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Today, Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Dan Kildee (D-MI), along with Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Mike Gallagher (R-WI) led a bipartisan group of their colleagues in urging House Leaders to fully fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) which works to protect, restore, and maintain the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Along with Dingell and Kildee, the letter to the House Appropriations Committee was signed by Michigan Representatives Fred Upton (R-MI), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Jack Bergman (R-MI), Paul Mitchell (R-MI), Andy Levin (D-MI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Haley Stevens (D-MI), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

“The federal government must continue to partner with our region to address the challenges the Great Lakes face,” the lawmakers wrote. “GLRI resources have supplemented agency budgets and funded coordinated efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes ecosystem. We must ensure this work continues. Halting or reducing this commitment would reverse years of progress, dramatically reducing the GLRI’s impact, and jeopardize the environmental and economic health of the region for generations to come.”

You can read a fully copy of the letter here.

“To that end, we urge you to continue this vial investment in the economic and environmental health of the Great Lakes by including at least $300 million for the GLRI in the Fiscal Year 2020 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.”

The GLRI is an inter-agency program designed to address the most significant problems in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are the source of drinking water for 40 million people, and hold 90 percent of our nation’s supply of fresh water. Jobs, recreation, and tourism all depend upon a healthy and flourishing Great Lakes ecosystem. Yet invasive species, toxic pollution, growing dead zones, and beach closures threaten the health and productivity of these irreplaceable bodies of water.

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