Schumer seeks funding for Great Lakes Initiative

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February 10, 2010

Lakes vulnerable to invasion of Asian Carp this year

Staff Reports The Journal-Register Wed Feb 10, 2010, 03:33 PM EST

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer recently vowed to restore $175 million in funding that President Obama has proposed cutting from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to protect and clean up the Great Lakes.

The initiative received $475 million last year, but the president has proposed cutting that to $300 million this year. Schumer said this move was particularly flawed in light of how dangerously close Asian Carp have come to invading the Great Lakes. He said that if the Asian Carp reach the Great Lakes, they have the potential to cause billions and billions of dollars in economic losses.

Schumer said that every dime is necessary to fight this invasion.

“We need all available resources to prevent Asian Carp from penetrating the Great Lakes, which would deal a direct blow to people who depend on the Great Lakes for work and for play,” he said. “This is not the time for us to be pulling back on resources or giving an inch in this fight. I will fight to restore this funding cut as Congress prepares its budget this year.”

Schumer said Asian Carp could have a devastating economic impact on the region and threaten the $7 billion a year Great Lakes fishing industry. The Asian carp have such a voracious appetite that they destroy the food chain in the bodies of water they inhabit, destroying ecosystems and killing native fish. The Great Lakes are already in dire need of restoration funding and will suffer if the limited resources designated in the president’s budget are allocated, in large part, to fight the Asian carp, he said.

Schumer also said that beaches in New York have been hard hit by problems with the Great Lake’s water quality, and the full funding is needed. In the summer of 2009, local beaches in Rochester, for example, were closed more than they were open. As of September 2009, Ontario Beach was closed a total of 34 out of 63 days due to high bacteria levels in the previous day’s water tests.

Lakes Ontario and Erie are already plagued with invasive species, such as lamprey and zebra mussels. At an event at Rochester City Hall in August 2009, Schumer noted that the unpredictability of the water quality was precluding resorts from being developed along the shore, and hindering tourism because people do not want to take a risk visiting a beach that is closed more than half of the time.

The president’s 2011 budget requests $300 million in EPA’s budget for the Environmental Protection Agency-led, interagency Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, to target the most significant problems in the region, including invasive aquatic species, non-point source pollution and contaminated sediment.

The program, which will be in place for the next five years, will focus on the following areas:

• Toxic substances, particularly in the agency’s geographically fixed “areas of concern.”

• Invasive species.

• Non-point source pollution and the health of nearshore environments.

• Wildlife and habitat restoration.

• Program administration, including accountability, monitoring and evaluation.

Much of the restoration work will be done through federal agencies, but local governments and non-government organizations will have access to hundreds of millions of dollars that will be distributed as grants. Such a distribution method will allow Rochester to tailor methods of pollution control to its needs. Schumer said the funding is an important investment for communities along the Great Lakes — a recent study by the Brookings Institute showed that every dollar invested in cleaning up the lakes would yield $2 in savings and increased revenue through economic development.

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