Defending the Great Lakes must remain a priority

All of us who advocate for the protection and improvement of our Great Lakes have had several major restoration and preservation accomplishments worth celebrating in 2015. Late last month, the president signed into law the Microbead-Free Waters Act, legislation that creates a nationwide ban on the production and distribution of household products that contain synthetic microbeads. This is a huge victory, as these tiny synthetic plastic beads pose a serious threat to the health of our Great Lakes. Added to personal care products like exfoliating soaps and scrubs, these tiny synthetic plastic microbeads pass right through our water filtration and treatment plants and attract other pollutants in the lakes before being consumed by fish and wildlife, thus becoming part of our food chain.

Last year, legislation that was signed into law included a provision heightening the urgency of preventing Asian carp from invading our Great Lakes by directing the Army Corps of Engineers to establish emergency plans to address the presence of these invasive fish at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam, the choke point in preventing Asian carp’s spread into the Great Lakes.

Additionally, legislation was signed into law that provides funding for the Army Corps to complete its Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study and funds the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $300 million – $50 million over the president’s request. I cannot stress enough how impactful GLRI has been, and continues to be, in the effort to restore and preserve our Great Lakes.

These are all great victories worth celebrating. However, looking ahead to 2016, we must ensure issues affecting the Great Lakes remain a priority, specifically: addressing the aging Enbridge pipeline, halting Canada’s proposed nuclear waste facility, and defending the Great Lakes against invasive species like Asian carp.

Over the last decade, I have raised concerns over the integrity of Enbridge’s aging pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac. It wasn’t long ago we saw the devastating impact of a ruptured pipeline, when Enbridge’s 6B pipe spilled well over 800,000 gallons of crude oil in Marshall. Obviously, we need energy, and Canada is the largest foreign energy supplier to Michigan and the U.S. However, it is important we work together to ensure the safe delivery of their energy, safeguarding the lakes from the devastating impact such an oil spill in the straits would be certain to have.

We must also continue to keep pressure on the Canadian Minister of the Environment to disapprove Ontario Power Generation’s proposed plan to build a deep geological repository for nuclear waste off the shore of Lake Huron – a decision that has been delayed until March 1. Millions of people’s social and economic livelihoods are dependent on the Great Lakes, which account for 20 percent of the globe’s fresh water supply. Placing a deep geological repository for nuclear waste less than a mile from Lake Huron puts the Great Lakes in unnecessary danger. That is why I have repeatedly called on the State Department to engage the International Joint Commission to ensure we can stop the proposed project.

Finally, we must remain vigilant in defending our Great Lakes against invasive species such as Asian carp. Asian carp have migrated up the Mississippi River destroying nearly every ecosystem in their path. Last October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the results of a new study conducted over the past year that indicates smaller fish, including Asian carp, traveling with barge traffic, could inadvertently be transported through the electric barriers intended to stop them. Invasive species hitching a ride on vessels is exactly how zebra mussels were brought into the Great Lakes, and we cannot afford to make the same mistake twice. I look forward to working across the aisle to continue to advocate for this legislation, as well as any initiative that will stop these fish from destroying the Great Lakes’ ecosystem.

Those of us who grew up on the shores of the Great Lakes understand they are our way of life; they are in our DNA, and I hope my grandchildren and their children have the opportunity to experience their magnificence. That is why I have and will continue to make their restoration and preservation a priority.

Rep. Candice Miller represents the 10th District in Congress.