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Chicago, IL – With less than two weeks until Inauguration Day, many environmental groups are gearing up to work with President-elect Obama on plans to restore and protect Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes.
The Alliance for the Great Lakes hopes to work with the new President and the new Congress on changes that will restore and protect the Lakes. Vice president for policy Joel Brammeier would like to see a new commitment to update aging infrastructure, such as sewage lines in the Great Lakes Basin.
"It's not just clean drinking water and clean water to swim in, although those things are very important; it also means job creation. Infrastructure projects around water, just like those around roads, create jobs that this region depends on."
Brammeier says the discharge of raw sewage into the lakes continues with high frequency and needs to be stopped.
"Lake Michigan delivers fresh, clean drinking water to several of the major cities in the Great Lakes, like Chicago, and cities and towns up and down the coast depend on that clean drinking water for their livelihood."
Brammeier says the lakes also face other environmental threats.
"Invasive species cost the Great Lakes basin over $250 million dollars annually and they are still coming in every six to eight months. Knocking out that problem will ensure that the Great Lakes can be protected and preserved for generations to come."
President-elect Obama has proposed a restoration plan that includes five billion dollars in new federal funds to address threats to the Great Lakes. Critics say the new administration will be hard pressed to fund new programs during the economic crisis.
