WASHINGTON, D.C. (WHBL) – A Senate bill aimed at helping to restore and revitalize endangered waterfronts across the country is moving through to the House.
Senator Tammy Baldwin has been working on getting the Waterfront Community Revitalization and Resiliency Act passed for the past year, and says she’s happy to finally see it get a vote. “From Milwaukee to Superior and from La Crosse to Green Bay, I’m proud to find support for this commonsense legislation to support waterfront communities and I applaud today’s vote in the Senate to pass this bill.” The bill would provide grants and funding to municipalities and communities hoping to convert former industrial areas into commercial, residential and tourism areas.
Those uses can be in very stark contrast with the ways that rivers were used in the past, where industries polluted waters and left rivers a blight on a community. Many of those waterfronts across the country languished as brownfield and Superfund sites for ages. Baldwin say improving waterfronts is not only a envrionmentally responsible thing to do, it’s also good for the economy. “Wisconsin’s natural resources support nearly $12 billion dollars of economic activity in the Badger State. Boosting our waterfront communities is not just an environmental goal, it is an economic necessity.”
