Please provide your comments on the Great Lakes Restoration Action Plan Comments must be submitted no later than noon CST on January 8, 2010. Please use the form at http://greatlakesrestoration.us/action/?page_id=26 to send us your comments. ------------------------------------------------ In July 2009, EPA and the other members of the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force (IATF) shared an outline for a Great Lakes Multi-Year Restoration Action Plan for the purpose of public consultation. In July and August, a series of consultation meetings were held across the Great Lakes basin to get input on the outline from States, Tribes, local governments, and other Great Lakes stakeholders, as well as the public. Using information from these meetings, the Federal partners drafted the Great Lakes Restoration Action Plan. http://greatlakesrestoration.us/action/?p=5 This Plan provides information about how the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative GLRI will address specific high profile, basinwide issues (for example, aquatic invasive species) as well as critical but more localized issues (for example, contaminated sediments). EPA and the IATF will use this plan to guide the overall direction and focus of GLRI and lays out the goals, objectives, measures, and actions that will help track our federal efforts from fiscal year 2010 through 2014. We are now soliciting final input on this draft Plan. Stakeholder input is crucial for this Plan to be successfully developed into an accountable and actionable tool. We will consider your comments as we finalize the Plan for release in February in conjunction with the President’s 2011 Budget. ------------------------------------------------ Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/glrestore _______________________ Pranas Pranckevicius, CISSP U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes National Program Office 77 West Jackson Blvd. G-17J Chicago, IL 60604-3590 pranckevicius.pranas at epa.gov 312 353-3437 Tel 312 385-5446 Fax www.epa.gov/greatlakes