Last month, the Obama administration caused quite the uproar among Great Lakes environmentalists when it proposed budget cuts to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, reducing the budget from $300 million to $275 million.
On April 8, a bipartisan group of 46 House lawmakers, including six from Michigan, said they want Congress to reject the proposed cuts by the White House, according to an article published on the Detroit News website. The fund was created five years ago to clean up pollution and restore fish and wildlife habitats in the Great Lakes. Among the 46 supporting House lawmakers were Reps. Sander Levin (D-MI), John Dingell (D-MI), Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and David Joyce (R-OH), all of whom sent a letter to the committee that was considering budget funding.
“The inter-agency program provides funding to address vital environmental issues in the Great Lakes, such as cleaning up contaminated sediments, reducing polluted runoff, mitigating habitat degradation and loss, and addressing invasive species such as the Asian carp,” Congressional members said in the letter. “The program has invested $1.6 billion in Great Lakes restoration over the last five years.”
Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Midwest Region
