June 30, 2021

Durbin: Equity In Great Lakes Restoration Initiative A Key Part Of Protecting Our Lake

CHICAGO – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today joined the Alliance for the Great Lakes and State Representative Kam Buckner (D-26) in Chicago to discuss efforts to prioritize historically marginalized and underserved communities in projects to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Durbin is calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take concrete steps to prioritize low-income and communities of color within the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) - an inter-agency effort led by the EPA to support ecological projects in the region. The plan to create more equity in the GLRI is part of Durbin’s “Our Lake” initiative—an effort to engage with state, local, and community partners to advance new policies and projects focused on protecting Lake Michigan.

“Despite all of the great work of the GLRI to fund the cleanup of toxic pollution, prevent the spread of invasive spices, and invest in much needed habitat restoration, communities of color and low-income communities along Lake Michigan—our lake—have not been provided equitable resources to address these issues,” Durbin said.  “These communities face some of the greatest challenges with pollution, contaminated sites, drinking and wastewater systems, water quality, and wetland and other habitat loss. Focusing on these communities and having community participation in the program will ensure the areas most impacted by pollution benefit from federal restoration investments. We have always considered Lake Michigan as a national treasure that needs to be protected.  Now it is time to see the communities that surround it as treasures that need to be protected.”

Today, Durbin and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) are sending a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan outlining steps the agency should immediately incorporate into GLRI, including:

  • Increase the share of GLRI grants to communities of color, indigenous and low-income communities to better align the program with the President’s Justice40 Initiative;
  • Publicly report the percent and amount of GLRI funds annually for communities of color, indigenous, and low-income communities;
  • Prioritize environmental justice and contracting with disadvantaged businesses in the award and selection of grants and grantees;
  • Expand and prioritize community engagement with underserved communities;
  • Use existing authorities to the maximum extent practicable to waive cost-share requirements, lowering the financial barriers for projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities;

"I am grateful for Senator Durbin’s continued leadership, to not only protect our lake and shoreline, but to prioritize historically marginalized, neglected and under-served communities,” said State Representative Buckner. “My colleagues and I in the General Assembly stand poised to partner with our Federal counterparts to drive home the fact that sustainable solutions for the Great Lakes that don’t have equity and environmental justice at their core are not sustainable at all."

“Every single person who lives here depends on the Great Lakes,” said Joel Brammeier, president & CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. “Over a decade the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has successfully invested more than $3 billion in our lakes, but future needs loom large. Some Great Lakes communities bear more than a fair share of pollution, while climate change wreaks havoc on our waters. The next generation of Great Lakes investment should confront these challenges to ensure the Great Lakes are truly shared and available for all.”

The Great Lakes make up more than 20 percent of the world’s available surface fresh water supply. Congress authorized the GLRI in 2010 to allow the EPA to provide funding to States, Tribes, local governments and entities, and federal agencies to undertake efforts to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Since the beginning of the GLRI program, Illinois has received more than $270 million for 279 projects. 

Last year, Durbin worked with the Great Lakes Task Force to pass the bipartisan Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act, which increased GLRI’s authorization from $300 million to $375 million and by $25 million annually until it reaches $475 million in FY26.

Full text of today’s letter is available here:

 

June 30, 2021

 

Dear Administrator Regan:

Congress authorized the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) in 2010 to allow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide funding to States, Tribes, local governments and entities and federal agencies to undertake efforts to restore and protect the Great Lakes.  EPA is crucial to coordinating, planning and implementing the GLRI program.  We write today to request that you take immediate steps to incorporate environmental justice into the GLRI program to prioritize historically marginalized and underserved communities throughout the Great Lakes region.

The Great Lakes make up over 20 percent of the world’s available surface fresh water supply and its water resources are integral to the public health, environmental sustainability, and economic well-being of eight states and more than 40 million Americans.  However, the Great Lakes and the citizens who depend upon the Lakes and its waters face diverse challenges including overwhelmed and failing drinking and wastewater systems; increasing urban and rural runoff; water affordability; wetland and other habitat loss; poor water quality; and aquatic invasive species.

Low-income communities, indigenous communities and communities of color have borne a much larger share of the burden of these challenges, but have not been provided with the resources to efficiently and effectively address them.  The administration has committed to provide greater fairness to addressing these issues by making environmental justice a key component of their effort to address our climate crisis.  In order to help the administration reach the goal of greater environmental justice, we request that you immediately incorporate the steps listed below into the GLRI program to prioritize historically marginalized and underserved communities.  Specifically, we ask that EPA:

  • Increase the share of GLRI grants to communities of color, indigenous and low-income communities to better align the program with the President’s Justice40 Initiative;
  • Publicly report the percent and amount of GLRI funds annually for communities of color, indigenous, and low-income communities;
  • Prioritize environmental justice and contracting with disadvantaged businesses in the award and selection of grants and grantees;
  • Expand and prioritize community engagement with underserved communities;
  • Use existing authorities to the maximum extent practicable to waive cost-share requirements, lowering the financial barriers for projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities;

To further embed environmental justice and equity in programs like the GLRI, and help achieve the President’s order that EPA and other agencies “develop programs, policies, and activities to address the disproportionate health, environmental, economic, and climate impacts on disadvantaged communities,” we also ask you to reconvene the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration created under Executive Order 13340 and direct it to review, revise, and reissue the strategy document that has been guiding the GLRI program to embed the priorities of environmental justice and climate change as significant environmental, natural resource and public health issues involving the Great Lakes.

The EPA and this administration have also rightly prioritized the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income when developing, implementing, and enforcing environmental laws, regulations, and policies. To help embed these principles more deeply, we also call on you to:

  • Set standards for community representation, inclusion, and engagement on Public Advisory Councils, which guide work related to the cleanup of Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC).
  • Ensure that Public Advisory Councils in each AOC undertakes robust community engagement to ensure that AOC projects are meeting community needs.
  • Provide funding to Public Advisory Councils to conduct robust engagement and ensure inclusive representation.
  • Support coordination with non-governmental organizations, coalitions, philanthropic partners, and the private sector to help identify local entities who may be able to do restoration work, helping them build the right capacity to develop proposals, apply for project funding, and manage grants awarded to them.
  • Provide the U.S. EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) with more staff and resources to enhance community outreach, providing more regular opportunities for the public to learn the results of restoration activities and contribute to project development in their communities.

As the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative enters its second decade, it is necessary to make the program even stronger by focusing on oft-neglected communities.  Refinements to the GLRI and other Great Lakes programs can accelerate restoration progress while ensuring that communities most impacted by pollution benefit from restoration investments.  This can be accomplished by ensuring greater public participation—especially by those most impacted by pollution—to provide feedback on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, including which projects are chosen, how investments are prioritized, and who does the work.

Thank you for your consideration of these requests.  We look forward to working with you to ensure environmental justice is incorporated into the GLRI program. 

  Sincerely,

 

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