Opinion | Great Lakes champions needed in Congress

The Great Lakes are the great uniters of Michigan and the region, including our Canadian neighbors. But as the Trump administration continues to defund and degrade our federal government, it’s more important now than ever for our congressional delegation to move beyond support for the voluntary Great Lakes Restoration Initiative into a defense of the core programs, policies, people, partnerships and agencies that protect the Lakes.

Protecting and restoring the Great Lakes polls consistently above 90% — I’ve yet to find another issue that has such broad, bipartisan support.  That support comes from the understanding that the Lakes are far more than an environmental issue and a provider of drinking water for over 40 million people: They are our cultural legacy and the backbone of our economy.

Every March at “Great Lakes Day” in Washington, politicians of all stripes pledge their allegiance to the Lakes and try to one-up each other in their commitments of support. They want to be seen as Great Lakes champions not only because of the positive politics but also because many of them truly, deeply care. The Great Lakes Congressional Taskforce has remained steadfastly bipartisan (including when Vice President Vance was co-chair during his brief tenure in the US Senate) and effective.

The Great Lakes delegation in Congress unites particularly around support for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), which has funded over 8,000 projects totaling near $4 billion to clean up toxic hotspots, restore hundreds of thousands of acres of habitat, control invasive species, prevent pollution, and educate the next generation of leaders. 

The returns go far beyond these benefits: A 2018 University of Michigan study found that for every dollar invested in GLRI, more than $3 was returned. The GLRI’s effectiveness and popularity — in the heart of the swing states needed for an electoral college victory — are why when the first Trump administration proposed to eliminate or cut GLRI by 90%, a bipartisan group of lawmakers revolted and managed to convince the president that it was in his political best interests to keep funds flowing.

The Great Lakes are now facing a more dangerous threat from this Trump administration, however. President Trump’s policies and priorities are actively degrading our capacity to protect the Lakes by cutting off funding, authority, personnel and binational collaboration. For example, the US EPA is charged with implementing the Clean Water Act (which was created in large part due to pollution in the Great Lakes), but cuts to the programs and staffing, including to the Great Lakes National Program Office, are reducing their capacity to prevent the very degradation that GLRI is trying to clean up. We can’t restore the Great Lakes without first protecting them.

We also can’t restore the Great Lakes and protect our drinking water without basic scientific understanding and the ability to monitor things like harmful algal blooms, invasive species, ice cover and water levels. This capacity is being degraded through cruel and indiscriminate cuts to staff and resources at the federal agencies such as the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), EPA and the U.S. Geological Survey as well as to the many scientific organizations that collaborate and are funded by our federal agencies.

Even projects already funded by Congress are not safe: For example, a barrier to keep highly destructive invasive carp out of the Great Lakes is on hold due to the Department of Government Efficiency’s actions.

The Trump administration is challenging Great Lakes unity and progress as never before, and it’s going to require our congressional delegation to go far beyond defending GLRI and into standing up for the basic functions of federal government and science. Congress is currently allowing the Trump administration to override appropriations decisions and enact laws effectively (and illegally) relegating Congress to bystander status in Great Lakes protection and restoration.

Under these circumstances, being a (coveted) congressional Great Lakes Champion should only be bestowed on those who rise to the occasion and stand up to the Trump administration’s assault on the Great Lakes. That means strongly and vociferously supporting the people, agencies, policies, collaborations, science and programs upon which our region’s greatest asset relies. We need our congresspeople to reassert their role as true partners in Great Lakes protection and unity.