WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to build support for the ailing Great Lakes, lawmakers from the region are urging voters in their states to let the presidential candidates know how critical the issue is to them.
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton and likely Republican nominee John McCain have signed pledges to support a comprehensive cleanup plan. But backers in Congress say the candidates need to hear about the importance of the lakes from voters.
‘‘It’s easy to make those commitments in the heat of a presidential campaign, but they need to be reminded during the campaign when they come to our states,’’ Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., told Great Lakes activists Thursday.
The eight states bordering the Great Lakes account for 141 electoral votes in the November presidential election; it takes 270 to win. The states are Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Scientists have said the Great Lakes, which make up 90 percent of the nation’s surface fresh water, are teetering toward an ecological breakdown after years of exposure to toxic pollution and habitat loss.
Members of Congress who represent the eight states said the next president will be critical to the restoration of the lakes and help determine the fate of a recovery plan that has been estimated to cost about $20 billion to $26 billion.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., the House’s fourth-ranking Democrat, noted that the states will have considerable clout in the election and a $7.8 billion, 30-year cleanup plan for the Florida Everglades was helped by the state’s crucial role during the 2000 campaign.
‘‘There’s no reason not to have the type of resources committed to the Great Lakes that we do for the Everglades,’’ Emanuel said. ‘‘The Everglades are important. Thirty-six million people’s daily drinking water is important and all the other economic activity ... that comes from the Great Lakes.’’
Dozens of activists, led by Michigan Lt. Gov. John Cherry, traveled to Washington this week to lobby Congress for the Great Lakes cleanup plan and a number of interim steps needed to address the invasion of exotic species, improve wastewater treatment systems and clean heavily polluted sites.
Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., a McCain supporter, said the Arizona senator had bucked the views of many lawmakers from his region who have suggested that northern states share their water to help Southwest states with water shortages.
‘‘For an Arizona senator to sign on to the Great Lakes pledge shows that you have a national vision — you understand how important it is,’’ Kirk said.
