Great Lakes restoration projects getting $1B from feds

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The federal bipartisan infrastructure spending package approved last year includes $1 billion for the Great Lakes over the next five years.

“This is absolutely unprecedented,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said of the investment, which he said will accelerate cleaning up polluted water in places like Muskegon Lake and the Manistique River in his state.

Part of the cash will also be devoted to fighting the invasive Asian carp and harmful algal blooms like those that have plagued cities that rely on Lake Erie for drinking water. Altogether, the five lakes supply drinking water to some 40 million Americans.

He called the $1 billion will “allow the most significant restoration … in the history of the Great Lakes.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said the money will help restore the “(lake) quality that Ohioans want to see.”

“We’ve seen the lake decline too much in the last few years,” he said.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe called the investment “exciting.” She said 22 of 25 polluted sites around the lakes will be restored by the end of the decade, with a priority on underserved communities.

“Where the pollution burden is very high … and where the ability of those communities to deal with those issues has not been attended to,” McCabe explained.

She said those same communities will also benefit from an additional investment in replacing lead pipes.