Great Lakes Coalition: House Proposed Budget Would Be a ‘Disaster for Clean Water’
Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition
Contact: Lindsey Bacigal, BacigalL@nwf.org, (734) 887-7113
Jordan Lubetkin, Lubetkin@nwf.org, (734) 904-1589
Great Lakes Coalition: House Proposed Budget Would Be a ‘Disaster for Clean Water’
ANN ARBOR, MICH. (June 27, 2024)—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. The $1.8 billion cut would set back critical environmental protections, public health, and slash state and Tribal assistance programs that help communities most impacted by pollution and invest in critical water infrastructure projects.
The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is urging members of Congress to reject the budget.
Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, said:
“The proposed budget is a disaster for the millions of people who still grapple with unsafe drinking water due to toxic pollution and lead, contaminated fish due to cancer-causing chemicals, and closed beaches due to sewage contamination. At a time when so many cities and towns are living with unsafe water, we need to be doing more, not less, to protect our drinking water and the health of our communities.”
“While federal investments to restore and protect the Great Lakes are producing results, serious threats remain—which is why cutting funding and scaling back clean water programs is a huge mistake. Cutting funding will only make the problems worse and more expensive to solve. We urge members of the Great Lakes congressional delegation to reject this budget and to work to craft a funding bill is commensurate with the task at hand—a funding bill that supports clean water programs that benefit our environment, economy, and communities that have been most impacted by pollution and environmental harm.”
The bill’s release today begins the House’s legislative process with the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee expected to consider the bill this Friday before advancing the legislation to a full committee markup, currently scheduled for next month. The Senate is expected to release its own budget proposal in July.
The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is urging public officials to support robust funding for core clean water programs in a series of letters.
Since 2004, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been harnessing the collective power of more than 180 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at HealthyLakes.org or follow us on social media @HealthyLakes.
