The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Reps call for full Great Lakes funding
Members of the U.S. House are again urging for full funding for a federal program aimed at cleaning up the Great Lakes.
Reps. Dave Joyce, R-Bainbridge Township, and Sander Levin, DMichigan, led a group of 63 representatives asking the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies for $300 million in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in Fiscal Year 2019.
“Year after year the Great Lakes are threatened and get the short end of the stick when it comes to funding. Our Great Lakes are such an important resource for our nation and region. It is in
our best interest to protect and maintain their health,” Joyce said. “I am proud to have led yet another letter requesting necessary funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.”
Since it was approved in 2009, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has given more than $2 billion to the eight-state region for projects that have removed toxic wastes from industrial harbors, fought invasive species such as Asian carp, restored wildlife habitat and supported efforts to prevent harmful algal blooms.
The program has typically received $300 million in funding annually. Supporters have had to fight against cuts dating back to the Obama administration, but under President Donald Trump, the program has faced even more severe cuts.
Last year the Trump administration’s proposed budget zeroed-out the program funding. That proposal was met by criticism by both parties. The program received full funding for 2018.
In February, the Trump Administration again proposed major cuts to the GLRI. Under his proposal, the program would receive $30 million in funding. It was again met with bipartisan criticism. It is Congress, not the president, that has the power of the purse and the 63 legislators laid out their case for full funding to the House subcommittee.
“More than a century of environmental damage has taken a significant toll on the Great Lakes, which the GLRI is helping to correct,” the representatives wrote in the letter. “Since the initiative was launched in 2010, GLRI funds have been used to support almost 3,500 restoration projects to improve water quality, protect and restore native habit, cleanup environmentally impaired Areas of Concern, fight invasive species, and prevent beach closings.”
They said GLRI resources have supplemented agency budgets to fund “coordinated efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes ecosystem.” Halting the program, would greatly reduce its impact and jeopardize the environmental and economic health of the region.
“The fact that the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative garners such strong, bipartisan support is a testament to the importance it has to our region and the nation,” Levin said.