Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I viewed the total solar eclipse surrounded by thousands of children, teachers, and families at Imagination Station in Toledo, Ohio.

So many traveled from near and far to witness this phenomenon together. New generations of astronauts and scientists were inspired to think about how our solar system and its qualities impact our way of life.

The science and mysteries of the cosmos, Sun, Moon, and the stars above remain new horizons for humankind.

As a lifelong resident of the Buckeye State, I know Ohio is recognized as the State of Flight and from courageous heroes like the Wright Brothers to astronauts John Glenn and Neil Armstrong.

Our State has a proud tradition of breaking barriers from soaring into flight, taking the first steps on the Moon, and launching toward the stars above.

Yesterday, a new generation of Ohioans got a chance to take in the wonders and see a phenomenon, something we will not witness again until 2044. Maybe the next John Glenn or Sally Ride was amongst us yesterday dreaming of the day they will change the course of space travel and human history.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to celebrate Women's History Month by shining a spotlight on four remarkable women hailing from Ohio's 9th District in our Northwest Ohio region who have etched their names in the annals of history.

Growing up in a world where gender roles were rigidly defined, these women demonstrated a commitment to uplifting women and improving their communities within Northwestern Ohio and beyond.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, Mari Evans was a prominent African American poet, writer, and dramatist known for her association with the Black Arts Movement.

While she initially pursued fashion design at the University of Toledo, she ultimately decided to embark on a career in music, and then in writing.

Throughout the 1960's and 1970's, Evans gained recognition for her poetry, which often explored themes of race, identity, and social justice.

One of her most notable works is entitled ``I Am a Black Woman.'' This seminal piece encapsulates the essence of her poetic voice.

Evans' writing style was marked by its lyrical simplicity, direct themes, and its ability to capture the African American experience.

Outside of her literary endeavors, Evans was actively engaged in community service, advocating for prison reform and volunteering with organizations focused on social issues.

Her legacy endures through her powerful poetry, her commitment to social activism, and her impact on generations of readers and writers exploring the complexities of identity and experience.

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem was also born in Toledo, Ohio.

She sought to challenge the societal norms that constrained women's opportunities and perpetuated systemic injustice.

After graduating from Smith College, she honed her craft as a writer and developed a keen awareness of the pervasive gender bias within the media industry.

Determined to challenge these stereotypes, Steinem began to infuse her writing with feminist perspectives, shedding light on issues such as workplace discrimination, reproductive rights, and the intersectionality of oppression.

In 1971, Steinem co-founded Ms. Magazine, a groundbreaking publication that quickly became a platform for feminist thought and activism.-

Through the magazine, Steinem and her colleagues tackled taboo subjects with courage and candor, sparking national conversations about women's rights and challenging the status quo.

Ms. Magazine provided a voice for marginalized women and served as a rallying point for the burgeoning feminist movement, inspiring many to join the fight for equality.

Steinem's activism extended far beyond the pages of the magazine, as she emerged a tireless advocate for women's rights on the national stage.

Her willingness to confront uncomfortable truths and challenge entrenched power structures cemented her status as a fearless leader and trailblazer.

Sheree Hovsepian, a luminary in the realm of contemporary art, bridges her Iranian heritage with her American upbringing to craft compelling reflections on identity and the human form.

Raised in northwestern Ohio after her family's immigration to the United States in 1976, Hovsepian skillfully intertwines the organic with the geometric, inviting viewers to embark on a profound journey of introspection and exploration.

Her adept fusion of materials--from fabric and paper to wood and string--imbues her creations with a palpable depth, earning her acclaim and placement in prestigious public museum collections such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Recently celebrated at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Hovsepian's work continues to captivate audiences, serving as a reminder of the transformative power of art in evoking dialogue and understanding.

Beyond her creative endeavors, Hovsepian remains steadfast in her commitment to fostering the arts community, actively participating in various committees of cultural institutions and championing arts education and development initiatives.

Mildred Benson considered herself a newspaper reporter first and an author second.

An American journalist and writer known for her contributions to children's literature, she touched readers of The Toledo Blade and Toledo Times for seven decades.

As a pillar of the community, she penned a weekly column for the Blade until mere weeks before her death.

She wrote under a pseudonym for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, creating the adventurous personality of Nancy Drew in many of her early mysteries.

Inspiring millions of young American women, Ms. Benson's work on the famous series helped shape the character's iconic traits and adventurous spirit.

She leaves behind a significant legacy, both for the children whose love of reading she inspired and for readers of the Toledo Blade in her community.

During Women's History Month and all year round, it is important to recognize the strong and talented women who broke down barriers and shattered glass ceilings, alongside those who continue to do so today.

Today, I proudly honor Mari Evans, Gloria Steinem, Sheree Hovsepian, and Mildred Benson.

They are Pioneers whose remarkable contributions have not only enriched the tapestry of Northwest Ohio and the 9th District, but have also left an indelible imprint on the collective history of our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, during this Women's History Month, I rise in recognition and celebration of our Ohio colleague and esteemed friend, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Marcia Fudge, as she retires from her Cabinet position at the end of this week.

We all are honored to have worked closely alongside Secretary Fudge during her tenure in Congress and her service as Secretary of one of the largest departments in the Government of the United States.

Her deep commitment to northern Ohio and to our Nation has been evident throughout her career, and we are all honored to call her a dear and valued friend. Her insights and her acumen have been invaluable as we sought housing and community development solutions across America.

She never forgot the neighborhoods that she came from in Cleveland nor all the rest of Ohio. Like every other American, she wants neighborhoods that are safe and vibrant.

Last spring, I had an opportunity to work with Secretary Fudge again in her new role when she visited Toledo. She never forgot Toledo. It has always been a pleasure to share with a good friend who shares our dedication to the people of America and Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, I wish Secretary Fudge the very best as she leaves her role at HUD. May she and her mother enjoy many, many months and years together. No matter what role she takes on in her next chapter, I know she will never stop fighting for the people of our country and the people of northern Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, during this Women's History Month, I rise to tell the story of a constituent struggling to deal with our challenged healthcare system.

Yesterday, I hosted a roundtable in Toledo, Ohio, with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and our northwest Ohio healthcare community.

During this roundtable, a constituent told us a story of her niece who was newly diagnosed with breast cancer. The niece is employed by a company based in Texas, but she works remotely from northwest Ohio, and she helps take care of her elderly grandmother.

Nonetheless, because her employer is out of State, local Ohio facilities will not accept her health insurance because she is outside the carrier network as it is called. Thus, for more than 2 weeks, she has had to delay treatment for her newly diagnosed breast cancer prognosis.

She wants to be near her family and not be alone while she receives treatment, but, unfortunately, she is being squeezed between the sides of our broken health insurance system.

If members of our medical community cannot even help their own family navigate this system, something must be done to fix it. This provider failure is simply unacceptable.

Mr. Speaker, this Women's History Month, I rise to recognize the impenetrable resolve and tremendous courage of the 2023 Nobel Prize Laureate, Ms. Narges Mohammadi.

A fierce advocate for Iranian women, Ms. Mohammadi has been arrested by Iranian authorities 13 times and sentenced to a total of 31 years' imprisonment and 153 lashes. Imprisoned most

recently in 2015, she has not seen her children for 8 years.

Ms. Mohammadi's advocacy is desperately needed in Iran, where the law views women as subhuman in every sense. If a car hits a pedestrian, the punishment for the driver and compensation to the victim are halved if the victim is a woman.

If Iranian women are caught in public without their headscarves, they face up to 10 years imprisonment. Let us applaud Ms. Mohammadi for her astounding courage.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record, on another freedom front, the Hungarian American Coalition's resolution, recognizing on March 12, 1989, 25 years ago, when Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic were officially admitted to NATO.

Today, more than 25 years has passed as we look at a strong NATO to promote Western democratic values and help us forge a more secure and united future for all who love liberty most.

