U.S. Reps. Morgan McGarvey, a Louisville Democrat, and Erin Houchin, a Salem Republican, want to finance a federal program to do widespread ecological restoration of the Ohio River and the network of waterways that comprise its basin.
The pair’s proposed legislation comes as local and national groups push an ambitious plan to address what they say are serious threats to the 204,000 square mile basin that spreads across 14 states and brings drinking water to more than 30 million people.
McGarvey is optimistic.
“The momentum’s there, the partnerships are there — across party lines, across regional lines — to hopefully start bringing the resources we need to protect the Ohio River,” he said.
The Ohio River Restoration Program Act would create a team within the Environmental Protection Agency to guide efforts to restore and protect the basin’s rivers, streams and wetlands.
The bill seeks $350 million in annual funding for five consecutive fiscal years. Money that could be used to help clean up toxic pollution, improve drinking water quality, repair fish and wildlife habitats or root out invasive species. The new team would need to create an action plan to begin addressing restoration efforts within the first two years.
The federal government would have a roadmap to follow in deciding what projects to finance: The Ohio River Basin Restoration and Protection Plan, developed by the University of Louisville’s Envirome Institute, the Ohio River Basin Alliance and the National Wildlife Federation, with input from scientific experts, community leaders and residents.
Houchin, who represents a Southern Indiana district that stretches downriver from Lawrenceburg to New Amsterdam, said she found common ground with McGarvey on this issue during discussions the two had on flights to and from Washington D.C.
The pair reinvigorated a congressional caucus for the Ohio River Basin and, with McGarvey’s leadership, got legislation to create a federal restoration program off the ground in 2024.
“We're going to try as hard as we can to take this as far as we can while the momentum is on our side, and continue to build and grow this coalition that cares about the Ohio River Basin and wants to see it funded,” Houchin said.
She said her interest in working on legislation like this stemmed from the disastrous 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio.
“It was at that time that we were monitoring with ORSANCO, every day, the particulates that were traveling down the river. Because we do have people that rely on the Ohio River for their source of water,” she said. “And we discovered in those efforts that the Ohio River Basin is … the largest river basin without any dedicated federal funding, and it is also the second-most endangered river basin.”
Houchin said the river is a vital economic thoroughfare on which more than a third of America’s maritime commerce travels.
Bipartisan support
The legislation is co-sponsored by a Republican and two Democrats on the House of Representatives’ Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
U.S. Rep. Emilia Strong Sykes, a Democrat from Akron, Ohio and committee member, said she’s concerned about water quality, water safety, accessibility and affordability.
Sykes said the abundance of water in the Ohio River Basin, compared to the droughts facing western U.S. states, is worth protecting.
“It is much more important for us now to protect our water sources and devote the attention and resources to it now, before it's too late,” she said.
Sykes pointed to Ohio’s Cuyahoga River, which notoriously caught fire decades ago because of rampant pollution and helped inspire Congress to create the EPA, as an example of what it can look like when large bodies of water are neglected.
“Sometimes we get things right, and we learn from our mistakes,” she said. “That's what's happening here, and this is why the timeliness is just so high.”
Sykes said she’s hopeful the bill will get a committee hearing soon.
“This is, fortunately, one of the more bipartisan committees … so the likelihood is more reasonable than maybe others,” Sykes said.
Why federal involvement?
McGarvey said establishing a federal program makes sense when the goal is to rehabilitate waterways across a broad swath of the country.
“This is when it is appropriate for the federal government to get involved, to coordinate people at every single level to clean up the river all the way through,” he said. “To make sure that it's there for future generations.”
Their plan is modeled after similar federal restoration programs that have supported other historic American waters, like the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. McGarvey said financing initiatives like these is a sound investment, with the Great Lakes program returning $3 in economic impact for every $1 in government money spent on it.
Other Congress members have joined Sykes, Houchin and McGarvey to co-sponsor the new legislation: Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan and Republican Reps. Mark Messmer and Jefferson Shreve of Indiana, GOP Rep. Michael Rulli of Ohio, and Democratic Rep. Christopher Deluzio of Pennsylvania.
Many environmental advocacy groups are also endorsing the legislation.
