Government Proposes Plan to Clean Up Great Lakes

The Obama Administration is not only pledging to clean up our atmosphere, but the Great Lakes as well. On Friday, federal officials released their five-year plan for environmental protection of the Great Lakes that would put greater emphasis on climate change and using science to choose cleanup projects.

According to The Associated Press (AP), Congress has spent about $1.6 billion since 2009 for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The initiative was meant to target what experts consider the most serious threats to the freshwater bodies: toxic contamination, invasive species, loss of wildlife habitat and runoff that causes noxious algae blooms.

Now, the administration is offering a second phase - which would require another $275 million on a yearly basis for the next five years - to continue these efforts while addressing concerns about the program's effectiveness.

"Protecting communities around the Great Lakes and restoring this important ecosystem is a national and binational imperative," said Gina McCarthy, chief of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Eleven federal agencies led by the EPA released this rough draft, giving the public the chance to voice their opinion before June 30, News Tonight Africa reported.

The EPA has awarded more than 2,100 grants to universities, nonprofits, tribes and government agencies for cleanup projects, according to the AP, including removal of sediments laced with toxic chemicals, rebuilding wetlands and uprooting invasive plants.

This proposal also takes aim at climate change, which could ruin cleanup efforts, EPA Senior Advisor Cameron Davis says. For example, wetland plants and trees would be selected for suitability to warmer temperatures and watershed restorations would be designed to cope with more frequent and intense storms.

"For the first time, we'll articulate a methodical way by which we use the best available science to continue to make the best possible investments," Davis said.

Though some are not pleased with the plan's approach, describing it as "after-the-fact," Allen Burton, director of a University of Michigan program designed to solve Great Lakes problems, said.

"You're not learning as much about what worked and didn't work," Burton argued. "You're not adapting your process to make it better, because the project's already done."

The plan's final version is expected to be active by the new fiscal year on October 1.