The U.S. President, Barack Obama, began to make good on a campaign
promise calling for a $5 billion (US), 10 year program aimed at restoration
of the Great Lakes. This summer, the President delivered his request for
funding to the U.S. Department of the Interior and in that document the
President requested a boost in spending of approximately $475 million in
FY 2010 targeting Great Lakes cleanup and restoration efforts. The additional
funding adds to the roughly $500 million that Congress routinely appropriates
to the Great Lakes each year. In total, the President’s request would
mean nearly $1 billion for the effort. At the time that this article was written,
both the House and the Senate have passed their versions of the FY 2010
Interior appropriations bill and the House has passed the conference committee
version which marries the two original bills into one. The Senate is expected to
take up the conference committee version in the coming weeks and it is widely
expected to pass.
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