- A "Closer Look" now at a federal proposal to drastically
cut annual funding to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative,
from $300 million to $10 million.
The initiative began in 2010 to speed up efforts to protect and
restore the Great Lakes, described as the largest system
of fresh surface water in the world.
The initiative works to clean up particular areas of concern,
prevents and controls invasive species, reduce algae blooms and
restores habitat.
Last year alone, Wisconsin saw nearly $300 million in funding
from the Initiative.
In tonight's "Closer Look," potential impact of cuts to
Great Lakes restoration.
Joel Brammeier is the president of Alliance for the Great Lakes.
He joins us from Chicago and thanks very much for doing so.
- Thanks for having me.
- Well, first, what is your reaction
to the proposed funding cuts?
- Well, the cuts would be devastating to the Great Lakes.
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has really brought
the region back from the brink, in terms of supporting clean-ups
of some of these contaminated sites, protecting the Great
Lakes from things like Asian carp which made headlines
several years ago.
And so the program has been wildly successful.
It's funded more than 2,000 projects across the Great Lakes
region and we're really looking forward to continue and we think
it can because it has a lot of bipartisan support in Congress.
- The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is funding to kind of
accelerate clean-up.
Could it be regarded as a booster fund in addition to
other efforts that are already ongoing?
- Well, states and cities are also spending millions of
dollars every year to restore the Great Lakes.
And what the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has done
has really brought all of that effort together as a partnership
from the federal level all the way down to the local level.
And so you're actually now seeing billions of dollars of
restoration money being invested across levels of government and
the private sector.
The GLRI, as it's known, has had this sort of
collaboration-inducing effect in addition to the raw dollars.
We stand to lose a lot of that collaboration if this program
goes away.
- I know in Wisconsin the Initiative has worked to address
the Sheboygan River and lower Fox River, designated as areas
of concern because of industrial contamination and pollution.
How does the funding address that kind of clean-up?
- Part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is
designated to support cities around the region like Sheboygan
and like the lower Fox River area that experienced that
legacy of contamination.
In a very real way, the Midwest built the world.
We provided the steel, the cars, the paper.
There's a legacy of contamination that goes with
that.
So dozens of cities around the Great Lakes have a very heavy
contamination burden.
The GLRI is sparking clean-ups across the region.
Four of the most contaminated areas in the United States have
been cleaned up as a result of the GLRI and other partnerships.
And there's a couple dozen more on the list still waiting.
- So what are some kind of specific examples of work that
has happened because of the funding of which you speak?
- Well, you brought one up already right there in
Wisconsin.
The Sheboygan clean-up has received substantial funding
from the GLRI, from a number of federal agencies, and combined
with local investment is making a huge difference in the
comeback of Sheboygan's Lake Michigan resources.
A little south of there you've got Milwaukee, what's called an
area of concern that's in the process of being cleaned up.
In Illinois, just a little bit south Waukegan.
There's example after example of a city on the coast of the Great
Lakes that doesn't actually get all the benefits of being on the
Great Lakes because they've got this legacy of contamination.
We also have, of course, the effort to protect the Great
Lakes from species like Asian carp, which is being directly
funded in Illinois to the tunes of tens of millions of dollars
each year.
Part of that is coming out of the GLRI.
- So if this funding gets reduced to the extent that is
proposed, is it your expectation that these projects would just
stop in their tracks?
- That federal spark is almost critical to the future of these
clean-ups.
You've got to have that federal engagement to drive those
clean-ups forward or the projects face a very real risk
of grinding to a halt.
To give you an example, in the 20 years prior to the creation
of the GLRI, there were designations on the books, there
were plans that had been written, there were community
forums, but there was no dollars actually going to make these
clean-ups happen.
And the GLRI fast forwarded all that.
Now we're on the pace to actually get those projects
done.
-How would you describe the current health of the Great Lakes?
- I think we're at some very real risk.
Places like Toledo, Ohio that can't access clean drinking
water sometimes because the water is so contaminated from
toxic algae.
You've got locations like the bay of Green Bay, where clean
water concerns are doing damage to the region's image, not to
mention the fact that people are having a hard time accessing
safe drinking water northeast of Green Bay.
And there's examples like that all over the Great Lakes.
We're facing some very real risks right now.
It's not as though the clean-up is done
and we can just walk away.
- How likely do you think it is that these funding cuts
will actually become reality?
- Well, if there is a silver lining here, it's that there has
been a massive effort over the last ten years to build up the
bipartisan support for restoring the Great Lakes.
And so you've seen, for example, this spring there was a letter
sent in Congress that nearly 50 members of Congress, Republicans
and Democrats from the Great Lakes region, signed on to
supporting full funding for this initiative.
It was authorized officially by Congress at the end of last
year.
I think there's a great prospect to actually get this program
back where it needs to be, regardless of what the White
House puts forward.
- We'll be watching.
Joel Brammeier out of Chicago, thanks a lot for joining us.
- Thank you.