GLIN==> NEMWI: Obama's $475 M Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: The Right Next Step for the Nation

50 F Street N.W. 
 
Washington, DC 20001 
Phone: 202.544.5200
Fax: 202.544.0043  
www.nemw.org
 
 
 
 
 

Obama's $475 M Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: The Right Next Step
for the Nation

 
This article by Allegra Cangelosi, Director of Ecosystem Projects at the
Northeast-Midwest Institute (www.nemw.org), was originally published on 
www.HealthyLakes.org <http://www.HealthyLakes.org>  on May 19, 2009.
 
The Obama Administration's proposed Great Lakes Restoration Budget
Initiative, if appropriated, will hit the ground running and produce
near-term results. To some the proposed $475 M investment may appear to
be coming out of the blue, and therefore, to be destined for a black
hole. Not so. The Great Lakes Region is ready, willing, and able to turn
those dollars into visible improvements in this massive fresh water
resource for the American public to enjoy. Those of us in the Ecosystem
Restoration policy community nationally are aware of the extensive
technical planning and organizing which has preceded this budget
proposal; those of us rooted in the Great Lakes ecosystem restoration
effort perhaps painfully so! The last thing the nation needs is an
extension of the planning stages for restoration of this significant
resource. We just need to get started with implementation, and the Obama
Administration has given us a glimmer of hope that we can in FY 2010.
 
If anyone doubts the adequacy, depth or cohesiveness of the plans
developed to date, I urge them to consult the Great Lakes Regional
Collaboration website (www.glrc.us) and the resulting federal Strategy
to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes (
http://www.glrc.us/strategy.html). This unprecedented Strategy is a
result of several years of data gathering and countless expert meetings
and tedious interagency collaboration. It provides a comprehensive
blueprint for ecosystem restoration rooted in several expansive
underlying technical plans developed pursuant to state law, federal law
and/or international agreement. These underlying technical plans
include:
 
-       Lakewide Management Plans for each Great Lake
-       Remedial Action Plans for each Area of Concern, or highly
polluted sites, developed by the EPA in keeping with a bi-national
agreement with Canada
-       State Wildlife Action Plans
-       National Fish Habitat Action Plan, developed by the US Fish and
Wildlife Service
-       Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries,
developed by the binational Great Lakes Fishery Commission
-       Upper Mississippi River/Great Lakes Joint Venture plans (North
American Waterfowl Management Plan, etc.)
The federal effort to collaboratively develop a holistic Strategy to
Restore and Protect the Great Lakes was launched under the Bush
Administration in response to an Executive Order. All of the relevant
federal agencies participated in the Bush-era process, as well as the
Great Lakes Congressional delegation, tribes, cities, states, industry
and the environmental community. 
In preparation for the FY 2010 budget roll-out, the Obama Administration
developed a list of specific "shovel ready" projects that were strictly
consistent with this Strategy as targets for the FY 2010 funds. In
essence, the Obama proposal for action respected the planning that took
place under his predecessor, and provides a seamless transition to
timely implementation. 
The FY 2010 Great Lakes budget initiative is also a foundation stone for
what could be a comprehensive restoration agenda for our nation's Great
Waters over the course of the Obama Administration. Indeed, signs of the
administration's interest in comprehensive water resource protection and
restoration are evident in other parts of the FY 2010 budget, including
the sizable bump up for the State Revolving Loan Fund for waste-water
treatment improvements. If deemed successful, the funding levels
proposed for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative may well be
sustained and combined with similar levels of funding dedicated to Great
Waters in other regions of the country in Obama Administration budgets
to come. In essence, a successful outcome of this FY 2010 Great Lakes
Restoration Budget Initiative will bode well for restoration nationally.

The only other major federal investment in our nation's water resources
dates to 1972, and while there must have been debate at the time, there
is broad consensus now that the investment was the right thing to do.
After decades of neglect, areas of the Great Lakes and other national
Great Waters were practically untouchable due to direct sewage
discharges. The federal government invested $41 billion nationally in
wastewater treatment infrastructure through the Clean Water Act's
Construction Grants Program; this was the largest non-military public
investment since the Interstate Highways System. The outcome of the
effort was a dramatic improvement in the nation's quality of life. The
Great Lakes were once again beautiful and dramatically more accessible.
The job is not done, but there is a clear lesson: given a plan, public
investment in environmental restoration can produce real, dramatic and
visible benefits for the nation.
Serious problems in the Great Lakes ecosystem persist and new ones have
emerged: fish are still unsafe for consumption by children, aquatic
invasive species threaten wildlife and human health, erosion threatens
magnificent shorelines, drinking water quality is still at risk. Indeed,
these continuing problems inspired the multi-year planning process
undertaken during the Bush Administration. Once again, like in the
1970s, a clear plan for investment of restoration dollars is there, and
clear improvements are in store once the investment is made. Congress
should appropriate the full FY 2010 proposed $475 M Great Lakes
Restoration Initiative. As in the 1970s, the resulting improvements in
Great Lakes will be tangible, visible and appreciated by all.
For more information, contact: 
Allegra Cangelosi
Director of Ecosystem Projects
Northeast-Midwest Institute
50 F St. NW
Washington, DC 20001
voice 202.464.4007
fax 202.544.0043
email: acangelo at nemw.org
 
 
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