[From Hungarian American Coalition, Mar. 12, 2024]

Hungarian American Coalition Issues Statement on the 25th Anniversary

of Hungary's NATO Accession

Washington, DC.--On March 12, 1999, Poland, Hungary and the

Czech Republic were officially welcomed as members of NATO at

the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, the

same location where Truman created the NATO Alliance in 1949.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright referred to

Hungary stating, ``the lands of King St. Stephen and Cardinal

Mindszenty . . . reside fully and irrevocably in the Western

community of nations . . .''. Today, more than ever, a strong

NATO is needed to promote Western democratic values and help

us forge a more secure and united future for all.

The Hungarian American Coalition was founded as a response

to the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe.

During the critical years of 1994-l999, Coalition leaders,

along with their Polish and Czech counterparts, were proud to

play an active role in the development of U.S. policy to

expand NATO's security umbrella to Poland, Hungary, and the

Czech Republic. Coalition leaders actively participated in

policy meetings at the White House, testified at

Congressional hearings, and organized three conferences

across Hungary to educate the public on the benefits of NATO

Membership prior to the national public referendum in 1997.

It is impossible to overstate the impact of NATO membership

on Hungary's security, peace and prosperity over the past 25

years. The Coalition, through its membership in the Central

East European Coalition (CEEC), has remained a committed

advocate for the continued expansion of NATO to include

countries that are committed to freedom, democracy, and the

rule of law, including new members on six different

occasions.

Today, NATO remains a vital institution for promoting

transatlantic security and liberty throughout Europe and

beyond. Long-term peace and security in Europe will only be

ensured by NATO's collective strength and resolve against

Russian aggression. Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine

reminds the world, once again, of the fragility of peace.

As we commemorate the 25th anniversary of Hungary's

accession, we look back with great pride on the role

Coalition leaders played during this historic time. This

year, the world also celebrates the 75th anniversary of the

founding of NATO itself. This presents an opportunity to

recommit ourselves to the values we share, where Hungary and

the United States remain strong allies dedicated to the

ideals of Western democracy and a Europe whole and free.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Women's History Month

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for her words.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to share some history.

Two of the greatest freedom fighters I have ever had the privilege to know were two Polish Americans, a husband and wife.

The husband, who escaped capture from a Soviet work camp during World War II, lived to age 97. He also survived three Nazi death camps.

Each of them lived by the motto: Freedom means never surrender.

A 30-minute film about their valiant lives can be viewed online at PBS or YouTube at no cost under the title ``Freedom Means Never Surrender.''

I ask all Americans to learn something about Colonel Marian Wojciechowski and Wladyslawa Poniecka-Wojciechowski.

These great Americans were born in Poland after World War I. Separately, they endured horrific torture as their homeland of Poland was invaded and obliterated by Nazi Germany on the west and Stalinist Russia to the east. Their lives were changed forever.

Then Poland, as a nation, was squeezed out of existence as 6 million of its citizens were slaughtered into submission by two tyrannies. No nation on Earth lost a higher percentage of its citizens during World War II than did Poland.

Here in America, our land of comforts and possibilities, the blessings of liberty to date have shielded us from the harsh reality of dictatorship. Most people could not possibly imagine the torture and cruelty that bore down on the lives of this particular couple.

What a high privilege to be afforded the deep honor of representing human beings of such noble bearing. I bow low to their dignity and resolve, having borne such enormous suffering.

They went on to lead constructive lives and become citizens of the United States of America.

By sharp contrast, recently, I watched the latest Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, be interviewed by a very shallow American TV commentator. With a straight face, Putin presented this gullible American with a complete fabrication of what happened to the Polish city of Danzig and the entire Polish nation during World War II.

The American TV anchor swallowed Putin's sadistic comment that Hitler offered Poland an amicable choice during World War II as to whether it should be invaded. Wow. What a lie. For any American to sit in front of that lying mass murderer and reply ``okay'' is not only offensive, but it is dead wrong.

That vapidness cuts through the hearts of Poles, Polish Americans, and people of Polish heritage across our world. What an embarrassment for any U.S. broadcaster to utter such drivel.

Here are some facts. Poland lost a higher percentage of its citizens in World War II than any nation in the world, 6 million people, 25 percent of its population, 3 million of Christian heritage and 3 million of Jewish heritage, at the hands of Hitler and Stalin. Try that on for size.

Across Europe today lie the bodies of over one-half million of our fellow citizens, Americans, 500,000 soldiers who gave their lives in the last century, ushering in for our generation the longest period of peacetime ever in history between great powers. Think about that.

This latest lying Russian dictator, unprovoked, is again threatening Poland and greater Europe, our closest allies, with nuclear weapons. Putin has directed, with no provocation, the invasion of the adjacent nation of Ukraine, an independent nation since 1991, throwing off centuries of repression.

The people of Ukraine are fighting to be free.

Putin is responsible for the loss of at least 100,000 Ukrainian lives and God knows the abduction of how many children--30,000? He is trying to take them back to Russia and reprogram them. Think of the Ukrainian mothers and fathers.

Likely 300,000 Russians have died already.

So how can any U.S. broadcaster call himself an American patriot when he becomes a pawn of a mass murderer?

Let us turn to Putin's most recent torture and execution of an innocent man in a frigid prison above the Arctic Circle. Just a couple of weeks before Putin's reelection campaign this month, he killed a potential opponent, Alexei Navalny. Most Americans really had not heard the name Alexei Navalny, he was laid to rest earlier this month in Russia, his motherland. He was a freedom fighter. He was a freedom fighter with thousands and thousands of supporters.

Putin could not stand Navalny's opposition to Russia's brutal dictatorship, but Navalny stood tall to pure evil with every breath of his being. Navalny's sheer heroism, sharp humor, and beautiful poetry reveals his deep, soulful cry for liberty for all of Russia's people.

Alexei Navalny never flinched. He even humored his captors. He had such courage. He uttered poetry to his beloved wife. He knew his fate, and he was not afraid. He walked into the sun. He stood tall despite torture 24 hours of every day.

For him, too, freedom meant never surrender. He was a prophet in his own town, like the Ukrainian poet laureate, Taras Shevchenko, who two centuries ago wrote words affirming the human quest for liberty and the worth of each person.

He harkened the birth of Ukraine as a free nation. Shevchenko knew, like Navalny, his imprisonment, punishment, and ultimate death in a grim St. Petersburg, Russia, prison would lay a cornerstone for liberty for generations to come, and this is that moment for the people of Ukraine.

Liberty remains so frightening to Putin and to those who impose serfdom, persecution, and death on those who do not submit to ownership. It is hard to believe this savagery exists in our current era.

During the past century, Europe's hallowed ground was blessed with over 500,000 American lives so our youth would never have to meet Navalny's fate. Navalny gave his life for liberty over tyranny, just as our soldiers did across Europe in World Wars I and II. The free world we have inherited after 1946 was created from a new order of allied nations supported by NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, our defense shield.

So to see a craven son of liberty give airtime to a cold despot who is killing innocents as the cameras roll is an international affront to liberty.

Let us recall the prophetic words of the Ukrainian poet, Shevchenko, from his poem: ``My Friendly Epistle.''

In fields commissioned by the devil . . .

And what will sprout? You soon will see what kind of harvest

there will be.

Break then your chains.

In your own house you will see true justice, strength, and

liberty.

Seek the highest good that stands--true liberty, that sacred

good, in fair fraternal brotherhood.

Alexei Navalny said, just before his passing, to his wife Yulia: ``Baby, you and I have everything like in the song: again cities between us, airport's runway lights, blue snowstorms and thousands of kilometers. But I feel that you are with me every second, and I love you more and more.''

Those were his last words to his wife, to his children, and to the free world.

Let us remember the cornerstones of liberty that are built through the sacrificial lives, not just of our soldiers but by people hundreds of years ago in Russia and today's Ukraine who are giving everything-- everything--so that their people may be free.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, in honor of Women's History Month, I rise to honor the trailblazing women of the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit.

During World War I, General Pershing found the Army's communications network in disarray. He urged the War Department to employ Americans experienced in switchboard operation. There were 233 women who enthusiastically honored the call to service and deployed to war-torn France.

This included Elizabeth M. Shovar, born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. She spoke fluent French. These Hello Girls worked tirelessly to direct calls coordinating troop movements and artillery fire.

As the first women to actively support combat operations on a regular basis, these soldiers paved the way for female servicemembers. They also helped win women the right to vote.

