Portman touts legislation funding lake research

LAKESIDE - Prior to discussing the issues facing the health of Lake Erie with a diverse panel of experts and officials, Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he remembered returning from a fishing trip out on the lake prior to the same event last year with a small bottle of distinctly dark green-tinted water.

It was a sample he had taken directly from what at that time a year ago was much of western Lake Erie covered in scum, an expansive harmful algal bloom that was the largest ever recorded.

Portman took another trip out on the lake prior to this year’s panel, but he did not return with a bottle of green water. Instead of running into algae, he and the other passengers were reeling in walleye.

While Portman acknowledged the projected far less severe bloom this year compared to last is primarily due to the lack of rain, he stressed just how important the work was of the expert panelists he joined Saturday for a roundtable discussion on Lake Erie water quality issues.

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“It’s my honor to represent the lake,” Portman said, describing it as Ohio’s "treasure" and No. 1 tourist attraction.

Portman, who serves as vice-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, also noted the qualities that make Lake Erie so appealing are the same reasons scientifically that make it so susceptible, and not just from toxic-producing algae, but also major issues like invasive species and dredging.

Compared to the other Great Lakes, Lake Erie is both the shallowest and warmest, making it ideal for sport fishing and many other recreational activities.

Jeff Reutter, special adviser to Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab and U.S. co-chair of the Objectives and Targets Task Team of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, moderated Saturday’s panel and discussed how it takes more than just the research alone to address these issues.

Another vital factor is legislation and funding, with one of the most important on both of those fronts being the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, GLRI, Reutter said.

Since its inception in 2010, the GLRI has received continued bipartisan support and funded nearly 3,000 projects and programs dedicated to restoring the health of the Great Lakes.

Just this past May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded 3.3 million in grants to several new projects each in Lake Erie.

In the fiscal year 2016, a total of $300 million was secured for the GLRI in the Omnibus spending bill.

Portman hopes to continue that amount annually and has co-authored legislation that would extend authorization of the GLRI from 2017 through 2021.

jstinchcom@gannett.com

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