Key Federal Funding Source for Great Lakes Environmental Projects Passed by Senate. Will House Follow Suit?

Patty Wetli | December 6, 2024, 5:29 pm

A project to halt erosion at Illinois Beach State Park was funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program that's awaiting congressional reauthorization. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

The U.S. Senate has approved the reauthorization through 2031 of a federal program that provides crucial funding for restoration and protection of Great Lakes ecosystems.

Now the measure moves to the U.S. House for a vote.

Thanks to our sponsors:

Since 2010, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) has pumped roughly $4 billion into thousands of projects across the watershed, ranging from remediation of toxic waste sites to invasive species management to the re-establishment of pollinator habitat.

A reauthorization act was introduced in Congress earlier this year, with both of Illinois’ senators signed on as co-sponsors, but only came up for a vote in the Senate on Dec. 4. It passed by voice vote.

The program is administered under the Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with other agencies.

In the Chicago region, the program has provided funds for the shoreline protection of Illinois Beach State Park, as well as wetland restoration at Powderhorn Lake in the Calumet area, among other projects.

“This is exactly the kind of federal legislation that Congress should be passing,” Don Jodrey, director of federal relations with the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said in a statement. “The GLRI is bi-partisan, uncontroversial and has a demonstrative positive rate of economic return. For every federal dollar spent it generates three dollars in economic activity.”

Supporters of the legislation are pushing for the House to approve the program by the end of the current session.

“Now it’s time for the House of Representatives to step up and get the GLRI Act of 2024 over the finish line before the end of this Congress,” Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said in a statement. “The projects funded by the GLRI over the past decade have helped ensure the continued health of the Great Lakes, which are important for Midwestern jobs, recreation, and clean safe drinking water for 42 million people in the U.S.”

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, whose 9th Congressional District in Illinois includes a long stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline in the north suburbs, applauded the Senate’s action and urged her colleagues to follow suit.

“Since it was established, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has been instrumental in combatting harmful algal blooms, water pollution, invasive species, and coastal erosion,” Schakowsky said. “This is not a partisan issue. The House must follow in the Senate’s footsteps and reauthorize funding for our Great Lakes. Future generations deserve a habitable planet.”

Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]