Despite their honorable service, it took six decades before they were formally recognized as veterans and given their hard-earned benefits.

Today, I am proud to honor their legacy by cosponsoring H. Res. 1572 to award a Congressional Gold Medal in commemoration of these patriotic, brave women, the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit. God bless them.

Madam Speaker, in the Ninth District of Ohio, the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop in Sylvania, Ohio, in Lucas County, won the Denise Noel Award for bringing in the most sales out of any location in our entire country.

The award is presented by the American Cancer Society to a person or group that has made significant contributions to the Discovery program. The Discovery Shop, which is a volunteer-run thrift store, sells donated clothes, household goods, antiques, collectibles, jewelry, artwork, and small furniture.

Purchases at these fine establishments help the American Cancer Society fund advocacy research and patient support programs to improve the lives of cancer patients and their families.

Anita Schuller, the manager of the Sylvania location, attributes the store's success to the involvement of the community and the dedication of its volunteers. Volunteers at the store credit Ms. Schuller's leadership and her ability to create and maintain a positive atmosphere for the award.

In this home away from home for many, there is not one person that does not go above and beyond for their Sylvania and our broader community.

Madam Speaker, congratulations to Ms. Schuller and the entire team.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to recognize a hero of our American Revolution, General Casimir Pulaski.

Born in Poland in 1745, Pulaski went on to serve as a central figure in the Bar Confederation, organizing his fellow Poles to fight for their liberty against political control by the brutal Russian empire.

Though the Bar Confederation ultimately failed, Pulaski never lost his dedication to the fight for liberty. Unable to return to Poland, he came to the aid of the Continental Army in the American Colonies. Benjamin Franklin wrote that General Pulaski was ``famous throughout Europe for his bravery and conduct in defense of the liberties of his country. . . .''

Pulaski became the father of the American cavalry, bringing his equestrian skills to our fight for independence. Though he died heroically leading a charge during the siege of Savannah, he continues to inspire us to this day.

Each year, America honors the first Monday of the month of March as Casimir Pulaski Day. I join my fellow Polish Americans in celebrating the life of General Casimir Pulaski, a true champion of freedom and liberty for all.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill.

The fiscal year 2024 Energy and Water bill ushers in new horizons for jobs and progress for our region and Nation. Our bill assures investments in modernized energy production, vital water infrastructure, and nuclear national security, all essential for American independence inside our borders.

This bipartisan Energy and Water bill funds the U.S. Department of Energy, Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and regional commissions and authorities impacting every corner of our Nation. This includes the Appalachian, Delta, Denali, Northern Border, Southeast Crescent, Southwest Border, and the Great Lakes.

U.S. energy independence in perpetuity is our consistent, paramount, strategic goal, and each year our Nation makes significant progress toward it.

This bill also assures that our Nation's nuclear security assets, including the nuclear Navy, are modern and ready, both as a deterrent and to safeguard our national security. With Vladimir Putin's recent reckless threats about launching nuclear weapons in Europe and former President Donald Trump's appeasing reaction, this bill is needed as an affirmation of American will to protect and defend our people and assure our Nation's security posture against all enemies.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bipartisan bill. I thank our able chair, Charles Fleischmann, for his dutiful and responsible service to our Nation.

I include in the Record this Proposal for the 2024 Energy and Water bill.

Proposal: A Great Lakes Authority

For the consideration of: Joseph R. Biden, Jr. President,

United States of America.

From: Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Co-Chair, Great Lakes Task

Force; Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Co-Chair, Great Lakes

Task Force; Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY), Chair, Environment and

Climate Change Subcommittee; Rep. Bobby Bush (D-IL), Chair,

Energy Subcommittee; Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), Co-Chair,

House Manufacturing Task Force

1. Summary

The eight states that comprise the U.S. portion of the

Great Lakes watershed contain the core of America's

commercial and defense industrial base.

The Department of Homeland Security defines these

industries as ``America's Critical Manufacturing Sector''.

Failure or disruption within these industries would result in

cascading disruptions in other critical sectors of the

economy, in multiple regions, and have significant national

economic impact.

This existing industrial base contains the nation's largest

pool of skilled and experienced production workers. The

Region has an almost inexhaustible supply of fresh water.

These 8 States do 25 percent of all U.S. trade with Canada,

which is this nation's largest export market. In 2020, Canada

imported more than $255 billion of U.S. goods and services.

This base provides a solid foundation for creating a unique

21st Century regional development strategy--one that can

enable the United States to (1) build back its manufacturing

base, (2) create millions of new and better jobs within the

Region, and (3) restore an assured, U.S. defense industrial

sector and a resilient energy platform sufficient to power

U.S.-based production.

Franklin D. Roosevelt created the model for such a strategy

in 1933 with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)--a unique

institution brought into being to control the raging waters

of the 3 Tennessee River, provide low-cost electricity, and

advance the economic development of the under-invested seven

states in that Basin.

Our times require a 21st Century version of such an

Authority in the Great Lakes Region--one that can protect and

wisely use the fresh waters of the Great Lakes, build back

better the Region's economy and be a necessary exemplar for

climate change remediation.

The GLA's mission would be to:

Restore and protect America's principal source of fresh

water.

Foster innovation, commercialize it, and by that create

more and better jobs.

Strengthen and expand the core U.S. manufacturing and

defense industrial jobs base, and the required energy systems

to sustain/power production.

Create world-class worker education, training and

adjustment institutions.

Work with the Government and Provinces of Canada on our

mutual Great Lakes challenges including the Great Lakes-Saint

Lawrence Seaway Corporation.

The Chair of the Great Lakes Authority would be a Cabinet

level official appointed by the President and confirmed by

the U.S. Senate. The Chair would represent the U.S.

Government. A five person board lead by the Chair would be

joined by four bipartisan board members appointed by the U.S.

House and Senate leadership.

The GLA would be governed by a five-person, bipartisan

Board, each of whom serves for a five-year term. The Chair

would be a Cabinet level official appointed by the President,

confirmed by the U.S. Senate and be a full-time position. The

other four members of the Board would be appointed by the

Majority and Minority Leaders of the U.S. House of

Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Each would be confirmed

by the U.S. Senate. Eligible appointees would be limited to

residents of the Region who are currently active as a

corporate manufacturing CEO, head of a major financial

institution, President of a Land Grant University, or CEO of

a major distribution company. These four positions would be

part-time and compensated as is normal with private

corporations.

The Great Lakes Authority would be funded by the same ways

and means as was, and is now, the Tennessee Valley Authority

(TVA) and include both federally appropriated funds and

revenues generated by GLA projects, with the same annual

financing similar to that of the Bureau of Reclamation.

The Great Lakes Authority would be authorized and funded

to:

Create and administer a regional infrastructure bank that

could finance domestic civil works that have a dedicated

revenue stream such as water and wastewater systems,

Create and finance other domestic civil works from

appropriated funds,

Create and operate a business development fund to assist in

the establishment and expansion of regional-based

manufacturers,

Create university-based research, development, and

technical consortiums,

Create the 18th National Laboratory, with satellites as

necessary in GLA states, and dedicate it to advancing applied

science, the manufacturing arts, and the commercialization of

advanced technology products,

Create a patent hub that will aggressively invest and

develop new clean energy inventions, technologies and

industries, and

Create and fund world-class remedial, transition and

advanced education and training institutions and programs

that invest in the workers of the Region.

The United States has long dealt with regional challenges

with regional solutions. The TVA is an example. The purpose

of this proposal is to outline why a Great Lakes Authority is

needed and identify how it can make a major contribution to

building back better this vital region of the United States.

Today, alone of the U.S.'s major economic regions, the

Great Lakes states do not have such a vital development

institution.

