Post-Election Outlook: Important Great Lakes Work Remains for Congress

Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition

Contact: Lindsey Bacigal, BacigalL@nwf.org, (734) 887-7113

Post-Election Outlook: Important Great Lakes Work Remains for Congress

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 pursuit of our goals to restore and protect the Great Lakes and ensure that every community has access to clean and affordable drinking water.

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. Great Lakes restoration has received strong bipartisan support in Congress for many years due the great work of advocates across the region in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – and we believe that we can accomplish legislative victories in the remaining days of Congress. In fact, we’re in Washington, D.C., this week with partners and allies to generate momentum for key priorities.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is pursuing two key priorities: Reauthorizing the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and passing a budget that supports our broader Great Lakes and clean water goals.

Reauthorizing the Successful Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

The top priority for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is to ensure that restoring the Great Lakes remains a national priority. We are working with members of Congress to pass the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2024, a bill that has strong bipartisan support.

The federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative invests in actions to clean up toxic pollution, restore fish and wildlife habitat, reduce runoff pollution, and manage invasive species. These efforts have been tremendously successful over the past years, yet serious threats remain, which is why passing this bill is so important. The bill reauthorizes the GLRI, allowing the federal government to spend money on the program. The legislation paves the way for continued investment. The bill would provide a critical increase in investment up to $500 million annually; in comparison, Congress has invested $368 million in the current year for restoration actions.

The bill has strong bi-partisan support. In the Senate, the bill is led by retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). In the House, U.S. Reps. David Joyce (R-Ohio), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), and Bill Huizenga (R-Michigan) have helped attract widespread support from Republicans and Democrats for the bill. We will work with the Great Lakes congressional delegation to pass this important legislation.

Passing a Budget that Prioritizes the Great Lakes and Clean Water

Congress needs to pass a budget before they adjourn in December, and the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been working to secure strong investment in core clean water program that support Great Lakes restoration and protection and clean water goals of local communities across the region. The Coalition has advocated for a host of clean water programs in the annual federal budget and we hope to secure strong funding for programs, including:

• The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to maintain progress in protecting and restoring the lakes;

• The Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds, which provide funding to communities to fix and update their drinking water and wastewater infrastructure to provide clean drinking water to residents and reduce sewage contamination;

• Federal agencies like the EPA, U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies that are instrumental in overseeing restoration actions, conducting research to make restoration actions as effective as possible, chronicling impacts to human health and communities, and holding polluters accountable; and,

• EPA 106 and 319 funding that helps states and Tribes support water quality programs and efforts to reduce nonpoint pollution.

These are a sampling of the important programs that communities rely on to protect their drinking water, public health, outdoor recreation, jobs and quality of life. Tackling the totality of threats to the Great Lakes and local waters will require the federal government to use all the tools in its toolbox, which is why funding and supporting the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has to go hand in hand with support for other effective clean water and environmental investments.

We have our work cut out for us over the next two months, and we have our sights set on securing good outcomes for the Great Lakes and millions of people that rely on them for their drinking water, public health, jobs, and quality of life. There is urgency to this work, as cutting investments now will only make the problems more difficult and challenging to solve.

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.