Environmental Leaders Encourage Congress to Expand Environmental Investments

Environmental Leaders Encourage Congress to Expand Environmental InvestmentsANN ARBOR, MICH. (November 5, 2019) — This month, a coalition of environmental organizations came together to recognize the efforts on the part of both the House of Representatives link to House letter and Senate link to Senate letter to ensure that Great Lakes restoration remains a priority in the coming budget. The Department of Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Act, 2020, recently passed by the both Congressional chambers, includes vital allocations for restoration projects, cleaning up pollution, combatting invasive species, improving water infrastructure, and much more.As the House and Senate meet to conference the bills and work out final funding allocations, the coalition urged both houses to ensure that vital funding for the Great Lakes remains a priority.“We are grateful for the much needed support the region has received and understand the difficult decisions the Conferees face in allocating funding from the budget agreement,” the coalition wrote. “But we urge you to keep the highest possible funding allocation for the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. We are seeing on-the-ground results because of the investments in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. However, the Great Lakes still face many urgent problems. The problems we face will only get worse and the price we pay will only be higher if the federal partnership with the region is scaled back.”