2. The Challenge

Manufacturing and Job Losses:

The United States has closed 91,000 factories and lost 5

million manufacturing jobs since NAFTA was enacted in 1993

and China joined the World Trade Organization in 2000. The 8-

state Great Lakes Region lost 1.5 millions of those jobs--

that is, 30 percent. Many of the Region's people were unable

to adapt and have responded with addiction, suicide,

conspiracy fantasies, and political radicalization

Weakened Finances:

These losses of factories and jobs, in turn, have greatly

weakened the fiscal capacity of the Region's state and local

governments. A measure of this fiscal crisis is found in the

high municipal indebtedness of the Region's cities. Detroit

and Cleveland each have a municipal bonded indebtedness of

more than two billion dollars. Toledo owes $1.6 billion and

Milwaukee almost $1.4 billion. Faced with the high costs of

operation, repairs, rehabilitation and replacement, coupled

with unavoidable federal mandates that come with only 50

percent funding, these municipalities are forced to increase

utility rates on customers who are already in economic

trouble.

The On-Going Great Lakes Ecological Catastrophe:

The Region's five Great Lakes--Erie, Huron, Michigan,

Ontario, and Superior--are the source of 21 percent of the

world's surface freshwater and 84 percent of North America's.

These Lakes undergird life, work and recreation for tens of

millions of people. Yet, before our eyes they are succumbing

to an ecological disaster of epic proportions.

Dan Egan in The Death and Life of the Great Lakes writes:

The Great Lakes are now home to 186 non-native species. None

has been more devastating than the Junior Mint-sized zebra

and quagga mussels . . . leaving trillions upon trillions of

filter-feeding quagga mussels sucking the life out of the

lake itself . . . native fish populations have been

decimated. Bird-killing botulism outbreaks plague lakeshores.

Poisonous algae slick capable of shutting down public water

supplies have become a routine summertime threat. A virus

that causes deadly hemorrhaging in dozens of species of fish,

dubbed by some scientists the ``fish Ebola'' has become

endemic in the lakes and threatens to spread across the

continent. Yet, invasive species are only one of many threats

to what in fact is the largest inland sea in the world.

Researchers at the Universities of Wisconsin and Michigan

have created a ``threat map'' that analyzes 34 distinct

threats that affect these five lakes. The composite stresses

include not only invasive species but also toxic algae,

erosion, development, waste plastics and toxic pollutants

among other sources.

Cumulative Stress in the Great Lakes Today:

The state and local governments of the region are

themselves so economically strapped that they are fiscally

incapable of making the remediations that the Lakes require.

Major fiscal help and institutional leadership from the

Federal Government is essential if this ecological

catastrophe is to be stopped and then reversed. Innovation--

Regarding innovation in the Great Lakes region, a telling

measure of the region's innovation decline is found by

comparing whether these eight states have kept pace with the

rest of the United States in devising inventions that are

sufficiently new, non-obvious and useful that inventors and

companies file and receive a patent from the United States

Patent Office (USPTO).

The Great Lakes states have not kept pace with innovation.

Specifically, in 1990, 51,000 U.S. patents were issued and in

2020 the USPTO granted 188,000--an increase of 265 percent. 8

In 2020, California residents were granted 571 percent more

patents than they were in 1990. Oregon residents got 553

percent more. Washington State residents were awarded a

whopping 901 percent more. Not a single Great Lake State even

reached the national average by 2020. All fell behind the

pace of U.S. invention.

The Nuclear Power Issue:

Heavy power demands across the region require a dependable

baseload energy supply with a highly skilled workforce.

Today, the Region has 17 nuclear reactors at 15 sites in

operation. Nuclear power provides 15 percent of the

electricity for Ohio and Wisconsin, 23 percent for Minnesota,

29 percent for Michigan, 33 percent for New York, 41 percent

for Pennsylvania, and 53 percent for Illinois. Competition

pressures from massive, new natural gas supplies have created

financial pressures that make nuclear power more expensive.

These zero net carbon nuclear plants have become financially

uncompetitive. Yet, thousands of companies and hundreds of

thousands of workers depend on this nuclear base load.

For the foreseeable future, nuclear energy must be a key

segment of electricity generation or neither economic

development nor climate change goals can be attained. Ways

are means are required to extend the operation of these

nuclear facilities and, working with all stakeholders,

increase electric production beyond what private enterprise

appears to be able to facilitate in a quickly changing and

uncertain market.

The Brookings Study:

A decade ago, the Great Recession and the collapse of the

U.S. auto industry highlighted the manufacturing decline in

the Region. Regional leaders engaged the Brookings Institute

to help identify a consensus among private-sector and public

stakeholders as to what to do to create the next economy. The

result was a report: ``The Next Economy: Economic Recovery

and Transformation in the Great Lakes Region.''

The report called for the federal, state, metropolitan

leaders to join with the private and philanthropic sectors

to:

Invest in the assets that matter--innovation,

infrastructure and human capital,

Devise new public-private institutions that are market-

oriented and performance-driven,

Reimagine metros' form and governance structures to set the

right conditions for economic growth.

The report was issued in September 2010. The unstated

expectation was that the report and leadership consensus

would guide the Obama Administration's second round of

recovery actions post-2010. It never happened. In November

2010, control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives

changed. What happened next is that the U.S. devolved into

ten years of national political gridlock. Neither the state,

nor local governments, nor the industries, nor the companies,

nor the people of the region could meet the magnitude of this

challenge alone. Nor could they form a joint regional

strategy because there was no regional institution through

which the leaders of the Region could define, advocate and

create such a truly regional strategy.

What the Great Lakes Region needed then, and needs even

more now, is a 21st Century Great Lakes Authority--an

institution that can help the Region innovate, create jobs

and confront the compounding environmental and climate

challenges. This proposed Great Lakes Authority can be that

Institution. By its structure, focus, coherence, funding and

leadership it can help the Region and nation envision,

implement and sustain an aggressive Great Lakes strategic

development agenda.

This proposed Authority can be an institutional anchor to

aid the Region to sustain a long-term effort through the

storms, calms and vagaries of national policy making.

A Great Lakes Authority:

The United States has always supported regional solutions

to regional development and regional challenges. The

principal of these efforts is managed by the Bureau of Land

Management, which traces its roots to 1812 and was formed, in

part, to serve arid parts of the nation with regional water

resources and power generation.

Then, in 1933 during the economic depression, FDR created

the 7-state TVA. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson created

the 13-state Appalachian Regional Commission. Their

successors have created regional commissions in other parts

of the U.S. These regional instrumentalities were created to

strengthen the economies of these Regions and help those

states achieve economic equality with the rest of the Nation.

Additional regional efforts have been proposed in other

states. Two of these Regional Commissions (Delta and Northern

Border) have been provided miniscule funding.

The Southeast Crescent Region and Southwest Border Regional

Commissions have not been activated. Strikingly, the Great

Lakes Region has neither a Regional Authority, such as TVA,

nor even a lesser-funded regional commission. Simply put,

building back better the Great Lakes Region is a challenge

that requires an empowered and well-financed Great Lakes

Authority.

Lessons from the TVA:

Now, almost nine decades after its founding, some lessons

from TVA's experiences provide clear guidance for this

proposed Great Lakes Authority.

1. Many environmental and economic problems are not bound

by state boundaries. Regional approaches are required to

solve regional challenges.

2. The development institutions and capacities of any

Region are so atomized as to be ineffectual when dealing with

broader issues of mutual concern. The 2010 Brookings report

highlighted that: ``The metropolitan areas of the Great Lakes

are ruled by a byzantine network of cities, counties, towns,

townships, villages, school boards, fire districts, library

districts, workforce boards, industrial development

authorities, water and sewer districts and a host of other

entities.'' The Brookings scholars concluded that the

metropolitan areas of the Great Lakes need to begin speaking

with a unified voice on economic development and design and

implement a unified strategy. A Regional Authority can

facilitate such coherence.

3. The TVA has a 200-person unit devoted to the economic

development of the 7-state TVA region. It is far larger,

better funded and more effective than any of the 7 state

efforts in the Region. The TVA provides; (a) an international

capacity to identify and source private capital investment,

(b) secure domestic finance through state, municipal, banking

and venture funds, as well as (c) the guidance required to

select sites and coordinate infrastructure and agreements at

low, long-term interest rates. With these capacities, TVA has

created a powerful supplement to state and local efforts to

attract capital investment and jobs into the Tennessee

Valley. It works well. The Great Lakes basin would benefit

from this TVA approach.

