As Congress is poised, for the first time ever, to consider a package of bills aimed at restoring waterways across the nation, PennEnvironment today released Our Great Waters, a new report that outlines the regional, environmental, and economic significance of eight of America’s most treasured waterways, including two waterways connected to Pennsylvania – Lake Erie and the Chesapeake Bay. This report lays out the specific problems facing each of these water bodies and potential legislative fixes. The release of this report comes a week before a key vote in the Environment and Public Works committee in the U.S. Senate – next week the committee will vote on several bills to restore our great waters.
“Pennsylvania is lucky to be connected to special waterways like Lake Erie and the Chesapeake Bay,” said Erika Staaf, clean water advocate with PennEnvironment. “However, as we allow agricultural pollution, runoff from paved-over surfaces and industrial pollution to continue to flow into these waterways, we are putting bottom lines before the natural value of these great waters.”
The Our Great Waters report found:
• The Great Lakes are a source of $15 billion annually in tourism revenue, with Lake Erie alone generating $9 billion.
• The Chesapeake Bay watershed comprises over 100,000 rivers and streams, including over 7,000 here in Pennsylvania. The Susquehanna River delivers half of the fresh water in the Chesapeake Bay.
“Unlike in the Gulf, we don’t have spill cam footage or front page New York Times photos of pollution in Lake Erie,” added Staaf. “But what we do have is a dead zone in Lake Erie that has grown to larger than 10,000 square kilometers and 25 years of pollution running into the Chesapeake Bay.”
The report describes legislation that Congress is currently considering, including two bills that PennEnvironment says would finally start to address the pollution problems in these two waterways.
• The Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection Act of 2010 (S. 3073, H.R. 4755) would set establish parameters for restoration efforts and provide funding for high-priority restoration efforts.
• The Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act (S. 1816, H.R. 3852) would set up new tools for enforcing pollution limits and provide the resources to achieve the goals we need for a clean Bay.
“Maintaining great waters like Lake Erie and the Chesapeake Bay – and the rivers and streams that feed them – is going to take new action and stronger measures than are currently in place. We are counting on the Senate to pass legislation not only for these waterways near us in Pennsylvania, but for many of America's great waters,” concluded Staaf.
