Many sincere people who have poured thousands of hours into the effort to draw up a draft plan to help restore the Great Lakes attended an announcement about that plan on the shores of Lake Superior in Duluth today. The plan now goes out for two months of public comment. It contains scores of recommendations that would cost more than $20 billion to implement. Here's a taste of the publicity for the plan:
DULUTH, Minn. (July 7) – A national and regional coalition of restoration-minded groups today warned that the forthcoming plan from President Bush’s Great Lakes task force would languish without sufficient funding from the administration, Congress, and state governments.
Exactly. This is the second new strategy to protect the Great Lakes since the century began, and the fifth or sixth since the 1980s. Most have not been funded or enforced. For example:
CHICAGO (April 2, 2002) — The Great Lakes U.S. Policy Committee, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, today unveiled an ambitious new plan to protect and restore the Great Lakes: Great Lakes Strategy 2002–A Plan for the New Millennium. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman announced the plan during a visit to Muskegon, Mich. Whitman also discussed the President's Clear Skies initiative – an aggressive, mandatory initiative that will dramatically cut power plant emissions of three of the worst air pollutants and improve the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem and the people who live in the Great Lakes region.
http://www.epa.gov/region5/news/news02/02opa046.htm
Let's keep our eyes on the $20 billion prize this time.
Posted by Dave at July 7, 2005 06:53 PM