Great Lakes cleanup plan faces Congress approval

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Growing up in Traverse City, advertising sophomore Marie Bodnar spent a lot of time enjoying the Great Lakes, but she said in recent years she has noticed changes in water levels and cleanliness.

“The past five years, it’s been really low, and I have really noticed the difference,” she said. “If the water isn’t in good shape, it won’t help the economic situation either.”

President Barack Obama has allocated $475 million of the 2010 budget toward Great Lakes restoration during five years.

But if federal funding to accelerate cleanup in the Great Lakes area is not approved by Congress, Michigan residents like Bodnar will continue to see effects of pollution in already contaminated areas until 2086, according to a report from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA.

“If the large-scale funding that the president has promised is not provided, then we will continue to limp along at our current pace, which is pretty inadequate,” said Matt Doss, policy director for the Great Lakes Commission.

“(Currently) there is really no large-scale funding to implement Great Lakes restoration activities and restore coastal problems.”

Toxic sediment buildup is one of the most significant environmental problems in the Great Lakes region, according to the EPA’s report. The estimated federal cost of Great Lakes toxic sediment cleanup is $2.25 billion with $1.2 billion in nonfederal funds. About one-fourth of Obama’s proposed $475 million would go to cleaning up toxic sediments.

Significant amounts of toxic sediment and water quality problems classify an area as an area of concern, said Pat Norris, an MSU professor in the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies.

“Left untreated, one of the problems you face in some areas is that the toxic sediment finds its way into the food chain,” she said. “There is also direct human exposure concerns as well.”

There are 43 areas of concern in the Great Lakes region, and of those, Michigan has 14, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Zoology senior Rachel Iovan said the neglect of the Great Lakes already has caused extensive damage.

“If you look at funding that has gone to other natural resources, the amount of money that has gone to the Great Lakes is completely dwarfed by that, even though it is nearly 20 percent of the world’s fresh water,” she said.

“The longer we push this back, the more of a problem this will be.”

The U.S. House of Representatives approved Obama’s requested $475 million for Great Lakes restoration. The Senate will vote to pass an allocated $400 million and then the two will resolve the differences, Doss said.

Obama’s request is designed to begin a $20 billion restoration plan.

The EPA would oversee distribution of the funds to federal, state and local agencies in efforts to restore habitats, coastal wetlands, clean out pollution, rehabilitate recreational fishing and monitor and control pollution, Doss said.

“The bottom line is that the current pace of cleaning up contaminated sediments in the Great Lakes is not beneficial,” he said.

“We want to accelerate that progress and we need funds to do that.”

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