Congress bill would help protect Lake Champlain
BURLINGTON, Vt. -- The U.S. Congress is considering a bill that would more than quadruple the amount of money spent on protecting the Lake Champlain fishery.
The Burlington Free Press says a $6.5 million appropriation added to a bill by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy was labeled for water quality and lamprey control.
Last year the federal government provided $1.2 million for protecting the fishery.
Leahy says about $700,000 would be spent on controlling lamprey, the eel-like predator that attacks game fish. The rest would be spent on pollution abatement, invasive species control and to leverage other federal money.
If approved, the money would be only a portion of the funds allocated to the lake by the federal government.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
