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| March on Sandusky Bay -- a view of Standing Rush's west shoreline from a couple hundred yards off-shore. |
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) is the most comprehensive federal program in our nation's (and our region's) history that is explicitly structured to address the most pressing environmental issues impacting Lake Erie and the broader Great Lakes. Its funding -- in fact, its very existence -- is in extreme peril based on the most recent federal budget proposed in Washington.
However, care should be taken to make this a party-biased issue. While it's true that funding was initiated early in President Obama's administration, much of the foundation was set through George W. Bush's presidency.
This topic has been and will be in the local and national news a lot lately. And well it should be. From an article just yesterday in The Blade (Toledo's primary newspaper) . . . "the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has funded work to restore natural habitats, combat invasive species, and clean up pollution. It’s also done work to reduce the nutrient load that leads to harmful algal blooms like the one that fouled Toledo’s drinking water in 2014. The program funds work across the Great Lakes region, which has included dozens of projects in northwest Ohio."
The rest of the article can be seen here. Trust that there will be plenty more commentary on this topic as the story continues to unfold.