The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Sunday released its final version of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan. The plan spells out the agency’s goals and benchmarks for fixing up the world’s largest freshwater system through 2014.
The document updates a draft of the plan that was released in December and was open to public comment until Jan. 8. The EPA pulled the old version from its Web site, but since I had a copy sitting on my hard drive, I though I’d take a look at what’s changed.
The final …

(WI) The Daily Reporter - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday requested proposals for projects to clean up the Great Lakes.

(MI) The Mudpuppy – The U.S. government will begin taking proposals on Friday, Nov. 20, for funding from a $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Great Lakes protection took a step forward recently when President Barack Obama signed into law a $475 million restoration program aimed at stopping the deterioration of the lakes because of pollution, mismanagement, invasive species and other issues.

(WI) Sheboygan Press - The Great Lakes got a huge shot in the arm last week when President Obama signed the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

(OH) Cleveland Plain Dealer - With the stroke of a pen on Friday, President Barack Obama swam to the rescue of the planet’s largest group of freshwater lakes.

(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - A Great Lakes restoration plan hatched by President Barack Obama in the heat of last year’s campaign has been embraced as a prescription to heal centuries of pollution and mismanagement.

(MI) The Detroit News – The Senate easily passed legislation tonight containing $400 million for Great Lakes restoration by deterring invasive species, cleaning up highly polluted sites and expanding wetlands.

(MN) Minneapolis Star Tribune – Environmentalists’ long-held dream of restoring the Great Lakes may be on the verge of being realized.

Editors note: This story is part of an occasional series of Echo reports on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 20, 2009
Preventing shipborne organisms from damaging the Great Lakes ecosystem is one target of the Obama Administration’s $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Ships carry ballast water to make them more stable as their cargo is offloaded. When they take on more cargo, they flush the ballast back into the lake or ocean.  That water can carry from foreign ports plants and animals that compete with native …