Pennsylvania has only one Great Lake. Maybe it is time we put our name on it.
 
In the near future, I will introduce a resolution urging the President of the United States, Congress and the United States Secretary of the Interior to take the necessary steps to rename Lake Erie as “Lake Pennsylvania.”
 
The case is about the lake’s modern identity.
 
Every summer, Pennsylvanians head toward the lake—north on I-79 from western Pennsylvania, west on I-80 from central and eastern Pennsylvania, and along connecting highways from every corner of the Commonwealth—with boats, fishing gear and families in tow. They spend the weekend on Pennsylvania’s Great Lake shoreline and return home Sunday to communities across the Commonwealth. Presque Isle and Erie Bluffs attract millions of visitors annually, and tourism is now one of Erie County’s largest industries.
 
Pennsylvania also punches well above its weight in maintaining our Great Lake’s recreational fishery. Despite having a relatively small share of the lake’s shoreline, Pennsylvania stocked nearly 500,000 yearling steelhead in 2025—approximately 40% of all steelhead stocked and more than any other state or Canadian province. Pennsylvania also supplied all of the brown trout stocked into the lake that year.
 
This is Pennsylvania’s only Great Lake. Its modern economy and identity are increasingly tied to the boaters, anglers, families and tourists who come to enjoy it.
 
Ohio has plenty of shoreline. New York already has two Great Lakes. Canada has four others.
 
Pennsylvania has one.
 
Let’s call it Lake Pennsylvania.
 
Please join me in co-sponsoring this resolution urging Federal officials to begin the process of giving Pennsylvania’s Great Lake a name worthy of its modern identity.