Presidential Tracking Poll

Time Will Tell

It may have taken sending an Illinois candidate to the White House but finally, someone in Washington gets it – that investing in Great Lakes restoration will improve the overall economy of the entire Great Lakes, eight state region – and that someone is President Barack Obama.

President Obama promised us during the campaign season that he would make Great Lakes restoration a priority and he would provide $5 billion to jump start the process. Then in his first Read More » »

The First One Hundred

Has it been 100 days already? It sure has and President Barack Obama has come through on many of his Great Lakes promises. Let’s see, he has set aside millions for a Great Lakes Interagency Restoration Initiative, hired Great Lakes lover Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff and he has called for the appointment of a Great Lakes Czar.

Not bad at all. Congress has agreed, so far, with the Presidents funding of the Great Lakes Initiative – that’s good. But we have yet to see the administration appoint this so called Great Lakes Czar – a person who will coordinate Read More » »

Adding Ink To The Fire!

HOW’s healthylakes.org blog was first to announce online that President Obama had made Great Lakes restoration a priority in his Budget last week. Since then, several newspapers have dedicated ink to the great news. The Associated Press article ran in many of the regions newspapers too.

Our own Andy Buchsbaum waxed poetic about the President’s enthusiastic promise to us telling the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “”Yeah, it’s big, and it’s as real as a president can make it,” said Buchsbaum, regional executive director of the federation’s Great Lakes office. “It still has to go through Congress, but there’s never been a Read More » »

Sutley Delivers Good News

It was difficult not to feel a little giddy when first hearing that President Barack Obama intends to make good on his campaign promise to protect and restore the Great Lakes.

“President Obama and all of us in his Administration are committed to fulfilling his pledge to protect and restore the Great Lakes ecosystem,” Nancy Sutley, the head of the Council on Environmental Quality said. “The President is committed to creating a Great Lakes trust fund to support restoration work in a sustained multi-year effort.” Sutley, whose role is to advise the President on environmental policy, said these things at Read More » »

What does a Bush and a Frog Have in Common?

President George W. Bush and Kermit the Frog shared a theme song that President-Elect Barack Obama probably doesn’t even know the words to - no, while Bush and Kermit find it’s not easy being green, Obama’s only problem seems to be which shade to embrace - chartreuse, perhaps?

While Bush support seemed to be more of the dine and dash variety - all for Great Lakes restoration until the bill showed up - Obama campaigned head on promising billions to restore the lakes while creating jobs.

The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Hawthorne writes that Chicago’s Howard Learner of the Environmental Law Read More » »

In His Own Words

In the last weeks of the 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama released a 5-point plan to restore the Great Lakes including investing $5 billion federal dollars. Of course, some people called it pandering to possible swing state voters, but it turns out the latest Obama plan was consistent with his past actions.

Obama was the only presidential candidate to respond to HOW’s invitation to speak at our annual conference in 2007. Obama sent emissary Debra Shore – a local Chicago politician – to deliver a statement he wrote sharing his concerns about the Lakes with us.

He said Read More » »

Promise Keepers

It seems safe to assume we won’t be the only ones who will be holding President Elect Barack Obama to his promise to restore the Great Lakes, now that Great Lakes advocate Rahm Emanuel is to be White House Chief of Staff.

With great ferocity, Rahm Emanuel addressed the HOW conference in 2007, imploring us to make sure any candidate for President not only pledged to restore the Great Lakes to win our precious swing votes, but also to hold the winner to it when they took office. Lets hope Mr. Emanuel doesn’t rue the day he lit that fire under Read More » »

Election of Barack Obama Holds ‘Great Promise for Restoration of Great Lakes’

Healing Our Waters®-Great Lakes Coalition

Election of Barack Obama Holds ‘Great Promise for Restoration of Great Lakes’

Coalition Vows to Work with President-Elect, New Congress to Restore and Protect Lakes, Boost Regional Economy

Statement by Jeff Skelding, national campaign director, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition on election of Sen. Barack Obama to President of the United States

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (November 5, 2008)— “The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is excited about Sen. Barack Obama’s victory and looks forward to working with his Administration and the new Congress for the change we need to restore and protect the Great Lakes—a national icon that is Read More » »

Coalition Welcomes Business Support for Great Lakes

Statement by Jeff Skelding, campaign director, Healing Our Waters® -Great Lakes Coalition

Today, more than 25 prominent regional chambers of commerce in the Great Lakes region—led by the Detroit Regional Chamber—released an agenda to grow the economy. Restoring the Great Lakes is one of the five pillars of the federal legislative agenda.

“The Healing our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition applauds these regional chambers of commerce around the Great Lakes for recognizing that the economic health of this region is inextricably tied to the health of our lakes.

“Today’s announcement by business leaders sends a clear message to Congress and the Presidential candidates: Read More » »

Don’t Let The Door Hit You

Even in the waning days of his administration, President George W. Bush is promoting business over restoration in our region. In stark contrast to the heady days of his presidential campaign when he stood on our northern coast and promised restoration, Bush has instructed his lackeys at the Environmental Protection Agency to exempt water transfers from the Clean Water Act and lobby Congressional leadership to give us less money to clean up the stinky, hazardous areas of concern.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is suing the EPA for creating a loophole in the CWA that would allow lots of Read More » »