As part of the infrastructure package that was just approved on a bi-partisan basis by the Senate and is now moving on to the House, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (“GLRI”) could receive approximately $1 billion for the remediation of impacted site and waterways in the Great Lakes region.
Since its inception in 2010, the GLRI has provided funding to 16 federal organizations to strategically target the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem and to accelerate progress toward achieving long term goals:
- Fish safe to eat;
- Water safe for recreation;
- Safe source of drinking water;
- All Areas of Concern delisted;
- Harmful/nuisance algal blooms eliminated;
- No new self-sustaining invasive species;
- Existing invasive species controlled; and
- Native habitat protected and restored to sustain native species.
One of the primary areas of focus of GRLI’s most recent action plan is the remediation of “Areas of Concern” (“AOCs”) that are defined as "geographic areas designated by the Parties where significant impairment of beneficial uses has occurred as a result of human activities at the local level." There are currently more than 26 AOCs in the Great Lakes basin that could be cleaned up using monies appropriated in the current version of the infrastructure bill.
We will continue to track the progress of the infrastructure bill and the availability of funds to address AOCs in the Great Lake basin at the Corporate Environmental Lawyer.
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