Great Lakes Restoration Initiative awards $3.5 million in grants – Port Clinton News Herald

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U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, applauded the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which announced Thursday the award of a total of $3,584,865 in grants funded distributed via the GLRI, or Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, on efforts to address issues facing the Great Lakes region, including several focused on Lake Erie specifically.(Photo: Jon Stinchcomb/News Herald)

WASHINGTON - Both state and local officials are lauding the more than $3.3 million in grants recently announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

On Thursday, the EPA announced the award of a total of $3,584,865 in grants distributed via the GLRI, or Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, for efforts to address issues facing the Great Lakes region, including several focused on Lake Erie specifically

According to a news release from Sen. Sherrod Brown, the awards this year include:

$285,000 to Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to improve wetland function in a coastal marsh and the Moxley Wetland Area on Lake Eries Sandusky Bay.

$374,865 to Ohio EPA and Ohio Lake Erie Commission (OLEC) to stabilize 1,950 feet of streambank on the West Branch of Euclid Creek using native plants and to enhance 10.7 acres of existing forest through invasive species treatment.

$1 million to Ohio EPA and OLEC to reduce approximately 515 to 715 pounds of phosphorus runoff per year and to protect and restore streams and wetlands by working with farmers.

$1.125 million to Ohio EPA to develop and implement lakewide action management plans for Lake Erie and remedial action plans for Lake Erie AOCs.

$800,000 grant to Northeast Ohio Four County Regional Planning and Development Organization (NEFCO) to remove the canal diversion dam and the resulting impoundment from the Cuyahoga River.

The GLRI received a total of $2.56 billion in fundingfrom its initial year in 2010 to 2017.As of March 2019, that had led to the funding of 4,858 projects throughout the region, including more than 200 projects in Ohio. Most of those projects are related to Lake Erie.

Lake Erie provides drinking water for 11 million people, Brown said. We must do all we can to keep it healthy for them, and for the businesses, families, boaters and anglers that rely on the lake.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative needs to kept operating at full strength.(Photo: Jon Stinchcomb/News Herald)

Brown said that is done by keeping the GLRI operating at full strength.

The GLRI has continued to receive bipartisan support in Congress, despite several budget proposals from President Donald Trump that would have cut its funding significantly.

Historically, the U.S. Congress approved $300 million each fiscal year for the GLRI. Trumps proposals would cut that funding by 90%, reducing it to $30 million, which effectively would gut the program, according to lawmakers.

Both Brown and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, have supported the full funding of the program, as have several members of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Great Lakes region, such as U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, and U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green.

The GLRI makes possible key federal investments to improve the health of our beloved Great Lakes, Kaptur said following the latest GLRI bills passage by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in September.

More: Proposed Great Lakes funding cuts called 'cruel' and 'unacceptable'

The version passed by the committee actually proposes increasing the federal funding of the GLRI from $300 million to $475 million annually through 2026.

As a critical economic and environmental resource to our region on which millions of Americans depend for everything from drinking water and recreation to fishing and shipping goods, the Great Lakes need our full attention, Kaptur said.

Citing the various series issues facing Lake Erie, such as harmful algal blooms and invasive species such as Asian carp, Kaptur applauded the bipartisan support the new bill has received.

The recent awards announced Thursday, which include several projects that are close to home, have also received vocal support from state lawmakers.

All of these grants will make such a positive impact not only for Lake Erie itself, but for all of the individuals and communities surrounding it, including Sandusky Bay, said state Rep. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, whose district includes Erie and Ottawa counties.

jstinchcom@gannett.com

419-680-4897

Twitter: @JonDBN

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Great Lakes Restoration Initiative awards $3.5 million in grants - Port Clinton News Herald