cherry - Lt. Governor Cherry Urges Final Congressional Approval of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

LANSING - Lt. Governor John D. Cherry, Jr. sent a letter to the Great Lakes congressional delegation today, urging swift congressional action to approve the $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) included in a House-Senate conference committee report for the Department of Interior and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The legislation will now go back to both houses of Congress for final approval and then to the president to be signed into law.

"The Great Lakes are vital to Michigan's economy and are at the center of this region's economic transformation," Cherry said. "The initiative makes an important down-payment on the promise made by President Obama of significant long-term funding toward Great Lakes restoration efforts . It also provides significant new resources needed to act on recommendations in the MI-Great Lakes Plan, which was developed with the input of more than 2,000 Michigan citizens last year."

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative provides funding to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which will administer a significant portion of the funding, in the form of grants to state, local and tribal governments, academic institutions, and nongovernmental organizations, for cleanup and habitat protection in order to address key threats to the Great Lakes. In addition, the EPA will establish interagency agreements with other federal agencies for more than half the funding to carry out additional work under the initiative.

The lieutenant governor also served as keynote speaker for the Michigan Port Collaborative Fall Summit on Wednesday. This summit connects both public and private sector leaders from every Michigan port community with their state and federal partners to ensure that ports have a voice in Lansing and Washington, D.C.

"Our port communities connect Michigan to the national and global economies, whether it's the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, or the Soo Locks in the U.P.," Cherry added. "These aren't just international crossings; these are communities, and the well-being of these communities is vital to the economic future of our entire state."

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