State, federal commitments needed to protect Lake Erie

Fiscal-year budgets pro- posed by chief executives in state and national capitals represent far more than just assorted assemblages of impersonal dollars and cents. They also reflect an administration’s priorities that can have profound effects on the quality of life for state residents and American citizens.

When it comes to protecting and preserving one of this nation’s and this state’s most precious and vital natural resources, the budget plans proposed this month by Republican President Donald J. Trump and Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine could not differ more starkly in their priorities – and in their humanity.

As his administration proposed the past two years, the president’s fiscal year 2020 budget plan once again takes a sledgehammer to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, ripping asunder $270 million of the $300 million sought for continuation of the vital program.

In its decadelong existence, the GLRI has more than proved its value in protecting the health, safety and economy of Northeast Ohio and our nation. For the infinitesimally tiny fraction of the total $4.7 trillion budget proposal it represents, U.S. representatives and senators should waste no time in X’ing out the misguided cut and again resist the administration’s penny-wise, pound-foolish economics.

But judging by off-the-cuff remarks made by the president at a raucous arena rally Thursday night in Grand Rapids, Mich., that challenge may now be a moot point. Tucked into remarks before thousands of adoring fans in Michigan’s second largest city came yet another example of the 45th president’s penchant for flip-flops. This one, however, is most welcome.

Trump told his faithful disciples he will fully fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative despite his very own administration’s proposal to sink it. He provided little explanation for the about-face, merely saying “it’s time” and that the lakes are “very deep” and “big.”

Perhaps he may have come to the stark realization that a bipartisan group of senators – including Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and Rob Portman, a Republican – already were orchestrating a repeat performance of building staunch bipartisan opposition to bulldoze the thoughtless cuts.

We’d ask Brown, Portman and House representatives nonetheless to stay vigilant just in case the president’s new promise on the GLRI is not followed up with matching action. While they’re at it, they should also remove an insipid proposal in Trump’s proposed budget for the Environmental Protection Agency to end Ohio’s ban on dumping dredged material from Cleveland into Lake Erie.

IMPORTANCE OF THE LAKES

After all, the Great Lakes – Erie, Superior, Michigan, Huron and Ontario – clearly merit protection and preservation. They represent the largest group of freshwater lakes on planet Earth and contain 21 percent of the world’s fresh water by volume.

The restoration initiative, a brainchild of the administration of former President Barack Obama, has proved its worth many times over. In the past decade, it has invested more than $2.5 billion in the eight-state region and has completed or is working on more than 3,900 restoration projects.

Those projects have run the gamut from cleaning up toxic pollutants, preventing the spread of invasive species such as the destructive Asian carp, reducing nutrient runoff that contributes to harmful algal blooms that contaminate drinking water and restoring habitats to protect native maritime species.

Such GLRI success stories have been replicated many times over on the lakes, their tributaries and the communities that surround them. Lake Erie, after all, is an economic engine for Northeast Ohio.

Fortunately for Ohioans, Gov. DeWine recognizes the value of the Great Lakes in general and Lake Erie in particular. The high value DeWine attaches to the future of the lakes stands out in his 2020-21 budget blueprint for the state.

DeWine is proposing $900 million for water quality projects over the next 10 years, with the bulk likely flowing into efforts to control algae in Lake Erie that have become a growing threat to drinking water. That commitment represents partial fulfillment of a campaign promise last year to make Lake Erie his top environmental priority.

Together, state and federal commitments and cooperation will be critical for the foreseeable future to restore the Great Lakes to their optimal greatness. We hope the Trump administration now recognizes as much, officially restores full funding for this year and abandons any future thought of placing GLRI back on the chopping block.