Urges action to assure Great Lakes' critical needs are swiftly funded

December 2, 2004

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm will meet with the governors of other Great Lakes states, as well as federal, local, tribal, and non-governmental leaders, on Friday to declare support for a regional collaborative effort to restore and protect the Great Lakes.  The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration conveners are meeting in Chicago.

“The Great Lakes literally define the state of Michigan, and their waters have served as an engine of economic, ecological, and social change for close to two centuries,” said Granholm.  “Even as we work to protect our water from being diverted to other parts of the country, regional action must be taken to protect the Lakes’ vitality today and for future generations.”

The conveners meeting will provide an opportunity for states, municipalities, tribes, and non-governmental leaders to declare support for a process to better organize existing Great Lakes protection and restoration programs.  It also will identify short and long-term restoration needs for action by governmental and non-governmental stakeholders.

Granholm was pleased that after significant lobbying by the Great Lakes governors, Congress last month provided $2 million for the completion of Asian carp barriers in the Chicago River.  However, she expressed concern about recent federal funding decisions, including a cut in the federal Clean Water State Revolving Loan (SRF) funding that will cost states in the Great Lakes region as much as $88 million to stop sewer overflows.

“Restoring our Great Lakes will require an intense level of commitment from everyone with a stake in the basin’s future.  We welcome the prospect of a stronger partnership with the federal government and hope it will include better federal coordination and more federal money.  America’s Great Lakes deserve at least as much help from Washington as the Everglades and the Chesapeake Bay.”

The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration conveners meeting has been organized by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael O. Leavitt in response to a presidential directive earlier this year to provide improved strategic direction on federal Great Lakes policies and programs and to encourage greater cooperation with the Great Lakes states and other organizations concerned about the future of the Great Lakes basin.

The federal collaboration effort will organize its future deliberations using eight of the nine restoration priorities issued last year by Granholm and the other Great Lakes state governors.  The first priority listed by the governors, addressing water use and diversion issues, is being addressed in a separate process to implement the Great Lakes Charter Annex of 2001.  Those priorities include pollution control, stopping and controlling exotic aquatic invasive species, and restoration of wetlands and coastal habitats.