Conclusion:

When conceiving the TVA, President Franklin D. Roosevelt

focused on equity. What FDR challenged was an inequality that

was out of control between capital and labor and also between

the regions of the United States, particularly the Southern

and Appalachian regions. FDR closed much of this inequality--

both between people and between regions. Since the early

1980s, the inequalities between the few and the many, the

coasts and the interior, and the developed and underdeveloped

regions of the U.S. have widened.

Now, it appears that a new era has opened with the

Administration of President Joseph Biden. The new balance

between economic efficiency and economic equity now appears

to be once again emphasizing a more equitable distribution of

economic growth and opportunities for both people and

regions. The Great Lakes region has been falling behind by

almost every measure and needs substantial attention to

reverse economic and

environmental challenges. A Great Lakes Authority is as vital

a development tool for the Biden-Harris Era of today as TVA

was for the Roosevelt Era of the 1930s.

Madam Speaker, I rise to raise awareness of not only the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, but also, the fact that Israeli hostages that probably number over 100 have not been freed by Hamas.

Every means at our disposal, including U.S. sea and airdrops, should be airlifted to get all necessary aid to civilian populations trapped and in dire need of supplies.

I applaud the Biden administration's new mission to airdrop food and other aid directly into Gaza in collaboration with our Jordanian allies and in cooperation with Israeli forces.

If our Nation could lead the Berlin airlift following World War II, surely we can ease the suffering as we urge a truce and work with our allies toward a two-state solution.

I include in the Record a proposal for a negotiated truce and a two- state solution that will allow for rebuilding.

[From the Blade, Jan. 31, 2024]

Guest Essay: Establishing `Gaza-Palestinian Protectorate' Would Go a

Long Way

(By U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur)

Halfway around the world, the war between Hamas' terrorist

units and Israel is a piercing global tragedy. It demands a

global response. Yet, ``Peace and Justice'' have eluded

solution in this troubled region for over a century. It will

be even harder to achieve after this conflagration ends. The

extraordinary death toll will resound for generations

forward. How does one create a lasting peace borne of such

fierce, enduring hatreds?

The invasion Hamas' fighters launched from Palestinian Gaza

into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 broke the cease-fire that had

tensely hung over that very troubled region. More than 1,200

innocent Israeli civilians were slaughtered in a barbaric

attack, with more

than 100 Israeli and some American hostages still remaining

in captivity. More than 250,000 Israelis were evacuated and

displaced from their homes. In Gaza, 1.7 million Gazans have

subsequently been displaced with Hamas health officials

claiming more than 25,000 civilians dead, and more than

60,000 injured with two-thirds of the victims being women and

children.

How does any army defeat a hostile enemy positioned amidst

a civilian population and underground in a vast ``bunker

city'' with miles of interconnected tunnels, dug for purposes

of war, not peace?

Over 140,000 Hezbollah terrorist forces supplied by Iran,

are positioned in southern Lebanon, shooting rockets down on

Israel now. It is no accident Yemen's terrorist Houthi

adherents, also supplied by Iran, have been purposefully

shelling private cargo ships as well as targeting U.S. naval

vessels in the Red Sea to disrupt global trade in this

conflicted region. Russia's role in exacerbating resurgent

unrest was made clear when top Gen. Sergei Shoigu recently

visited Iran. And a Hamas delegation was in Moscow not long

after it attacked Israel.

Across the Middle East, a spiderweb of terrorism is

hastening, hell-bent on evil. Iranian drones and missiles are

being used against Ukraine, Israel, the United States, and

our allies in Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, and Jordan. North Korean

missiles are likewise in use against Ukraine. The global

distinction between tyranny and liberty could not be clearer.

The world community of nations must not allow terrorist

forces enabled by Iran and Russia to foment unrest and

carnage. The sacred boundaries of nations must be respected,

defended, and enforced.

The history of the Middle East instructs that former

adversarial nations can make peace among themselves. For

nearly five decades, dating back to my days of service in the

Carter administration, proposals for a two-State solution

have been advanced for Israel and Palestine.

Ironically, the depth and brutality of this present

conflict may create an opening for a far-reaching solution.

If the world community could spend as much money on peace as

it has on war, both the Israelis and Palestinians could have

thriving homelands,

To move forward, I propose that the United Nations, or a

coalition of willing nations, begin to negotiate a ``Gaza-

Palestinian Protectorate.'' The parties involved should aim

to negotiate a long-lasting solution to the conflict in Gaza,

address challenges in the West Bank, and divide the contested

territory securing their existence with an International

Multilateral Security Force to separate warring factions.

If the civilized world could achieve this with a divided

Korea, why not with Palestine and Israel?

The goals of the Protectorate would be fourfold:

1) an international coalition of nations should be

assembled and involved in organizing its administration and

staffing;

2) Gaza would be demilitarized of weapons, war, tunnels,

and fortifications;

3) Hamas would have no role, politically, administratively,

or economically;

4) Palestinians from Gaza should be involved in the

administration of the Protectorate's on-site operations,

including its police forces.

The Protectorate would have three immediate tasks. The

first would be to quickly secure resources and provide food,

water, shelter, and medical care to the almost 2.3 million

people of Gaza.

The second is to provide an international military

coalition that can demilitarize Gaza as quickly as possible.

Gaza must never again be a threat to its neighbors.

The third is to physically separate Gaza and Israel, by

creating a demilitarized zone between the two, that is

virtually impenetrable, as is the DMZ between North and South

Korea. As part of the separation, the infrastructure to

provide water, sewage treatment, and energy needed by Gaza

should be located in Gaza and staffed by the people of Gaza.

One of the long-term missions could be to rebuild what is

now a destroyed area under a new vision of peace and

prosperity. Gaza has many undeveloped resources, the primary

of which is its land and location. While small in size, Gaza

is located in one of the most attractive parts of the

Mediterranean, with miles of undeveloped, beautiful beaches

that could become a recreational center of the region.

With peace and stability, Gaza could become a financial and

economic hub that attracts capital and businesses from around

the world. Gaza and the West Bank have the thousands of

workers needed to rebuild what has been destroyed along with

necessary staff to renew the economy. A ``Gaza Development

Authority'' as part of the Protectorate could create and

administer a long-term development plan to bring prosperity

and transparency that would forestall the corruption that so

often accompanies unfettered development,

Hope must arise from this cruel war. Old diplomacy, and old

solutions should be shelved. They should be replaced with a

forward-looking approach that could bring peace, justice, and

prosperity to this war-torn region. Succeeding would give

hope to a civilized world that hungers for peace in these

troubled lands.

The U.S. is prepared to continue airdrops if we can work with our allies to achieve it by sea or air. The world community can help.

We have a moral obligation to achieve and to assure the release of hostages and sustainment of life for those who are innocent on the ground.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in observance of Black History Month to recognize three African-American trailblazers who called Ohio's Ninth District their home.

These Ohioans overcame systemic barriers, inspiring others to strive for equality and justice for all, and helped our region develop new horizons for the Nation. Their unwavering dedication to uplift their communities serves as a beacon of hope.

They remind us of the importance of celebrating ``e pluribus unum,'' ``out of many, one'' that defines the valued variants of a common humanity, the United States of America. There is no other Nation in the world like us.

By honoring the legacies of those who paved the way for progress, we remember these individuals for their historic firsts that broke down barriers for future generations; not just of Ohioans but for all of America.

Art Tatum's story is a testament to the power of music and the arts to lift the human spirit. Despite being visually impaired, he possessed an extraordinary gift for music that would propel him to legendary status in the world of jazz.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1909, Tatum's journey began with a passion for the piano. Entirely self-taught by the age of 19, he was already making waves in the jazz world, captivating audiences with his unparalleled virtuosity.

His performance in venues across northwest Ohio attracted the attention of fellow musicians, and Tatum's playing style was characterized by its astonishing speed, precision, and complexity. His mastery of the piano pushed the boundaries of what was thought possible in technique and expression. The smallest perceptible time unit in music, which is called the tatum, is named after him to commemorate his achievement.

His influence extended far beyond the confines of jazz, shaping the very language of music itself in the character of our country. His name has become synonymous with excellence in jazz piano, and his impact on the genre continues to inspire future generations of musicians.

