Clinton, Trump Campaigns Commit to Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at Candidate Forum

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (September 23, 2016) – At a presidential campaign forum yesterday, representatives from the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump campaigns said that they would support the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative if elected. The forum, hosted by the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, came on the last day of the organization’s twelfth annual Great Lakes restoration conference in Sandusky, Ohio.Todd Ambs, campaign director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, said:“We’re glad to see both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump support Great Lakes restoration and protection through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. More than 30 million people depend on the lakes for their drinking water, and it’s imperative that the next president make the restoration of the Great Lakes a national priority.”The presentation of Trump campaign representative Mike Budzik, past chief, Ohio Division of Wildlife under Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, is available at https://www.facebook.com/healthylakes/videos/10154889608099796/The presentation of Clinton campaign representative David Hayes, former deputy secretary, Department of Interior in the Obama Administration, is available at https://www.facebook.com/healthylakes/videos/10154889995564796/Over the last seven years, the U.S. Congress has invested over $2.2 billion through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in more than 2,900 projects in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. These projects have restored more than 150,000 acres of fish and wildlife habitat; opened up fish access to more than 3,800 miles of rivers; helped farmers—in combination with other programs—implement conservation programs on more than 1 million acres of rural working lands; and accelerated the cleanup of toxic hotspots by delisting three formerly contaminated sites. In the previous two decades before the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, only one site identified as a toxic hotspot had been delisted. Read about successful projects in each state. The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition does not favor or oppose any candidate. And the views expressed are not those of the Coalition or sponsoring organizations. The Coalition encourages viewers of the presidential candidate forum to find out as much as possible about the positions of presidential candidates in the race as the campaign progresses. The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition consists of more than 140 environmental, conservation, outdoor recreation organizations, zoos, aquariums and museums representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at www.healthylakes.org or follow us on Twitter @healthylakes.