Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act

How to Spend Millions on the Great Lakes 101

During the presidential campaign we could only hope that candidate Obama would follow through on his promise to help restore and protect the Great Lakes. And then, he did, by adding a $475 million line to his budget for an interagency restoration effort. So far, the funding and commitment remain intact in the Congressional budget. The Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition has submitted language to the committee responsible for ironing out the details of the nation’s finances.

In 2005, 1500 Great Lakes stakeholders came up with a very promising plan to restore the Great Lakes and that is the Read More » »

We’d Like To Thank You, President Obama

Talk about showing us the way; President Barack Obama is the first president to set aside money in his budget specifically for Great Lakes restoration. We can’t thank him enough for this historic $475 million commitment. Now, we must urge our members of Congress to include this budget line in their budget resolution. The Senate Budget Committee is holding a hearing today on the President’s Budget so the process is already underway. It is time to show this country’s political representatives that our region speaks with one voice when it comes to our Great Lakes and restoration cannot be put Read More » »

This Talk Isn’t So Cheap

HOW is asking Reps. Vern Ehlers (R-Mich), Mark Kirk (R-Ill), John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) to tell the House Budget Committee that we need the $475 million President Obama has set aside for the Great Lakes in his 2010 budget. This is a big priority for those of us working on Great Lakes restoration and we really hope our delegation steps up to testify before their colleagues at the Budget hearing on Wednesday. If you have a minute, please send them an email repeating our request. Thanks!

Gov. Quinn’s Advice for Great Lakes Day

Illinois newly minted Governor Pat Quinn – in Washington for the National Governor’s Association meeting - spoke to the members of the Great Lakes Commission yesterday. The Commission, that Gov. Quinn chairs, is also in Washington to urge Congress to make the Great Lakes a legislative and funding priority.

Quinn urged Great Lakes advocates to press President Barack Obama to make good on his campaign promise and appoint a Great Lakes Czar – a point person for restoration.

“We need to get a Great Lakes Czar,” Gov. Quinn said. “Someone who can get in touch Read More » »

The Great Lakes: An Economic Super Region

Last winter, a group of people came to Washington - people who usually compete with one another to draw business to their cities – people who left the Capital united and committed to working together to bring back the Great Lakes region.

“A year ago we came together to try and approach the Federal Government collectively with a strategic agenda for dollars and policy for an economic super region: the Great Lakes. We think we have a compelling story to tell,” said Andrew Rudnick, president and CEO for the Buffalo Niagara Partnership at a Press Conference. The Great Lakes Read More » »

Waiting For Stimulation

With the Senate starting debate on the economic stimulus today, it seems like a good time to suggest they consider amending the legislation to include more money to repair sewers and to clean up toxic hot spots in the Great Lakes region.

Michigan has the highest unemployment in the nation – 10.6 percent, according to Stateline.org. If the Senate were to choose to put $10 billion into the State Revolving Fund – the dollars that pay for our sewer systems to be updated and fixed – it would create 20,163 jobs in Michigan. Michigan isn’t suffering alone Read More » »

Never Say Never

Could it be? Could it be that the new head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson will be a real leader? It has been so long since we have experienced leadership at any level of government in out efforts to restore the Great Lakes and it is difficult to believe that we may be on the verge of such guidance.

In her very first email to the Environmental Protection Agency staff, Jackson actually wrote that the Great Lakes are a treasure and that protection and restoration will be a priority for her. Unbelievable! She wrote: “The Agency will make robust use Read More » »

Is Obama Committed to Saving the Great Lakes?

The Detroit Free Press asked HOW’s Andy Buchsbaum to write an essay about his hopes and fears for the Barack Obama presidency. Andy used this opportunity to wax poetic about the importance of saving the Great Lakes for future generations of Americans. To read his essay, click here.

Here are some other interesting stories that ran over the weekend:
Spending Billions to Repair the Great Lakes would multiply in payoff
Pollution Law plans hailed

Be Careful What You Wish For…

It didn’t take long for our Great Lakes Congressional Task Force to drop the gauntlet before President Elect-Barack Obama. Just days before the new President is to be sworn in, US Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.), George Voinovich (R-OH) and Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.) introduced the Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act, begging the question, did Obama really mean it when he signed the campaign pledge to usher in Great Lakes restoration during his tenure in the White House?

“With a partner in the White House who understands the great need to restore the Great Lakes ecosystem, I’m hopeful Read More » »

The High Road

Over the weekend, Obama’s people received a proposal from a coaliton of our nation’s environmental and conservation groups, including many of the oranizations that belong to the Healing Our Waters Coalition, that outlines quick ways to create sustainable jobs in clean energy and green infrastructure. This morning (Dec. 11), the same groups delivered their economic recovery plan to the US Congress. The proposal that would create up to 3.6 million jobs that could put people to work within six to nine months of enactment while reducing pollution and restoring the Great Lakes. At the center of this strategy Read More » »