Linda Jefferson, her journey as a trailblazer in women's sports is not only remarkable, but also deeply intertwined with the history of northwest Ohio. Her early involvement in sports showcased her natural talent and dedication as well as her passion for competition.

However, it was her decision to join the Toledo Troopers, a professional women's football team, that propelled her into the spotlight. Responding to an advertisement in her hometown newspaper, the Toledo Blade, Linda seized the opportunity to become a part of something groundbreaking: professional women's football.

The Toledo Troopers, with Linda among their ranks, became dominant throughout the 1970s. Their unparalleled success not only brought glory to Toledo, but also shattered stereotypes about women in sports.

In 1975, Jefferson's exceptional achievements were honored when she graced the cover of womenSports magazine as Woman Athlete of the Year, a well-deserved recognition of her talent and dedication. Her legacy extends far beyond her accomplishments on the field, leaving an indelible mark on the history of Toledo and the world of women in sports as a whole.

Finally, Tony L. Bonner, his journey from his childhood in Sandusky, Ohio, to a trailblazing figure in the city's civil service and as a community activist is remarkable.

Foreshadowing his commitment that would later extend to his local community, his decision to join the Air Force reflects his sense of duty and country over self.

Returning to Sandusky after his military service, Bonner became the city's first Black firefighter in 1971. In this role, he not only served his community in times of emergency but took on the responsibility of fostering diversity within the fire department as its recruitment coordinator.

Apart from his professional endeavor, he was deeply engaged in the social fabric of Sandusky as treasurer of the local NAACP, helping to advocate for marginalized communities.

In essence, Tony L. Bonner's contribution transcends the realm of firefighting and community activism, symbolizing a lifelong devotion to service, equality, and empowerment.

As Black History Month draws to a close, it is important to celebrate the path-breaking individuals who have made significant impacts on our communities from coast to coast. They faced discrimination and they rose above that. They made and built a better Nation.

Ohio's Ninth District proudly celebrates and acknowledges Mr. Tatum, Ms. Jefferson, and Mr. Bonner as historymakers for America who call our district home.

Hallelujah, Mr. Speaker, community college education and all the opportunity it presents with workforce development is finally being implanted in the largest city in the entire northwestern quarter of Ohio at Toledo which has been so long ignored. Community college education is so vital to our future.

I stand here to celebrate this agreement signed this week between the University of Toledo president, Greg Postel; the president of Owens Community College, Dione Somerville; and Toledo Public Schools superintendent, Dr. Romules Durant. I am so proud of them.

I congratulate them for working together to plant seeds of hope and new opportunity for generations denied before us. Education, retraining, GED certification, and workforce skills have so long been denied our citizenry.

I thank them for caring. It would be located on the Scott Park Campus.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all citizens to support this new partnership and to offer their indispensable resources to ensure the enterprise succeeds beyond anything that our community has ever known.

Mr. Speaker, help me make a pathway for a brighter, stronger, more educated and innovative Toledo and region.

God bless the partners. God bless our people. God bless America.

[From UToday, Feb. 27, 2024]

UToledo, Owens and TPS Partner on Opportunities for Scott Park Campus

(By Tyrel Linkhorn)

The University of Toledo, Owens Community College and

Toledo Public Schools will work together on an initiative

aimed at bringing new educational opportunities to the

University's former Scott Park Campus.

The new partnership was announced Tuesday by UToledo

President Gregory Postel, Owens President Dione Somerville

and TPS Superintendent Romules Durant at an event in which

they signed a letter of intent formalizing the agreement.

UToledo sold the Scott Park Campus to TPS last year.

``The University of Toledo is proud to strengthen our long-

standing partnerships with Owens Community College and Toledo

Public Schools in our shared commitment to ensuring all

members of our community have an opportunity to achieve their

educational and career goals,'' Postel said. ``By working

together, we can help close the educational attainment gap in

Toledo to celebrate both individual successes of earning a

college degree and also the community benefit of

strengthening the workforce and economic prosperity of our

region.''

The partnership grew out of a feasibility study

commissioned by Owens to look at the potential need for the

community college to establish a physical presence within the

city of Toledo.

The letter of intent is the first step in the partnership,

calling for leaders of the three institutions to

collaboratively decide on the type of educational programming

that will be offered through the partnership. Partners intend

to look at credit and non-credit coursework.

``Our goal is to increase access to high-quality

educational opportunities in the city of Toledo that benefit

the northwest Ohio region,'' Somerville said. ``With partners

at Scott Park, we can build a foundation to address the needs

for today's students and workforce development.''

``This new initiative with Owens Community College and The

University of Toledo allows TPS to continue providing new and

exciting educational opportunities for our students,'' Durant

said. ``We are excited that the future of the Scott Park

Campus includes not only TPS students but adult learners who

are ready to expand their education as they plan for their

future.''

UToledo has a number of partnerships with both Owens and

TPS. Among them are Rocket Express, which creates a seamless

pathway for students to earn a bachelor's degree from UToledo

after starting at Owens, and Toledo Early College, which

brings hundreds of TPS students to campus as they work toward

their high school diploma while also completing college

courses.

Mr. Speaker, in Ukraine, the real battle for liberty grinds on. Vladimir Putin dines on caviar while Speaker Johnson and his majority House Conference paralyze our Nation. They refuse to bring up the Senate aid bill to provide Ukraine ammunition.

The Speaker pretends Congress won't fix our southern border so we shouldn't arm Ukraine's freedom fighters. Fixing our southern border requires Congress to vote for the funds to secure it, yet the Speaker refuses to bring up border funding while Ukraine's soldiers face the third largest military in the world.

Courageous freedom champion Alexei Navalny was tortured and imprisoned by Putin because he wanted a free nation. He was killed in a bitter, frigid, arctic prison colony.

What an awesome, heroic son of liberty for the future of his countrymen and -women. He died for liberty.

Meanwhile, this House is paralyzed. For shame. History will render harsh judgments against those elected officials who do not stand up for liberty at its time of severe testing on a continent where 500,000 American soldiers died in the last century so that our generation could be free.

The Speaker should bring up the Senate bill. Stand tall for liberty. Don't shrink from it.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to highlight significant developments in the ongoing commercial nuclear energy scandal in Ohio, the worst in U.S. history.

It involves FirstEnergy Corporation's conspiracy, wire fraud, and bribery of the highest level of Ohio public officials in return for a legislative bailout of its flagging nuclear plants.

Bribed public officials made sure that the company's debts were dumped on the public as they violated public safety time and again.

This past Friday, a Summit County, Ohio, grand jury returned the indictments against the former CEO of FirstEnergy, the former FirstEnergy senior vice president of external affairs, and the former chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, each for multiple felonies related to their alleged roles in the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio's history.

The indictments by the Summit County prosecutor and Ohio's Attorney General aim to bring these corrupt, unethical, and dangerous--yes, dangerous--individuals to justice.

Driven by greed and self-interest, FirstEnergy not only compromised the Ohio State legislature and its top leaders in other critical public institutions--they were responsible for severely mismanaging time and again the operations of inherently dangerous nuclear assets.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an article by Toledo Blade columnist Tom Henry dating back to 2003, following another dangerous incident at that plant, quoting nuclear Navy retired Admiral Joe Williams.

[From the Toledo Blade, Sept. 22, 2003]

Ex-Official at Besse Links Woes, Managers

(By Tom Henry)

Retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Joe Williams, Jr., who guided

Davis-Besse back to service after it was crippled more than

18 months in the mid-1980s, has told The Blade he offered in

2002 to come back and help guide the troubled nuclear plant

back into service again.

But FirstEnergy Corp. declined, saying it would keep the

project ``in-house,'' according to Mr. Williams.

Now 81 and a resident of an independent living facility in

Kennett Square, Pa., near Wilmington, Del., Mr. Williams said

he is as strong in his conviction about what needs to be done

at Davis-Besse as he was when he was paid $1,500 a day to

straighten things out with his no-nonsense approach--one

which, as recently as a congressional hearing last fall, has

been recalled with admiration by some former employees.

