By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
May 14, 2009

Regional environmental and economic groups on Thursday urged Congress to quickly approve President Barack Obama’s proposed allocation of $475 million to restore and protect the Great Lakes.

“This initiative, from our perspective, is the exact priorities the Great Lakes need, and the right amount,” said Andy Buchsbaum, co-chair of Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.

The proposal allocates the most money – $146 million – to cleaning toxic substances from contaminated sediments. Other funding would go to keeping out and removing invasive species, preventing pollution, improving near-shore health and protecting habitat and wildlife.

The president has not identified specific geographic regions that would receive the funding. About 70 percent would be given to the states to distribute themselves, Buchsbaum said.

“It’s very important … to move forward right now,” said Dave Ullrich, executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a coalition of local officials that works to advance the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes. “The big thing about these problems is that they don’t go away, they get worse.”

If the budget is approved by Sept. 30, the money could be distributed as early as December, he said.

The plan focuses on removing contaminated sediments. There has been some concern that this might not be effective because pollution continues to blow in from overseas and rain down into the Great Lakes.

The $475 million does not allocate funding to deal with these ongoing sources of pollution, Buchsbaum said. However, there are other provisions in the budget that provide for water quality protection, such as the enforcement of the existing Clean Air and Clean Water acts, he said.

Restoring the Great Lakes would help the region’s economy, said George Kuper, president of the Council of Great Lakes Industries. According to a recent study, nearly $2 in economic benefits would result from each restoration dollar spent, he said.

Protection of the Great Lakes helps the region maintain its competitive advantage, Buchsbaum said.

“The lakeshores give us an advantage as long as they stay healthy — they draw new workers, and support existing jobs and industries,” he said. “If we don’t take care of that investment, we’re going to lose jobs.” It is impossible to tell now exactly how many new jobs will be created, said Sean Logan, director of Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources.

More information on how Obama’s budget would affect the Great Lakes can be found here.