The federal government could soon promise a lot more money to help clean up the Great Lakes. Lawmakers from several states in the region are proposing a multi-billion dollar cleanup fund. More from the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland:
Transcript
The federal government could soon promise a lot more money to help clean up
the Great Lakes. Lawmakers from several states in the region are proposing a
multi-billion dollar cleanup fund. More from the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Michael Leland:
Lawmakers from states bordering the Great Lakes say previous cleanup efforts have been
uncoordinated and under-funded. The region’s U.S. Senators are sponsoring
a bill that would give Great Lakes states six-billion dollars in grants during the
next ten years. A similar bill in the House offers four billion over five years.
Andy Buchsbaum heads the National Wildlife Federation office in Ann Arbor. He says the
proposals are groundbreaking.
“Until now, all too often the approach has been to slow or, if we are very lucky, to stop the
degradation of the Great Lakes. But these bills really break the mold. They give the lakes a
chance to improve, to heal, to recover.”
The Senate bill would create a regional advisory board to recommend which projects should
receive federal money. Buchsbaum predicts presidential candidates hoping to win support in the
region will back the bills. Both measures are only authorization bills. Lawmakers in future years
would have to vote to actually spend the money.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Michael Leland.