Durbin, Kaptur, Great Lakes Coalition press EPA Chief to keep Region 5 office open

WASHINGTON – Following reports that the Trump Administration plans to abolish Region 5 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – which serves Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, and Ohio – as part of the fiscal year 2018 budget, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) led a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers from the Great Lakes region in calling for the Region 5 office to remain intact and fully supported.  In a bicameral letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, the members stressed the importance of the Great Lakes, which provide 90 percent of the nation’s fresh water supply and are a source of drinking water for more than 30 million Americans.

“We write to express our grave concerns regarding reports that the Administration plans to abolish Region 5 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of the fiscal year 2018 budget.  EPA Region 5 is critical to protecting the air, drinking water, and health of residents in the six Great Lakes states the region serves and closing its headquarters in Chicago would make EPA less efficient and effective in its efforts to protect human health and the environment. Accordingly, we request that you commit to preserving EPA Region 5,” the members wrote.

Along with Durbin, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Gary Peters (D-MI), Al Franken (D-MN), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH). 

U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) is leading the House coalition, along with Mike Quigley (D-IL), Tim Ryan (D-OH), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Bill Foster (D-IL), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Rick Nolan (D-MN), Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Dan Kildee (D-MI), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Peter Visclosky (D-IN), Robin Kelly (D-IL), Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Sander Levin (D-MI), Dan Lipinski (D-IL), Andre Carson (D-IN), John Conyers Jr. (D-MI), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Danny Davis (D-IL), and Ron Kind (D-WI).

Full text of the letter is here.

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