Our View: Before adjourning, DC can reauthorize Great Lakes investments

Dating to the administration of President George W. Bush, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has been investing billions and has been making major progress in removing pollutants from the St. Louis River and elsewhere, in ensuring the waters at Duluth’s doorstep and around the lakes remain fishable and drinkable, in combating invasive species, in turning environmental disasters into cleanup successes, and more.

This year, the U.S. Senate, including co-sponsors Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, voted in favor of reauthorizing the federal initiative, keeping all its good going through 2031.

Before the 118th Congress adjourns for the year, members of the U.S. House this month can also enthusiastically vote for the initiative and its infusion of $500 million in federal funding, a welcome increase from the current $475 million.

“Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes are national treasures, a key pillar of our economy and the backdrop of countless special memories for my family and many others,” U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Hermantown, said in a statement last week to the News Tribune Opinion page. “Protecting the Great Lakes has always been a top priority of mine, and I am proud to advocate for this bipartisan bill that will support ecosystem restoration, combat the spread of invasive species, and keep our waters clean. I’m glad it passed the Senate, and I hope the House can do the same soon.”

To date, the initiative has invested about $4 billion to clean up toxic disasters, reduce runoff pollution, restore the habitats of birds and other wildlife, combat harmful algal blooms and coastal erosion, and ensure clean drinking water for some 40 million people around the Great Lakes, the earth’s largest fresh surface water system. The Great Lakes provide more than 1.5 million jobs, generating $62 billion in wages every year. The lakes also supply 90% of our nation’s fresh surface water.

In Duluth, especially along the St. Louis River, the initiative has helped restore wild rice beds, sturgeon spawning grounds, and the habitats of piping plover and other nesting birds, among other projects.

In addition to cleanup and restoration, the initiative has also been key in preventing waters from being diverted from the Great Lakes to arid regions in the South, West, and elsewhere.

“When seeking ways to preserve our natural treasures, doing so without breaking the bank is top of mind for this frugal Dutch mom,” U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Michigan, said in a statement last week after joining Stauber in a letter urging their fellow members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure to reauthorize the initiative, often referred to as GLRI. “It is a responsible use of taxpayer dollars. Every dollar of GLRI funding results in approximately $3.35 in economic activity. I don’t know many deals that are better than that! The common-sense nature of this bill makes it easy to find common ground, so I am proud I can work with my Republican colleague, Mr. Stauber, to advocate for the program’s extension.”

Groups like the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, based in St. Paul, are also advocating for the program’s extension — as they and all of us who care about this region should.

“Over the last 10 years, the GLRI has funded projects ranging from massive clean-ups of contaminated sediments here in Duluth to moose research conducted by the Grand Portage Band. North Shore rivers like the Poplar and Knife rivers are running cleaner and clearer thanks to the GLRI,” Minnesota Environmental Partnership Executive Director Steve Morse said in an exclusive statement last week to the News Tribune Opinion page. “We could never have done the monumental cleanup and restoration effort of the St Louis River Estuary without the GLRI. These federal funds have leveraged state and local dollars that have us well on our way to restoring the outstanding natural resources of the estuary.

“The time is now,” he said. “The five-year reauthorization is expiring soon. Thanks to the champions like Rep. Pete Stauber and our two U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, who have picked this up and are driving it forward. Let’s get it over the finish line now so it doesn’t get lost in all the issues of the new year.”