LORAIN, Ohio — President Joe Biden spoke in Ohio on Thursday, with the focus on how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will benefit not only Ohio, but the Great Lakes Region.

Biden said he has long been aware of the need to assist the Great Lakes Region, but even so he has been prodded by Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, whose district stretches nearly 150 miles along the Lake Erie coastline.  

Biden said Kaptur wrote letters to him describing what a treasure the Great Lakes are, as they represent work, life and recreation for millions of people.

Biden said he agreed, announcing a $1 billion investment in the Great Lakes region.

“We're investing like never, ever in history,” he said. “(The infrastructure bill) is going to allow the most significant restoration of the Great Lakes in the history of the Great Lakes.”

Speaking from Lorain’s waterfront at the Shipyard, a historic building that was once central to the area’s shipbuilding industry, Biden detailed the investments the bill includes for the Great Lakes and its tributaries, as well as for job creation and manufacturing across the state.

A cleanup project that spans several states and impacts the Great Lakes Basin, including Duluth, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Gary, Indiana and Buffalo, New York will be accelerated, he said.

“We know these sites were dangerously polluted for decades,” Biden said. “We committed to clean them up three decades ago.”

Biden also called out a project to take down the Gorge Dam, which straddles Akron and Cuyahoga Falls.

The Gorge, a 57-foot-high, 440-foot-wide chunk of concrete, is the last dam standing in a string of dams across several counties. As each dam has come down, the health of the Cuyahoga River has incrementally improved.

The cities, the Ohio EPA, and many local entities have studied removal of the dam for the past several years, and looked for ways to foot the roughly $60 million project.

Biden also pointed to shoreline restoration in several states, and said polluted sediment needs dredged and wetlands protected.

A recent study found that for every dollar spent on reclaiming the Great Lakes between $3 and $4 would be generated as income, he said.

He reflected on ways the country has fallen behind, leading to the crumbling infrastructure.

For most of the 20th Century, the United States led the world because we invested in ourselves and in our infrastructure, he said, from roads and bridges to ports and airports.

 The U.S. invested to win the “Space Race,” and led the world in research and development, including creation of the internet, he said.

“But somewhere along the way, we took our eye off the ball,” Biden said.

According to the World Economic Forum, the U.S. infrastructure is now ranked No. 13 in the world, he said, allowing China and other nations to pass us up.

The infrastructure bill will fund rebuilding roads and bridges, improving about 1,300 bridges and nearly 5,000 miles of highway in Ohio, he said.

In building infrastructure, the bill also focuses on American workers and American products, with American workers rebuilding using American-made steel, he said.

Jobs will also be created in making high-speed internet available, as 14% of Ohio households still have no internet, Biden said. Replacing lead pipes will also create jobs here, he said, as Ohio has the second-highest number of lead pipes in the nation.

Biden said he’s been working toward creating jobs since he took office, and counts 375,000 manufacturing jobs created in one year.

“In 2021, we saw the highest increase in union manufacturing jobs in nearly 30 years,” he said.

Biden also pointed to Intel’s $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing facility planned to go online outside Columbus in 2025.

“Semiconductors are badly needed as computer chips to manufacture automobiles, appliances, cell phones, and so much more,” Biden said. “We invented them, but we don't make them anymore.”

The new facility will rekindle semiconductor making, while building the plant will create 7,000 jobs, he said.

Similarly large initiatives are underway in Michigan, with General Motors announcing a $7 billion investment in making electric vehicles, while last year Ford said it would invest $11 billion in a similar facility, he said.

The infrastructure bill includes $7 billion to build a series of electric-vehicle charging stations along U.S. highways, Biden said.

Another initiative that’s underway would impact Ohioans, Biden said. The program would clean up abandoned mines, and cap and plug orphan wells that emit methane into the air. The workers closing the wells and mines would be paid high wages similar to those paid when the mines and wells were originally created, he said.

These projects show that growing the economy and creating jobs can mean protecting the environment, not decimating it, he said.