Kaptur Champions Great Lakes Issues at Environmental Summit

Statement

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) spoke at the Northeast Midwest Institute's Great Lakes Environmental Summit on Capitol Hill today, calling for greater federal investment in Great Lakes infrastructure and a new holistic approach by all stakeholders that treats the Great Lakes as a single interconnected system.

"The Great Lakes are a deeply interconnected ecological and economic system, and they should be treated that way," said Kaptur."Taken together, our region is home to one of the largest economies and one of the largest concentrations of fresh water in the world. As legislators from this area, we have to work together to address the common problems we all face to ensure our region is able to get the federal resources it needs and deserves.

"I think we are all conscious that we have an enormous role to play in this, especially in light of what has been happening to the water and to thousands of families in Flint, Michigan and Sebring, Ohio for more than a year. Just two summers ago, my hometown of Toledo, Ohio faced another water crisis, and the response of our federal government was too little and too slow then as well.

"We have a responsibility not just to hold those responsible for these avoidable crises accountable, but to focus together on making systematic improvements that will resolve these problems now and prevent their return in the future. In Northern Ohio we are still fighting for those improvements.

"Our region is home to vast amounts of fresh water, one of the largest collections of this precious resource in the world. The health of this water system will be our legacy. Stewardship of it requires long-term thinking and a commitment to practices that are sustainable across generations. Let us be eagles, not ostriches, as we work to preserve the precious life of this water system, and the precious lives of the families and communities that depend on it."

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