The U.S. Senate last night passed the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2024. It is important that the House pass the bill in the remaining days of Congress, as a failure to act will mean that the Great Lakes congressional delegation will have to start from square one with a new Congress in January 2025.

The dust is settling after the 2024 elections, and Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition staff are assessing what the elections will mean for our work. In the meantime, there’s a lot of work left to do before Congress adjourns at the end of December, and we are focusing on several priorities that we believe can be pushed across the finish line.

Materials from the 2024 Fall Fly-in

We had another successful Great Lakes Conference in 2024! Around 280 people joined us in Chicago over the course of two days. We’re already planning the 2025 Great Lakes Conference and we hope you’ll join us next fall in Rochester, New York!

This week the EPA removed New York’s Rochester Embayment Area of Concern on the shore of Lake Ontario from the list of most-contaminated sites in the Great Lakes region, drawing praise from the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.

Hundreds of advocates for the Great Lakes are preparing to gather in Chicago, Illinois, September 26-27, for the 2024 Great Lakes Conference, put on by the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations released its proposed fiscal year 2025 Interior and Environment funding bills. The Republican budget being considered would hold Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding at $368 million (level with current funding) but would eviscerate other core clean water programs by cutting the EPA budget by 20 percent.

A recent audit by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General found that Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grants supported the EPA’s program goals for the Great Lakes, overall, but could benefit from improved monitoring and reporting.