Senators Request Full Funding for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

Today U.S. senators from Great Lakes states urged colleagues in the U.S. Congress to maintain funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Great Lakes Task Force co-chairs, Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Vice-Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), initiated the letter. They were joined on the letter by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.). Read the letter to appropriators here. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative invests in cleaning up toxic pollution, fighting invasive species, restoring fish and wildlife habitat, and reducing run-off that causes toxic algae blooms. Below is an on-the-record quote from Todd Ambs, campaign director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “We applaud the Great Lakes Senators who have continued to make Great Lakes restoration and protection a national priority. Federal investments are producing results, but more work remains. We look forward to working with public officials to ensure that federal restoration efforts remain on track. Cutting funding now will only make projects harder and more expensive the longer we wait.”