55 years after the last Cuyahoga River fire, EPA highlights improvements

On a June Sunday morning in 1969, there was a small fire in Cleveland. News 5 was the only camera to shoot it, and it was out in a half-hour but it would change the way the government dealt with the handling of environmental matters for generations to come.

What was on fire was the Cuyahoga River, a story that would run in LIFE magazine weeks later, using pictures from a fire 17 years earlier, which would shock the nation into action and give newly elected Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes and his Congressman brother Louis the momentum they needed to pressure Washington to act. It led to the passing of the Clean Water Act of 1972, which also led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

On Wednesday, EPA Regional Administrator Debra Shore joined several colleagues in Cleveland to highlight the progress that has been made in the last 55 years, but also since the passing of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in 2010.

“Since the start of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, we, along with the state and our many local partners, have made significant progress in transforming the river into a healthy and vibrant ecosystem,” said Shore.

“Dedicated cleanup work and habitat restoration over the intervening decades has resulted in the lifting of beneficial use impairments on fish consumption, beautification and aesthetic degradation,” she said. “Just as important to the EPA is that Lake Erie communities are thriving and can share equally in this extensive restoration.”

The Great Lakes are the freshwater envy of the world, accounting for one-fifth of the world's fresh water. It's also a lifeline for Northeast Ohio. It's what brought Moses Cleaveland here in 1796 and what fueled our growth, shipping and steel access to markets. It's actually one of the things that drew Paul Sharpe here this week from New Zealand.

"Yeah, I came to Ohio to see the Lake,” he said, but he wasn’t anticipating the breakwall. "The lake looks great it's a shame that there's a wall in the way here for me."

The break wall, I explained, protects the boats along the shore, which on this day includes the EPA's Lake Guardian, whose job it is to actually, in turn, protect the Lake. It is the EPA's largest research vessel that travels the Great Lakes, monitoring constantly for changing conditions which is especially important because Lake Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes and most susceptible to change.

"That's true,” said Shore, “because it's shallow and has certain characteristics; that's why the Lake Guardian, are big research vessel, is going to be spending a lot of time this summer gathering samples throughout Lake Erie to learn more about what's happening."

Its funding is tied to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Founded in 2010, its budget has at times come under attack, including in 2019 when the Trump Administration proposed a 90% cut to it. That, though, brought Great Lakes Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate together to say no.

"Presidents have tried to zero it out; Congress restores the money because they know how important it is,” said Shore.

A new five-year extension just passed out of committee but still needs to be approved by the full House and Senate. It's critical Shore says to the continued protection of Lake Erie, home to just 2% of the water in the Great Lakes but an astounding 50% of the fish and living organisms in them.

And while the EPA does its part in Washington, Shore heard this day from Luca Pippenger, who said he will continue to do his. Luca's a student at Cleveland's Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School and is part of the crew that staff the two Port of Cleveland boats that clear trash and debris from the river several days a week, guaranteeing that Cleveland's burning river days of 55 years ago remain a distant memory.

"As I'm picking it up at first, what goes through my mind is like how can all of this trash get out here,” said Pippenger. “How is this even possible? But then what goes through my mind is, well, if nobody else is doing it, I can, and I can still continue doing it, continue helping the lake get better, the river get better all of that."