A coalition of environmental groups involved in protecting the Great Lakes, says President Trump鈥檚 2019 and infrastructure plan are both 鈥渄ead on arrival.鈥� And members are asking Congress to preserve funding for the lakes -- as it did last year.
About 100 members of the Healing Our Waterscoalition will travel to Washington, D.C., next month to meet with senators and representatives from the region. They'll some recommendations for a national infrastructure plan.
鈥淚t needs to significantly increase federal investments, it needs to prioritize nature-based solutions that save money by preventing problems before they become more serious,鈥� says Chad Lord, policy director of Healing Our Waters. 鈥淚t needs to support, not roll back, environmental health and safety protections.鈥�
The coalition hopes Congress will find a better way to solve problems with pollution and water infrastructure.
In 1977, the federal government 63 percent of its capital spending on water infrastructure, compared to just 9 percent in 2014, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
In a proposal that Trump released on Monday, infrastructure spending gets a boost.
Healing Our Waters Campaign Director Todd Ambs is happy about that, but says the president鈥檚 doesn鈥檛 solve the nation鈥檚 water crisis. 鈥淚ncentives in the plan -- to that extent that they exist -- are geared toward privatization of water infrastructure where decisions are based on financial gain rather than public health benefit.鈥�
Healing our Waters rejects Trump鈥檚 2019 budget outline, too.
The plan would slash hundreds of millions of dollars for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the National Sea Grant program. The also would eliminate money for a program aimed at reducing pollution from sources like agricultural runoff.
鈥淲hat this [program] does is provide a pot of funds that are given to state agencies 鈥� enforcing the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts to address, specifically, reducing the threat of polluted runoff sources,鈥� Ambs says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty critical thing.鈥�
Many elected officials in the Great Lakes region have Trump鈥檚 budget, including members of Congress and a group of mayors.
鈥淲ith this devastating funding cut, the President has abandoned the Great Lakes region yet again,鈥� said John Dickert, president of the mayors' group know as the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. 鈥淭his short-sighted proposed budget would devastate our region鈥檚 freshwater and $5.8 trillion binational Great Lakes economy for generations.鈥�
Trump proposed slashing spending for the Great Lakes last year, but Congress restored the money.
Copyright 2021 Great Lakes Today. To see more, visit . 9(MDA5NTM4MTIyMDE0MTg3NDc2MTVlZjdmNQ001))
