Lake Erie is part of who we are as Ohioans. That’s why United States Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) has long been a leading champion of Lake Erie, which provides drinking water for three million Ohioans and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Every summer, he holds a roundtable discussion with federal, state, and local water quality experts.

These discussions have led to numerous legislative initiatives that have yielded positive results for Ohio. Last week, nearly $1 million of federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) funds were granted to five Ohio cities: Ashtabula, Cleveland, Huron, Sandusky, and Vermilion. The funds will be used on green infrastructure projects to improve water quality. As Vice-Chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, Senator Portman helped secure $300 million for the GLRI, which is a results-driven program that addresses the most serious threats to the ecological and economic wellbeing of the Great Lakes basin. It’s the largest investment in the Great Lakes’ health, ecosystem, and water quality, and has already helped combat harmful algal blooms, invasive species, and pollution in the Great Lakes.

Senator Portman introduced bipartisan legislation, the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act, to provide critical resources to conserve and restore fish and wildlife in the Great Lakes. The bill would authorize the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to work with federal agencies, states, and tribes to develop proposals to restore threatened fish and wildlife resources in the Great Lakes basin.

Senator Portman has also worked to keep the Army Corps of Engineers from dumping contaminated sediment dredged from the Cleveland Harbor into Lake Erie. And as Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), he is investigating reports that the Corps cut its own budget as an excuse to dump contaminated sediment from the Port of Cleveland into Lake Erie.

Senator Portman has protected the Lake from the harmful algal blooms that led to a water crisis in Toledo in the Summer of 2014, when more than 500,000 Ohioans lost access to clean water. In order to ensure that this never happens again, he authored the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in 2014 and prioritizes combatting algal blooms in the Great Lakes and other freshwater bodies. It will help Ohio communities minimize any economic, ecological, and human health impacts of harmful algal blooms, giving millions of Ohioans peace of mind.

Building on this effort, Senator Portman co-authored the Drinking Water Protection Act, which would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a strategic plan for assessing and managing risks associated with algal toxins in drinking water. This legislation was signed into law by President Obama in August 2015.

Senator Portman has also worked to ensure that other invasive species, such as Asian carp, do not disrupt the lake's ecosystem. Portman worked to include language in the most recent omnibus spending bill to provide the Army Corps of Engineers with emergency authority to combat Asian carp should they enter the Great Lakes. Portman also authored bipartisan legislation signed into law by President Obama that directs the Corps to enhance emergency procedures and accelerate its efforts to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes basin. Portman is also the coauthor of the bipartisan Defending Our Great Lakes Act, which would develop a plan of action to stop carp from entering the Great Lakes.

One of the Lake’s biggest polluters is plastic microbeads, which are plastic particles used in products like soap and toothpaste. They are often mistaken for food by small fish and other wildlife, and can get concentrated in the food chain and harm humans. Unfortunately, microbeads have accumulated to dangerous levels in the Great Lakes. To put an end to this threat to the Lake, Senator Portman authored the Microbeads Free Waters Act, which was signed into law in December 2015 and will phase out the production of microbeads in a commonsense way that protects our natural resources and wildlife while keeping Ohio competitive.

For these and other efforts, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies granted Portman their 2016 Clean Water Award. But his efforts to protect the Lake are far from over.

Senator Portman joined 28 of his colleagues in sending a letter to Senate leadership, urging them to bring the Senate’s Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) to the floor for a vote. This legislation, which passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee by a bipartisan vote of 19 to 1 in April, will provide much needed investment in our nation’s wastewater infrastructure and promote innovative technologies to protect public health and the environment.

The bill also contains several legislative initiatives Senator Portman has worked on to help protect the Lake, including a five-year reauthorization of $300 million in annual GLRI funding and a prohibition on the Corps’ dumping dredged sediment into the Cleveland Harbor without Ohio EPA’s approval. The bill also contains a bill authored by Senator Portman and Senator Brown, the Clean Water Compliance and Affordability Act, which will help communities find cost-effective methods to upgrade their wastewater systems.

Finally, the Senate’s WRDA includes bipartisan legislation Portman co-authored that would provide funds to states experiencing drinking water crises, and require the EPA to notify the public within 15 days if toxic levels of lead are found in any public water system. This would ensure that what happened in Flint, Michigan won’t happen in Ohio.

The Great Lakes are an invaluable economic and environmental resource to Ohio. Senator Portman has a record of accomplishment in working to protect and preserve the health of Lake Erie, and he will continue to make it a priority.