Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Keeps Funding

METRO DETROIT, MI — Funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative will continue at least through September. That’s the word from Washington D.C. as Congress approved a $1 trillion temporary spending plan Monday. The move by political leaders will keep funds flowing for the $50 million a year initiative.

In March, President Donald Trump proposed a budget for 2018 that would’ve cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s funding by 97 percent, including a $40 million cut to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The lakes are the world’s largest fresh water supply. Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Lansing described the temporary funding measure as a win.

“The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has always received bipartisan support and is absolutely critical to supporting Michigan jobs and protecting our Great Lakes, including fishing, boating, hunting and stopping invasive species,” Stabenow said in a statement. “I will continue working with my colleagues across the aisle to make sure President Trump’s plan to completely eliminate Great Lakes funding next year is stopped.”

The bill allocates $2.3 billion for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, continuing 2016 levels, and an additional $10 million for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation program, the Detroit News reported. The legislation would reduce the EPA budget $81.4 million to $8 billion, the newspaper reported. The EPA administers the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Not all lawmakers were thrilled with the temporary funding measure. On Twitter, Justin Amash, a Republican representative from the Grand Rapids area, slammed the budget compromise, the News reported. “Another deal to grow government. Instead of compromising to cut spending, each side agrees to let the other side spend more,” Amash wrote. “Instead of defending status quo, GOP should be defending Constitution, Rule of Law, federalism, free speech/markets, responsible budgeting.”

Though the EPA was created by an executive order by a Republican president, Richard Nixon in 1970, the agency has become increasingly political. Neither Gov. Rick Snyder nor Attorney General Bill Schuette, who is often mentioned as a candidate to replace him, have publicly commented on Trump’s proposal to gut the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Detroit Free Press columnist Stephen Henderson said both politicians should speak out about the proposed Great Lakes pollution cleanup cuts. Schuette criticized the Obama administration’s lax approach to regulation of shipping discharge, a leading contributor to invasive species, Henderson wrote.

Snyder, whose final term in office has been dogged by the Flint water crisis, knows from experience “what it looks like when you sweep into office damning regulation, slash it dramatically to make a point and pat yourself on the back for your efficiencies,” Henderson wrote.

Among the Great Lakes, Lake Erie is known for its huge, toxic algae blooms, including one in 2014 that cut off the Toledo, Ohio, drinking water supply. A small portion of southeast Michigan was affected as well.

Beth Dalbey (Patch Staff) contributed to this report

Photo by Tim Boyle / Staff / Getty Images News / Getty Images