Congressman Mike Gallagher has represented Wisconsin’s 8th District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2017. Mike was born and raised in Green Bay, where he now lives with his wife Anne and daughter Grace.
Mike served for seven years on active duty in the United States Marine Corps, including two deployments to Iraq. Mike also served as the lead Republican staffer for the Middle East and Counterterrorism on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and worked in the private sector at an energy and supply chain management company in Green Bay.
Threats to the ecosystems in the Great Lakes and waters of NE Wisconsin include hypoxic pools – often referred to as dead zones.
Green Bay has a long history with hypoxia occurring in the Bay. According to NEW Water, the brand of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, however, the number of days of low oxygen levels (5 mg/ltr) have increased from 10.6/year between 1986 and 1995 to 36/year for 2011-2020. Dead zones (<2 mg/liter) increased from 1.9 days to 14.5 days.
In 2015, then Congressman Reid Ribble (WI-08) hosted a summit on contributors to hypoxic pools in the waters of Green Bay. The overwhelming response to the summit sparked conversations on reducing the levels of phosphorous in the bay. Thus, he launched an initiative to "Save the Bay."
Understanding Hypoxic Pools: Layers are created in bodies of water when summer sun warms the surface and cold water sinks to the bottom. During the summer months, the upper layer pulls oxygen from the air. The cool (deep) zone gets re-oxygenated in the fall when upper water level temperatures drop to match the lower level temperatures, allowing waters to mix. Water layers are typically not a problem in oceans or deep lakes, because the large cold layer provides sufficient oxygen for aquatic life. It can be a problem in shallower waters, such as in Green Bay and Lake Winnebago, because the cold layer is thinner, making it prone to run low on oxygen in late summer.
A dead zone refers to a low oxygen (hypoxia) pool that causes serious stress on aquatic life. Dead zones occur when algae that grows near the surface dies and sinks to the bottom. As algae decomposes, oxygen is consumed. If algae consumption is excessive, a cold zone becomes a "dead zone" and cold zone organisms that do not have air bladders have difficulty leaving these impacted areas. The greater the expanse of algae, the greater the risk for hypoxic pools. Phosphorus, which is prevalent in manure, plants and other sources, feeds algal blooms. Studies have identified agriculture as a contributor to phosphorus loads in tributaries leading to Green Bay and Lake Michigan.
Standing idly by as the number of Green Bay's dead zone days increased was not acceptable to then Congressman Reid Ribble. Thus, he launched an initiative to "Save the Bay.