Great Lakes Coalition Releases Funding Priorities in Letters to House Appropriations Leaders
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 Releases Funding Priorities in Letters to House Appropriations Leaders
ANN ARBOR, MICH. (April 28, 2022)—The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition and more than 90 of its member organizations released its 2023 fiscal year congressional investment priorities to restore and protect the Great Lakes and provide clean, safe, and affordable drinking water to communities, in letters to U.S. House appropriations leaders.
“Federal investments to restore the Great Lakes and provide clean, safe, and affordable dinking water are producing results in communities around the region,” said Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “Yet serious threats remain. The ongoing presence of drinking water restrictions, fish consumptions advisories, and beach closures – as well as the rising cost of water – underscore that the federal government cannot let up now. Congress needs to keep funding solutions that protect our drinking water and the health of communities. We look forward to working with the Great Lakes delegation to ensure that we are doing all we can to protect the Great Lakes and the millions of people in the region, especially the communities that have been most impacted by pollution and harm.”
The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is calling on members of Congress to fund:
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $400 million to clean up toxic pollution, restore habitat, and reduce runoff pollution;
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund at $4.4 billion and Drinking Water State Revolving Funding at $3.9 billion to help communities fix and update drinking water and wastewater infrastructure;
Programs to research, monitor, and evaluate progress and challenges of clean-up efforts through programs like the Sea Grant and NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab;
Programs to help communities prepare for, and adapt to, the impacts of climate change, such as flooding;
Invasive carp action plan to keep the non-native fish out of the Great Lakes; and,
Farm conservation programs that pay farmers to take specific actions to improve water quality and soil health and to prevent toxic algal blooms.
Since 2004, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been harnessing the collective power of more than 170 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 Twitter @HealthyLakes.