Helping the environment pays off. According to a Great Lakes Commission study, every federal dollar spent on Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) projects produces $3.35 of additional economic activity in the Great Lakes region.
GLRI launched in 2010 and Congress appropriated over $2.5 billion from 2010 through 2017 to fund more than 3,600 projects that have dramatically improved environmental conditions around the region. The study shows that other effects of the initiative are: Creating or supporting thousands of jobs; boosting tourism in the Great Lakes region; an increase in new waterfront real estate and commercial development; and a resurgence in water-based recreation.
“This study describes what we already know in facts and figures: Cleaning up legacy pollution and restoring aquatic habitat on the Great Lakes isn’t only good for the environment, it creates jobs and fuels the regional economy,” says Mike Shriberg, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center.
Read more of the report at bit.ly/GLRIEconomicImpact.
