee on Water Resources on Wednesday heard testimony on the problems caused by foreign invasive species in the Great Lakes.
* Bills also were introduced Wednesday that call for the comprehensive restoration of the lakes to recover from polluted sediments, invasive species, habitat loss and sewage spills. The Great Collaboration Implementation Act puts into place many suggestions of a panel of experts to the Environmental Protection Agency in 2005. Environmental groups praised introduction of the bill, saying billions of dollars are needed in coming years to restore the lakes.
The $14 billion Water Quality Financing Act of 2007, expected to pass the House today, is expected to take some of the burden of cleaning up lakes and rivers, including the Great Lakes, away from cities like Duluth that have aging water delivery and sewer systems.
"Cities across the nation need this help. In some cases, they are trying to make do with sewer pipes that are over 100 years old,'' Oberstar said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Oberstar vowed that he would move legislation this term that requires ballast water in ships entering or moving in the Great Lakes to be somehow filtered or sterilized. That would prevent ships from carrying troublesome foreign species, like zebra mussels, and diseases, such as VHS, a fish-killing bacteria, which already are disrupting the lakes.
Several Minnesota groups applauded the House actions, saying the 180 invasive species already in the Great Lakes, including 86 in Lake Superior, are disrupting native fish and damaging the economy.
"We applaud the bipartisan group of congressmen who put this bill forward,'' Duluth's Rosie Loeffler-Kemp of the group Clean Water Action said in a statement.
Among those testifying Wednesday on invasive species was Adolph Ojard, executive director of the Port Authority of Duluth. Ojard called on Congress to pass a single, uniform set of laws and regulations to control invasive species in ballast water and to offer incentives for the industry to develop the most effective treatment techniques.Duluth News Tribune
