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Letter to the Editor: Big Win for Great Lakes

If you care about the environment and keeping the Great Lakes’ waters clean and free from more pollutants, something good happened in the Senate on April 18, 2018. There was a measure coming up to present to Congress. This measure would have weakened the Environmental Protection Agency’s monitoring of the ballast water discharges from freighters into the the Great Lakes. This EPA monitoring helps prevent the spread of invasive species that can threaten our Great Lakes and our coastal economy.

Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin reached across the aisle and led a bipartisan fight to stop this measure. According to the Journal Sentinel, the vote was a procedural vote and needed 60 yes votes to go forward to the Senate floor. The vote was 56 yes and 42 no. The 42 no votes were in favor of blocking the pollution rollbacks. So, ironically, a no vote win was a good thing. Fortunately, this rollback on the EPA’s oversight will not be heard on the Senate floor.

This is a big win. As we know here in Door County and in the entire state of Wisconsin, a clean Lake Michigan and a pollution-free Great Lakes system is essential to our quality of life and in many cases to our jobs and our economy.

From my perspective our current White House cannot be relied upon for any kind of effective and bipartisan environmental leadership. We must look to our elected officials in Congress to step up and reach across the aisle to get things done. This is their job. I would encourage your readers to keep their eyes on Senator Baldwin. She is committed to the hard working citizens of Wisconsin. She’s experienced, and she knows our state and the needs of all Wisconsinites. She has the integrity and the sense to reach across the aisle to get things done. She deserves to be

re-elected in November 2018.

 

Glenna Peters

Sister Bay, Wis.

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