A longtime advocate for Lake Michigan harbors, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today released the following statement on the news that the President’s Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Proposal will include robust funding for Great Lakes Navigation Operations and Maintenance. “This is great news for our corner of the state. This funding is critical towards dredging, operations, and maintenance of the Benton Harbor/St. Joseph Harbor and the Holland Harbor. Ensuring our harbors remain open and ready for... Read more

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today released the following statement after the Trump administration released their Fiscal Year 2019 budget which cut funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: “Michigan deserves better than this. The health of our Great Lakes must be a higher priority. While this budget proposal – like all other presidential budget proposals – is merely a blueprint it does set the administration’s priorities. It’s clear that when it comes to the Great Lakes our pri... Read more

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, recently joined 17 colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army (Civil Works) R.D. James requesting sufficient funding for the Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Study (GLCRS) in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed this study to coordinate a strategy across the Great Lakes states to efficiently and effectively manage and protect the Gr... Read more

Today, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois, announced they are to join the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus. “When it comes to climate change we must take an economically realistic and pragmatic approach,” said Upton. “Joining the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus is a tremendous opportunity to work across the aisle towards those goals. Pursuing an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy that protects our environment, preserves our Great Lakes, and ensures ... Read more

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today made the following comments after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed two Southwest Michigan Superfund Sites as part of their Redevelopment Focus List. This is an initial list of Superfund National Priorities (NPL) sites with greatest expected redevelopment and commercial potential. The two sites are Aircraft Components in Benton Harbor and the Allied Paper/Kalamazoo River site in Kalamazoo. “This is good news for Benton Harbor and Kalamazoo... Read more

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today sent a letter, alongside colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives, to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt in regards to the recent news that the EPA intends to prioritize certain cleanups under the Superfund program. Among the programs the EPA has targeted for “immediate, intense attention” is the Allied Paper/Kalamazoo River Superfund site. Upton previously released a statement in support of the new designation. The l... Read more

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, released the following statement after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Kalamazoo River Superfund site would be targeted for immediate, intense action: “We’ve been working alongside Kalamazoo leaders for years on this important issue. Everyone involved understands that it is essential that the final remedy protects the health and safety of Kalamazoo residents and allows for the site to be redeveloped and put to good use for the comm... Read more

Upton on Enbridge deal: 'We're going to stay on their case' WOODTV8 TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP/WOOD) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian oil transport company Enbridge Inc. announced an agreement Monday intended to boost the safety of twin oil pipelines beneath the waterway where Lakes Michigan and Huron converge. The deal does not call for the decommissioning of Line 5 as environmental groups have demanded, although it does include a procedure for temporarily halting the flow of oil through ... Read more

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today sent a letter to Enbridge as it relates to the company knowing of damage to portions of the enamel coating on the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac as far back as 2014. Upton is requesting both documents not provided after a previous request and a meeting with the highest-ranking official Enbridge can provide within two weeks. In addition to the letter, which can be found here or below, Upton released the following statement: “The lack of tra... Read more

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today released the following statement after voting against an amendment before the U.S. House of Representatives that would have reduced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget by nearly $2 billion – almost a quarter of the current budget. The amendment, had it been adopted, would have also made drastic cuts to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). The amendment failed by a 260 to 151 vote. “The passage of this amendment would have made dras... Read more