The great lakes are our nations largest fresh water lakes and affect the lives of millions and millions of us. Biden is protecting and improving them.
President Biden, EPA Announce $1 Billion Investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Will Significantly Accelerate Cleanup and Restoration of Great Lakes
President Biden and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan will announce that as a direct result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA will make significant progress in the clean-up and restoration of the Great Lakes’ most environmentally degraded sites, securing clean water and a better environment for millions of Americans in the Great Lakes region. The agency will use the bulk of the $1 billion investment in the Great Lakes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to clean up and restore severely degraded sites, known as “Areas of Concern” or AOCs. This will allow for a major acceleration of progress that will deliver significant environmental, economic, health, and recreational benefits for communities throughout the Great Lakes region.
“The Great Lakes are a vital economic engine and an irreplaceable environmental wonder, supplying drinking water for more than 40 million people, supporting more than 1.3 million jobs, and sustaining life for thousands of species. Through the investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we will make unprecedented progress in our efforts to restore and protect the waters and the communities of the Great Lakes basin,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Building a better America means investing in our natural resources and the communities they support.”
White House Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu said, “With this investment, President Biden is delivering major environmental, public health, and economic wins for the Great Lakes region. Building a better America requires us to confront legacy pollution and clean up the environment – ensuring our kids drink clean water and creating good-paying jobs in the process. We know that cleaning up these waterways and improving the health of the Great Lakes will also create great economic opportunities for communities across the eight-state region and beyond.”
This is a huge move to improve our nations largest fresh water lakes. And it being touted as game changing by local areas.
From PA: Lake Erie to benefit from $1B Great Lakes clean-up in infrastructure law
President Joe Biden traveled to Ohio on Thursday where he touted a $1 billion effort to clean up the environmentally challenged Great Lakes, including Lake Erie, positioning it as a part of the administration’s ongoing effort to rebuild the nation and its infrastructure.
“We’re reinvesting in our economy and in our people, reclaiming our leadership and creating millions of jobs for building a better America,” Biden said during the trip to Lorain, Ohio, according to Reuters.
In a Wednesday press briefing, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the money will “allow for a major acceleration of progress that will deliver significant environmental, economic, health, and recreational benefits for communities throughout the region, including helping people in the community access clean water.”
The federal spending, channeled through the new federal infrastructure law, will be used to address “Areas of Concern” across the Great Lakes region, the Center Square reported.
According to Reuters, the administration says the money will accelerate clean-up efforts in those federally designated zones, which were damaged by decades of manufacturing and agricultural activity.
The administration said it expects 22 of the remaining 25 AOCs, as they’re known, to come off the federal list by 2030, Reuters further reported.
On Thursday, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan told reporters aboard Air Force One that the infrastructure law was a “game changer for communities throughout the Great Lakes region.”
“This is a shot in the arm of the 25 sites along the Great Lakes that are listed as areas of concern,” Regan said, according to Reuters.
From Michigan: EPA, Biden Administration to use $1B to clean up, restore damaged areas of Great Lakes
“The Great Lakes are a vital economic engine and an irreplaceable environmental wonder, supplying drinking water for more than 40 million people, supporting more than 1.3 million jobs," EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said. “Building a better America means investing in our natural resources and the communities they support.”
Great Lakes in Michigan where work is expected to be completed by 2030 include:
- Clinton River, MI
- Detroit River, MI
- Manistique River, MI
- Muskegon Lake, MI
- River Raisin, MI
- Rouge River, MI
- St. Clair River, MI
- St. Marys River, MI
- Torch Lake, MI.
From Ohio: Biden Administration invests in cleaning up the polluted Great Lakes
Almost 53 years ago, sparks from a passing train were enough to ignite the Cuyahoga River. On June 22, 1969, an oil slick burst into flames by a Cleveland steel mill just before noon. To residents of the Rust Belt city, the fire came as no surprise — not even making the front page of either daily. To the nation, it was a wake up call that animated a bipartisan conservation movement.
Just one county over in the city of Lorain, Ohio, President Joe Biden paid homage to that history last month with a show of across-the-aisle environmentalism. On the banks of Lake Erie, President Biden stood in a shipyard at the mouth of the Black River to announce a $1 billion investment into the Great Lakes Basin via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
"Pollution from industry, runoff from agriculture, poor wastewater treatment put the Great Lakes and everyone who depends on them at risk," he asserted. "For decades, there was a lot of talk, a lot of plans, but very little progress. It was slow. That changes today."
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Is there still more work to be done? 100%! Lots more work. But Biden did more than many people guessed could be done. And he deserves a lot of credit. AND he deserves to be re-elected.
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