Brian Higgins: “Since 2010, Congress has invested $2.5 billion to fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program that has…”

“Since 2010, Congress has invested $2.5 billion to fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program that has protected and restored the largest source of fresh water in the world. A new study coordinated by the Great Lakes Commission and conducted by the University of Michigan has shown restoring our waterways is also restoring economic opportunity in the once struggling Great Lakes region. Every Federal dollar invested is producing three to four times that amount in regional economic growth and activity. Thirty years ago, the Buffalo River was declared biologically dead and ecologically destroyed because of industrial dumping of toxic waste directly into the river. In Buffalo and western New York, Great Lakes Restoration Initiative investments in and around the Great Lakes and the Buffalo River have led to more than $100 million in private sector investments along the water's edge, new residential demand, increased tourism, and a waterfront rebirth. Time and again, I have stood on this floor and fought to maintain the Great Lakes restoration funding, and this is why: the investments made are bringing our waterways and our cities back to life. ____________________”