Congressman Sander Levin

Restoring the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are Michigan’s crown jewels. A comprehensive effort is needed to protect and restore them. Rather than the piecemeal approach that has been used in the past, I have joined with other House members in cosponsoring legislation that calls for an integrated, basin-wide approach to restoring the Great Lakes. Our bill is called the Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act [H.R. 500]. It would carry out the recommendations of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, which developed a comprehensive strategy on how to restore the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Specifically, our bill would set in motion the most ambitious environmental restoration effort ever attempted. The legislation would fight the spread of aquatic invasive species; increase federal assistance to states and communities to build wastewater infrastructure; triple funding to clean up toxic hotspots in the Great Lakes; protect wetlands, and restore fish and wildlife within the Basin.

Soon after taking office, President Obama proposed a new Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and called for Congress to provide $475 million for the effort in 2010. This initiative will begin to address longstanding problems in the Great Lakes, including invasive species, non-point pollution, habitat and fisheries loss, and contaminated sediment. At the urging of myself and others in the Michigan Congressional Delegation, Congress approved the full $475 million requested by President Obama for the GLRI as part of the annual funding bill for the Department of the Interior and Environmental Protection Agency. Fully restoring the Great Lakes will require a sustained commitment at the federal, state and local level. I am working to win additional funding for this new initiative.

(Updated November 24, 2009)