LANSING ? The top priorities for the Great Lakes Commission when it meets with Congress this week will be to require standardized treatment of ballast waters and to find more funding to fight the sea lamprey already in the lakes and to prevent the Asian carp from reaching them.
Leading the charge on these issues is Michigan Lt. Governor John Cherry, chair of the Great Lakes Commission.
“With one-fifth of the Earth’s surface freshwater supply, the Great Lakes are truly a world-class resource and a national treasure without peer,” Cherry said. “State, local, tribal and private interests contribute billions of dollars for Great Lakes protection. It is essential that the federal government step up its support, recognizing that investing in the Great Lakes will protect a national asset and produce a good return for taxpayers’ dollars.”
Among the commission’s other priorities is reauthorization of the Great Lakes Legacy Act, which provides $150 million a year for contamination cleanup; $28.5 million to restore 200,000 acres of wetlands along the shoreline; and restored funding, $1.35 billion, to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to upgrade and repair sewer and water systems.
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