Carl Levin

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. LEVIN. We have no objection to the amendment on this side.

Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 727

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be added as a cosponsor of the amendment.

Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 822

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Boxer, I offer an amendment that requires the Comptroller General to submit a report regarding the adequacy of special pays and allowances for service members who experience frequent deployments away from their permanent duty stations for periods less than 30 days.

Mr. LEVIN. We have no objection on this side.

Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. Th motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 813

Mr. LEVIN. We have no objection.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be laid aside for all the amendments which Senator Warner and I will now be offering.

Mr. LEVIN. I offer an amendment on behalf of Senator Sarbanes that would provide for the conveyance of 33 acres of land in Fort Ritchie, MD.

Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 805

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, we have no objection to this amendment.

Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 790, As Modified

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, there is no objection on this side. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be added as a cosponsor.

Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 760

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, there is no objection on this side.

Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 810

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, there is no objection on this side.

Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 809

Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 723, As Modified

Mr. LEVIN. There is no objection to the amendment.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, my colleagues Senators DeWine and Voinovich of Ohio, Senator Stabenow of Michigan, and I are pleased to introduce the Great Lakes Water Quality Indicators and Monitoring Act. This bill will provide science-based assessments of the health of the Great Lakes and whether restoration projects are working. The bill directs the Environmental Protection Agency to develop indicators of Great Lakes water quality and related environmental factors and a comprehensive network to monitor those indicators. The Great Lakes contain almost 20 percent of the world's fresh water. Millions of people rely on the lakes for drinking water, for economic livelihoods such as fishing and shipping, and for recreational opportunities, including swimming and boating. But the Great Lakes have suffered from decades of toxic discharges, urban and agricultural runoff, and other environmental challenges. We've made some progress in improving water quality, but we know we have a long way to go. The stewards of the lakes at the Federal, State, and local levels use a variety of methods to determine the health of the Great Lakes and whether they are improving. For example, EPA and the Fish and Wildlife Service monitor the accumulation of chemicals in Great Lakes fish. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration detects changes in the ecosystem from space-based satellites and waterborne buoys. The Geological Survey samples stream flow and quality, and the states inspect for compliance with water quality standards. But these efforts to collect scientific data are largely voluntary and suffer from a lack of funding and coordination. They use inconsistent methods that often produce incompatible results. This week, members of the Great Lakes Task Force released a General Accounting Office report on Great Lakes environmental programs. GAO looked at almost 200 Federal and State programs and found that a lack of coordination, poorly defined goals, and insufficient data make it difficult to evaluate the success of these programs. GAO found that there are no data collected regularly throughout the Great Lakes, and that the existing data are inadequate to determine whether water quality and other environmental conditions are improving. In 1990, I authored the Great Lakes Critical Programs Act, which strengthened the water quality standards in the Great Lakes region. This year, Congress passed the Great Lakes Legacy Act, to speed the cleanup of contaminated bottom sediment. But we haven't established a way to evaluate the impact of these measures. A restoration program is only as good as its ability to demonstrate results. To show results, we need science-based indicators of water quality and related environmental factors, and we need to monitor those indicators regularly throughout the ecosystem. GAO recommends that EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office lead an effort to develop indicators and a monitoring network. Our bill gives that office the mandate to work with other federal agencies and Canada to identify and measure water quality and other environmental factors on a regular basis. The initial set of data collected through this network will serve as a benchmark against which to measure future improvements. Those measurements will help us make decisions on how to steer future restoration efforts. With a clear picture of how the Great Lakes are changing, we can change course when needed and spend public funds on the most pressing demands. This bill serves a second purpose--it provides EPA with dedicated funding to make sure that data collection can begin in a timely manner and be carried out consistently and comprehensively as long as the Great Lakes are in need. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill and help speed its passage. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.