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Great Lakes funding eliminated under Trump budget plan

It's official now: The Trump Administration's budget priorities do not include the Great Lakes.

It's official now: The Trump Administration's budget priorities do not include the Great Lakes.

The administration's budget proposal, released today by the White House's Office of Management and Budget, zeroes out the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which since 2010 has provided more than $2.2 billion for programs to improve and protect the lakes.

"State and local groups are engaged and capable of taking on management of clean-up and restoration of these water bodies," the Budget Office's written narrative accompanying the budget states.

The budget plan also calls for a 45% reduction over 2017 funding levels in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency categorical grants to states, the funding used by states — including Michigan — to fund regulation of federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air and Clean Water acts.

[Trump's budget plan was a big win for school choice, while public schools took deep cuts. Read more here.]

"States may be able to adjust to reduced funding levels by reducing or eliminating additional activities not required under Federal law, prioritizing programs, and seeking other funding sources, including fees," the Budget Office's written narrative says.

Word of Trump's plans to nix Great Lakes funding has already garnered strong push-back from Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Great Lakes states.

National Wildlife Federation spokesman Jordan Lubetkin blasted the budget proposal.

"It would bring Great Lakes restoration to a halt," he said. "It would undermine efforts to clean up toxic pollution, to halt invasive species like Asian carp, and to prevent harmful algal blooms that on Lake Erie left 500,000 people without a drinking water supply" in August 2014.

"It’s a loser for the environment; a loser for the economy; a loser for the waters that 30 million people rely upon for their water supply."

In a written statement to members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in January, then EPA Administrator nominee Scott Pruitt said: "If confirmed, I will continue EPA's support for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which was formally authorized by Congress in December 2016.”

ruitt, in a statement Tuesday, indicated the EPA isn't walking away from the Great Lakes.

"I recognize that the Great Lakes are an important part of the United States fresh water supply, and I am committed to improving environmental conditions and human health for Americans that live and work in the Great Lakes Region," he said. "As I lead this agency, I will continue to engage in meaningful discussions about how shared environmental goals related to this region can best be achieved.”

The president's budget proposal is just that, a proposal, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, said in a statement Tuesday.

"Many of the proposed cuts to important domestic programs that many Michiganders rely on are, frankly, non-starters," he said. "Of particular concern is funding for our Great Lakes and the National Institutes of Health.

"This process is only beginning. I will continue to advocate for common-sense budgeting that reels in spending, makes government more accountable, but also properly funds essential programs the most vulnerable amongst us depend on.”

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said in a statement that the proposed Trump budget cuts would stifle economic growth in Michigan.

"I am extremely concerned that President Trump’s budget proposal makes significant cuts to critical programs that boost Michigan’s working families, support economic development in Michigan’s urban and rural communities, and protect the Great Lakes which are vital to some of our state's largest industries," he said.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, called the proposed cuts "terrible."

“In eliminating Great Lakes restoration funding, President Trump is threatening our state’s jobs, our livelihood and our way of life," he said. "The Great Lakes help to generate billions in economic activity in Michigan and support 1.5 million good-paying jobs in the tourism, boating and fishing industries."

The Trump budget proposal leaves intact the EPA's nine regional offices nationwide, including its Region V office in Chicago that oversees Michigan and the rest of the Great Lakes Region.

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., noted that thousands of Michigan residents speaking out helped preserve Great Lakes funding in the spending bill passed earlier this month to fund the federal government through September.

"This is a moment for Michigan when we all need to stand together to protect our Great Lakes," she said.

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