Kaptur Seeks to Cut Off Funding for Open Lake Dumping
May 16, 2016
By: Tom Jackson, Sandusky Register
May 16, 2016
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur says she will attempt to cut off all federal funding for open lake dumping on Lake Erie being carried out by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Kaptur, D-Toledo, said she supports a measure by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to ban open lake dumping into Lake Erie unless approved by Ohio's state government , and said she would like to take the further step of banning all open lake dumping.
State and local officials have been feuding with the Army Corps of Engineers over the agency's efforts to dump toxic materials taken from the Cuyahoga River into Lake Erie near Cleveland's shore.
More generally, environmentalists have urged the corps to dispose of all dredged materials on land rather than putting them back into the lake. The fear is that open lake dumping of even relatively clean materials could add to the nutrients that feed Lake Erie's harmful algal blooms.
Last week, Brown announced he had inserted a provision into the Senate's energy and water appropriations bill that would ban open lake dumping in Lake Erie unless Ohio state regulators approve it.
The Senate passed the appropriations bill, but House action will be required before the measure becomes law, a spokeswoman for Brown said.
Kaptur was in Sandusky Monday to watch a home at 1228 Seavers Way being demolished using federal Hardest Hit Funds. Kaptur sits on the House Appropriations Committee, and she was asked if she can help get Brown's measure passed on the House side.
"We will not give the Army Corps of Engineers the funds to open lake dump here," she said. "They simply have to catch up to the reality of Lake Erie's ecosystem and what it is facing now. She's choking from the nutrients that are flooding into the lake, mainly in the Western Basin.
"This is a different time, this is a new era, and we have to meet the test of this new day. Open lake dumping does not contribute to the betterment of the lake," she said.
All of Ohio's congressional delegation along the Lake Erie coast is opposed to open lake dumping.
"Obviously, we don't want toxics, but we don't want nutrients, either, because they feed the algal blooms that are choking Lake Erie, and she simply can't take it anymore. It's a very serious situation. We have to have the Corps' cooperation. They know our position, now we expect them to do something," she said.
The U.S. House took recent action on another bill affecting Lake Erie.
On April 26, the House passed the bipartisan Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2016, authorizing the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $300 million a year for five years. It's the level of funding that had been sought by environmental organizations such as the Healing Our Waters — Great Lakes Coalition.
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program created by the Obama administration, pays for projects such as restoring wildlife habitat, cleaning up toxic pollution sites and reducing water runoff from farms and cities.
Kaptur said she hopes the Senate will join with the House on the $300 million figure.
"Our goal is to conference it as appropriators," she said, referring to the final version of the bill, which is drawn up in a joint House-Senate conference committee.