When vicious storms lashed the banks of Lake Superior and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage to the waterfront in Duluth, Minnesota, a critical federal program helped repair the damage while increasing climate resiliency, public safety, and accessibility along the lake’s coastline.
As the 118th Congress resumes business after the election, reauthorization of that program — the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2024 — is a must-do before Congress ends this year. The legislation is not only bipartisan and uncontroversial, but viewed as a crucial investment by many members from both political parties. Sponsored by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Reps. David Joyce (R-Ohio) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), it is a much-needed investment in the Great Lakes region and would continue important progress that is being made every day to protect and restore the Great Lakes.
Congress established the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in 2010 to allow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in collaboration with other federal agencies, states, local governments and tribes, to fund projects to restore and protect the Great Lakes. GLRI projects clean up toxic legacy pollution near major urban areas; reduce agricultural runoff pollution threatening drinking water supplies; reestablish habitat for plant and animal species; and prevents the establishment and spread of harmful invasive species.
According to the Great Lakes Commission, every $1 spent generates an estimated $3.35 in additional economic activity, thereby benefiting both the regional Great Lakes economy and environment. The GLRI has an impressive record of success, funding more than 7,563 individual projects totaling $3.7 billion and greatly improving the region’s quality of life.
Through the GLRI, over 6,700 river miles have been cleared of dams and barriers, resulting in fish swimming into stretches of river where they have been absent for decades and increasing biodiversity. Nearly 480,000 acres of habitat, including 72,000 acres of coastal wetlands, have been enhanced, protected, and restored, improving ecosystem and community resilience.
Paramount to the GLRI is the effort to remove toxic legacy pollution at the 25 remaining Great Lakes Areas of Concern. These are the region’s most contaminated sites and a legacy of industrial development — prior to the Clean Water Act — when toxic pollutants were dumped unabated into our lakes, rivers, and harbors. Six of these areas have already been delisted because of the GLRI, and the actions necessary to delist 10 more have been completed.
For example, the GLRI funds work to address toxic legacy pollution in a 45-mile stretch of Ohio’s Cuyahoga River — the river that famously caught fire in 1969 —that the EPA designated as an area of concern in 1987. The river’s overall water quality is improving because of these investments. Today, the GLRI is helping to restore the waterway’s wetlands and eroded shorelines.
Cleaning up long-standing pollution
There are scores of other examples of the GLRI’s effectiveness. Pollution from local industry, particularly PCBs from a paper mill, caused toxic sediments in the Manistique River in Manistique, Michigan. In 2020, GLRI federal agencies and their partners began the process of removing mill debris and remediating over 50,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment. GLRI funding assisted the Invasive Mussel Collaborative and its partners in an experiment to determine if a molluscicide treatment would reduce quagga mussel density on a reef in Good Harbor Bay in Lake Michigan near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The testing resulted in a 95% reduction in mussel density.
In May 2020, GLRI funding assisted in constructing an aquatic nuisance species barrier along a 5-mile stretch of the Ohio and Erie Canal towpath near Akron, Ohio. The barrier prevents the transfer of ecosystem-destroying invasive carp between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins, protecting small businesses that rely on recreation and tourism.
In 2021, over 4 million cisco (or lake herring) were stocked in Lake Huron as part of a rehabilitation program begun in 2018 in Saginaw Bay, Michigan. Once abundant throughout the Great Lakes, cisco populations flatlined due to overfishing and invasive species.
We’ve made great progress on cleaning up industrial pollution, but sites with legacy pollution still linger. And the lakes face challenges from our rapidly warming atmosphere. Climate change turbo-charges toxic algal blooms, encourages the proliferation of ecosystem-destroying invasive species, and creates more intense storms that are already overwhelming water infrastructure across the region.
Passing the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2024 will not only reverse the environmental harms of the past, but is also a critical investment in the future of Great Lakes communities.
Don Jodrey is director of federal relations for the Alliance for the Great Lakes.
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