``When I left, I had a crew of the best plant engineers,''

Mr. Williams said while claiming that many of his efforts

have been undone by a profit-over-safety mentality that some

people feel has been the hallmark of the deregulation era of

the 1990s.

``Like all plants, when they decided they wanted to make a

cash cow out of [Davis-Besse], they neglected maintenance. If

they would just learn that the only way you make money from a

nuclear plant is by keeping it online. And the only way you

keep it online is with safe production,'' he said.

Richard Wilkins, FirstEnergy spokesman, said he is not

aware of any discussions to bring back the retired vice

admiral in 2002.

The hiring of Mr. Williams often has been cited as one of

the key moves Toledo Edison Co., now a FirstEnergy

subsidiary, made in response to its June 9, 1985, incident at

Davis-Besse, when a series of pumps and valves failed and

caused a temporary loss of coolant water to the reactor core.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has described that

incident and the near-rupture of Davis-Besse's reactor head,

discovered in March, 2002, as two of the nation's biggest

nuclear episodes since the Three Mile Island accident of

1979. The two near-mishaps have resulted in the two longest

outages in the plant's history, both in excess of 560 days.

Although the issues are different, Mr. Williams said he

sees similarities. He said an underlying problem for years at

Davis-Besse has been a general reluctance of employees to

come forth with problems they find. Part of the problem these

days is a greater reliance on contractors, he said.

``They need to rectify that right now. They need to get a

staff that's company people and can do their jobs. Go to the

expense of hiring good people,'' Mr. Williams said.

Mr. Williams, a former commander of the U.S. Atlantic

submarine fleet and the NATO submarine fleet, did just that

in 1985. Shortly after he was brought in on June 18 of that

year--a mere nine days after the near-accident occurred--he

took the helm under the title of senior vice president in

charge of nuclear operations and was given wide latitude in

decisions. Among other things, Davis-Besse's manpower was

expanded to 890 employees, up from 644. Salaries were boosted

to attract talent. There was less reliance on contractors.

``They need to get back to what we were doing in 1987,''

Mr. Williams said. After leaving in the spring of that year,

he garnered a rate of $2,000 a day as an expert witness in

court cases involving nuclear plants. Discussions about his

coming back to Davis-Besse in 2002 never got serious enough

for a fee to be discussed, he said.

But he told The Blade he was absolutely serious about

returning. ``I'm capable of coming out there and getting that

[facility] back online,'' he said.

Mr. Williams said the reactor head would not have become so

dilapidated if he had heard about the containment air filters

getting clogged by rust every other day, a telltale sign of a

problem that had gone on for nearly 18 months.

FirstEnergy claimed it did not make a connection between

rusty filters and a problem inside the containment building.

Such filters are normally changed once a month.

``I would have shut the plant down. That's criminal. No

system engineer could have possibly, possibly supported

[continued operation],'' Mr. Williams said.

``I'll tell you one thing: if my filters had those

problems, I would have ripped the insulation off that head

[and looked for corrosion],'' he added.

As it turned out, the corrosion--the worst in U.S. nuclear

history--left a football-shaped cavity in the reactor head.

All that was left in that spot was a liner that was less than

three-eighths of an inch thick and not designed to hold back

the reactor's enormous pressure.

Mr. Williams said he is familiar with a U.S. Department of

Labor complaint filed by former Davis-Besse engineer Andrew

Siemaszko, who has sought federal whistleblower protection on

the grounds he was illegally fired by FirstEnergy in

September, 2002. Mr. Siemaszko alleges his termination stems

from his insistence on having expensive maintenance done on

each of the plant's four reactor coolant pumps.

The Siemaszko case, dismissed in June and now on appeal,

claims that FirstEnergy knowingly operated Davis-Besse for

years with a severely rusted head. Among other things, the

complaint states that scaffolding was removed one night

during an outage in 2000 without Mr. Siemaszko's consent,

abruptly ending his efforts to clean the head weeks before

the job could be completed.

``I think the kid was right,'' Mr. Williams said, referring

to Mr. Siemaszko. ``I don't know how many of them [in

FirstEnergy] out there ought to be hung.''

Mr. Williams said he is interested in the outcome of an

investigation into possible criminal activity being headed by

the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of Investigations.

The results, which have not yet been made public, could be

turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice for

prosecution.

Certain FirstEnergy officials ``ought to go to jail,'' Mr.

Williams said. ``There have been enough deliberate acts of

management in terms of denial,'' he said.

Mr. Wilkins said FirstEnergy has addressed most of the

concerns cited by the NRC, including problems with Davis-

Besse's safety culture.

Recent surveys show employees weren't afraid to come

forward but had been reluctant to do so because they felt

management had for years stopped taking their concerns

seriously, Mr. Wilkins said.

He said he can't comment on what would have occurred had

Mr. Williams been in charge while the problems with the rusty

air filters came to light.

``We noted in our root cause report that the air filters

were one of several missed opportunities,'' Mr. Wilkins said,

saying plant officials simply failed to recognize it as a

symptom of a problem.

Admiral Williams strongly condemned the malfeasance and nuclear endangerment attendant to the top managers and corporate chieftains, and that kept on year after year after year.

As I have cautioned before, corporate nuclear culture influences safety culture. We need only look at the troubled history of multiple major nuclear safety violations and criminal conduct at FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse nuclear plant in our district for evidence of this relationship. It is a sad story for America.

One must ask whether and how the fines and penalties at FirstEnergy and its subsidiary, Energy Harbor, have had to pay to avoid criminal and civil trials.

How will America deter future misconduct by the commercial nuclear power energy companies? Federal regulators didn't do their job.

What is clear is that more justice must be achieved to make Ohio ratepayers and our communities safe and whole again.

A class action suit settled by FirstEnergy in August of last year netted payments to individual ratepayers--get ready--a mere $10 to $20.

Moreover, Ohio consumers continue to subsidize FirstEnergy's antiquated coal-fired power plants even outside Ohio under the portion of HB6 that passed the State legislature that has yet to be repealed.

Another casualty is the local school district in Oak Harbor, Ohio, where the Davis-Besse plant is located. It continues to suffer millions and millions of dollars of tax losses due to the incremental devaluation of the plant's public utility property values over the years.

I continue to urge the State legislature, State and Federal prosecutors, and State and Federal regulators to take bold action.

Let's right these wrongs, and let's assure Federal authorities achieve safe, clean, modern, and responsible nuclear energy production in Ohio and in this country. This slipshod, corrupt nuclear energy must never, ever, ever happen in America again.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an article from The Blade titled: ``Reactor Near to a Dismal Record.''

[From the Toledo Blade, Aug. 31, 2003]

Reactor Near to a Dismal Record

(By Tom Henry)

Still defending itself from allegations that it may have

caused the nation's worst blackout, FirstEnergy Corp. is

about to break the previous record for futility at Davis-

Besse.

On Wednesday, Davis-Besse will have sat idle for 565 days,

setting a plant record for consecutive days without producing

electricity. The previous record was 564 consecutive days

between June 9, 1985, and Christmas Day, 1986.

The cost of the current outage is more than $500 million,

and is starting to approach the $642 million price tag that

it cost to build the plant in 1977.

The 1985-86 shutdown occurred after a series of pumps and

valves failed, causing a loss of coolant water to the reactor

core of the plant. In circumstances that sound strikingly

similar to the current shutdown, the Nuclear Regulatory

Commission referred to the 1985 accident as the worst since

Three Mile Island in 1979. It resulted in an extensive

investigation into the operation and management of the plant,

30 miles east of Toledo near Oak Harbor.

Although then-operator Toledo Edison Co. restarted the

plant on Dec. 22, 1986, the reactor ``tripped'' and shut down

after several hours without producing electricity. Three days

later, operators restarted the plant on Christmas Day, 1986,

and achieved enough power so that electricity could be

produced, ending the consecutive-day shutdown streak at 564

days.

However, Davis-Besse continued to struggle with shutdowns

on and off into early January, 1987.

The current shutdown began February 16, 2002, as a normal

refueling and maintenance outage. NRC staff wanted

FirstEnergy to move up the refueling from its scheduled date

in March, 2002, to late fall 2001 so that a check could be

conducted on control rod nozzles for cracks like those found

at a South Carolina plant with a similar pressurized water

design.

