TAFT CALLS FOR SWIFT CONGRESSIONAL ACTION TO ADDRESS LAKE ERIE CHALLENGES
TOLEDO (November 14, 2003) - Governor Bob Taft today urged Congress to act quickly to pass pending legislation to support Great Lakes research and restoration efforts, and called on President Bush to voice his support of these measures.
"I urge Congress to act quickly to enact the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act and the Great Lakes Restoration bill," Taft said. "Our lakes are in trouble, and our own future depends on how successfully we work together to restore them. We can and must harness the Great Lakes power to bring commerce to the regional and national economy for today's families, while safeguarding the ecosystem for future generations."
Taft, chairman of the Council of Great Lakes Governors, outlined efforts by Ohio and other Great Lakes states and provinces to secure and preserve the environmental well-being of lake and coastal resources. The Governor discussed nine Great Lakes protection and restoration priorities established by the Council at his direction and urged Congressional support for federal legislation that would invest $6 billion for action on those priorities.
Taft spoke today at a conference on Great Lakes issues sponsored by the University of Toledo's Legal Institute of the Great Lakes. The goals Taft discussed are part of the Council's Great Lakes Priorities Project, which aims to articulate the region's priorities for protection and restoration of the Lakes, set a path for making those priorities a reality, and obtain the necessary substantial federal funding.
"The Great Lakes are a global treasure. They contain 20 percent of the fresh surface water in the world, and 95 percent of the fresh surface water in the United States. There is no other ecosystem like the Great Lakes. If we believe as a nation in environmental protection, we must protect the Great Lakes," said Taft.
Taft also detailed the most pressing challenges facing the Great Lakes today, including invasive species, coastal erosion, sedimentation from tributary streams, lack of public access, growing demand for the use of Great Lakes water and the reoccurrence of anoxia, the so-called oxygen-free "dead zone," in parts of Lake Erie.
The Council was established in 1983 to encourage and facilitate environmentally responsible economic growth in the region. Through the Council, Governors of the eight Great Lakes states and the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec work collectively to ensure that the entire Great Lakes region is both economically sound and environmentally conscious in addressing today's problems and tomorrow's challenges.
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More information is available on the Council of Great Lakes Governors website, located at http://www.cglg.org.
Contact: Orest Holubec, Governor's Office, at (614) 644-0957; or Carol Hester,
Ohio EPA, at (614) 644-2160.