But FirstEnergy balked and the NRC decided to allow

FirstEnergy to keep the plant in operation until February

16--only about a month earlier than the originally scheduled

outage.

After Davis-Beese was shut down, plant officials found that

boric acid had leaked through flanges atop the reactor head

and ate a half-foot hole in the carbon steel of the reactor

head.

Only a layer of stainless steel three-eighths of an inch

thick prevented the pressure of radioactive steam inside the

reactor from leaking into the containment building. The NRC

called the corrosion the worst it had ever seen and launched

an investigation into what went wrong.

FirstEnergy originally announced plans to return the plant

to service in April, 2002, but that date has repeatedly been

pushed back in response to the discovery of other problems

and NRC scrutiny--such as concerns about the safety culture

among management and employees at the plant.

There is a sense of deja vu for some NRC and Davis-Besse

officials when it comes to the two extended shutdowns and the

issues of plant management and regulatory oversight:

During both outages, the workplace environment has been

questioned. ``What was really necessary was a change in

attitude, a change in management style,'' Joe Williams, Jr.,

Toledo Edison Co.'s senior vice president of nuclear

operations, was quoted as saying about the 1985 incident in

the fall of 1986. ``A lot of the problems went back to Day

One.''

The deep cavity found in Davis-Besse's reactor head has

been likewise attributed by the NRC to a lack of questioning

attitude on behalf of FirstEnergy management and its

workforce.

Although FirstEnergy has replaced the reactor head with an

unused head from a Michigan plant, the NRC has become so

concerned about the company's attention to detail that it has

subjected the plant to only

its second formal ``safety culture'' review. The only other

site to have undergone such a review is the Millstone nuclear

plant in Connecticut, where NRC officials have said they

believe workers were harassed and intimidated if they tried

to report problems.

FirstEnergy is to make a lengthy presentation about its

progress September 18 at the NRC's Midwest regional office in

Lisle, Ill. The agency will take FirstEnergy's presentation

under consideration, then hold at least one more meeting on

the topic to give the company feedback before restart, Jan

Strasma, NRC spokesman, said.

During both outages, the NRC has had its own credibility

questioned by members of Congress and other high-powered

officials in Washington.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo), after hearing about

the reactor head corrosion 18 months ago, questioned the

capability of the NRC, an agency she accused of being weak

and ineffective with its handling of Davis-Besse's 1985

incident. Although Miss Kaptur called for Davis-Besse to be

shut permanently in 2002, she has not been as outspoken in

recent months as has U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D.,

Cleveland).

Earlier this year, Congressman Kucinich petitioned the NRC

to revoke FirstEnergy's operating license at Davis-Besse.

More recently, in response to finger-pointing alleging

FirstEnergy may have responsibility for the nation's worst

blackout, he petitioned the Public Utilities Commission of

Ohio to revoke the utility's right to do business in Ohio.

A long paper trail of records reviewed by The Blade shows

others have shared their skepticism about Davis-Besse.

A report prepared for the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy

Conservation and Power just days after the June 9, 1985,

event suggested that the coolant-water episode at Davis-Besse

should not have surprised the NRC. The report said 48

problems concerning Davis-Besse's auxiliary feed-water system

had been reported by Toledo Edison since July, 1979. The

plant unexpectedly shut down 40 times between 1980 and 1985--

at least half of those times because of hardware problems and

at least nine times because of human error.

In April, 1987, former U.S. Sen. John Glenn (D., Ohio)

introduced a bill that ultimately led to the creation of the

NRC's Office of Inspector General. Senator Glenn said at the

time that the NRC is ``supposed to be a watchdog, not a

lapdog.''

Earlier this year, that same Office of Inspector General

accused the NRC of putting profits ahead of safety when it

allowed Davis-Besse to wait until February, 2002, to shut

down for refueling and the safety inspection for control rod

cracks.

Former NRC Chairman Richard Meserve vehemently denied that

charge.

George Mulley, the inspector general's senior level

assistant for investigative operations, told The Blade that a

follow-up probe into the NRC's oversight performance at

Davis-Besse will likely be released this month.

Part of the criticism the NRC received following its 1985-

86 probe of Davis-Besse stemmed from its decision to back off

from a proposed $900,000 fine against Toledo Edison.

The agency originally said it would impose the penalty

because of a ``long history of ineffective and inadequate

attention and direction in the operation and maintenance of

the Davis-Besse facility.''

But in 1987, the NRC cut the fine amount to $450,000. The

agency explained that it had changed its mind because it was

impressed by Toledo Edison's aggressiveness toward

establishing ``a long-range, in-depth corrective action

program to address the problems that existed at Davis-

Besse.''

No fine has been issued in connection with the current

problems at Davis-Besse. A decision on any civil penalty

depends on whether the NRC's Office of Investigations

believes there is evidence of criminal wrongdoing to turn

over to the Justice Department for prosecution.

``The criminal process would take precedence over the civil

process,'' Mr. Strasma said.

Although the two extended outages appear to have some

parallels in terms of oversight, the country's mood toward

nuclear power at the time they each began was likely very

different.

Early last year, in the weeks before the reactor head

corrosion was discovered at Davis-Besse, the nuclear industry

had the best reason for optimism since before the Three Mile

Island accident.

After 23 years of doldrums, nuclear energy was embraced by

the White House as a solution to energy problems. Congress in

2002 eventually eliminated one of the nuclear industry's most

nagging obstacles to expansion when it designated Nevada's

Yucca Mountain as a burial site for spent reactor fuel.

Contrast that with how most people felt about nuclear power

when Toledo Edison restarted Davis-Besse in December, 1986.

Several months earlier, on April 26, 1986, the world's worst

nuclear accident had occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear

complex near Kiev, Ukraine. Thousands died, either

immediately from the blast or from radiation-related

sicknesses in the following years.

As Davis-Besse moved closer to restart, Toledo Edison's Joe

Williams, Jr., sought to allay fears. On Sept. 7, 1986, the

retired U.S. Navy vice admiral devoted nearly an entire page

in The Blade to a 2,000-word letter in which he explained

what happened at Davis-Besse, Three Mile Island, and

Chernobyl.

``A Chernobyl simply cannot happen here for a variety of

reasons,'' Mr. Williams wrote, citing the containment at U.S.

nuclear plants among those reasons.

The hiring of Mr. Williams has been seen as one of the key

moves Toledo Edison made in response to Davis-Besse's 1985

shutdown.

A former commander of the U.S. Atlantic submarine fleet and

the NATO submarine fleet, he was brought in on June 18, 1985,

nine days after the shutdown began. He took the helm under

the title of senior vice president in charge of nuclear

operations, and was given wide latitude in decisions.

Davis-Besse's manpower was expanded to 890 employees in

1986, up from 644 in 1985. There was less reliance on

contractors.

Compare that with the current workforce at Davis-Besse,

which totals 725 full-time employees in a deregulated, more

competitive market. FirstEnergy spokesman Richard Wilkins

acknowledges there are far fewer employees today and that the

trend has been to bring in more contractors to do specialized

work.

Lew Myers, chief operating officer of FirstEnergy's nuclear

subsidiary, has told the NRC that he has put a renewed

emphasis on training.

Yet employees fear burnout: Some have privately complained

about working in excess of 72 hours a week throughout much of

the 18-month outage.

A number of key positions, including some in Davis-Besse's

engineering department, have been filled by employees from

FirstEnergy's Perry nuclear plant near Cleveland and the

Beaver Valley nuclear station at Shippingport, Pa.

Howard Whitcomb, a Toledo lawyer and former NRC resident

inspector in South Carolina who worked under Mr. Williams at

Davis-Besse after the 1985 incident, has said he believes

many of the workplace issues that exist at Davis-Besse today

would not have been tolerated under the former vice admiral's

reign.

``You've had a few really close calls at Davis-Besse,''

said Jim Riccio, Greenpeace nuclear policy analyst in

Washington, citing the two extended outages and a 1998

tornado which narrowly missed the plant.

``I'm wondering when luck is going to run out.''